# LEGATO: Cross-Embodiment Imitation Using a Grasping Tool

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.03682 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.03682/

## Key facts

- Cited by 18 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Robot manipulation imitation learning, one of 13 directions in Offline RL and imitation learning from data.
- First posted on arXiv 6 Nov 2024.

## Placed in

- Offline RL and imitation learning from data / [Robot manipulation imitation learning](https://mlsanity.com/offlinerl/robot-manipulation-imitation-learning/)

## Built on by (most cited first, 18 of 18)

- [GR00T N1: An Open Foundation Model for Generalist Humanoid Robots](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.14734/) (2025)
- [BEHAVIOR Robot Suite: Streamlining Real-World Whole-Body Manipulation for Everyday Household Activities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.05652/) (2025)
- [Physics-Driven Data Generation for Contact-Rich Manipulation via Trajectory Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.20382/) (2025)
- [AirExo-2: Scaling up Generalizable Robotic Imitation Learning with Low-Cost Exoskeletons](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.03081/) (2025)
- [Human2LocoMan: Learning Versatile Quadrupedal Manipulation with Human Pretraining](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.16475/) (2025)
- [MV-UMI: A Scalable Multi-View Interface for Cross-Embodiment Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.18757/) (2025)
- [Cross-Hand Latent Representation for Vision-Language-Action Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.10158/) (2026)
- [Data Pyramid for Embodied Manipulation: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.24744/) (2026)
- [3D Equivariant Visuomotor Policy Learning via Spherical Projection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.16969/) (2025)
- [YUBI: Yielding Universal Bidigital Interface for Bimanual Dexterous Manipulation at Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.10244/) (2026)
- [Dreaming the Unseen: World Model-regularized Diffusion Policy for Out-of-Distribution Robustness](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.21017/) (2026)
- [Inference-stage Adaptation-projection Strategy Adapts Diffusion Policy to Cross-manipulators Scenarios](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.11621/) (2025)
- [Universal Manipulation Exoskeleton: Learning Compliant Whole-body Policies with Real-time Torque Feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.14218/) (2026)
- [RoboSwap: A GAN-driven Video Diffusion Framework For Unsupervised Robot Arm Swapping](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.08632/) (2025)
- [Spatially Prompted Visual Trajectory Prediction for Egocentric Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.20085/) (2026)
- [Feasibility-aware Imitation Learning from Observation with Multimodal Feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.15351/) (2026)
- [Beyond the Patch: Exploring Vulnerabilities of Visuomotor Policies via Viewpoint-Consistent 3D Adversarial Object](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.04913/) (2026)
- [ZETA: A Controlled Study of Zero-Shot Cross-Embodiment VLA Transfer for Tabletop Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.02546/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Cross-embodiment imitation learning enables policies trained on specific embodiments to transfer across different robots, unlocking the potential for large-scale imitation learning that is both cost-effective and highly reusable. This paper presents LEGATO, a cross-embodiment imitation learning framework for visuomotor skill transfer across varied kinematic morphologies. We introduce a handheld gripper that unifies action and observation spaces, allowing tasks to be defined consistently across robots. We train visuomotor policies on task demonstrations using this gripper through imitation learning, applying transformation to a motion-invariant space for computing the training loss. Gripper motions generated by the policies are retargeted into high-degree-of-freedom whole-body motions using inverse kinematics for deployment across diverse embodiments. Our evaluations in simulation and real-robot experiments highlight the framework's effectiveness in learning and transferring visuomotor skills across various robots. More information can be found on the project page: https://ut-hcrl.github.io/LEGATO.