mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

TLA: Tactile-Language-Action Model for Contact-Rich Manipulation

arXiv 2503.08548 ↗First posted 11 Mar 2025cs.RO cs.CVcited by 46

On the map: Multimodal LLMs / vision-language models → Embodied and 3D vision-language models

Abstract (arXiv)

Significant progress has been made in vision-language models. However, language-conditioned robotic manipulation for contact-rich tasks remains underexplored, particularly in terms of tactile sensing. To address this gap, we introduce the Tactile-Language-Action (TLA) model, which effectively processes sequential tactile feedback via cross-modal language grounding to enable robust policy generation in contact-intensive scenarios. In addition, we construct a comprehensive dataset that contains 24k pairs of tactile action instruction data, customized for fingertip peg-in-hole assembly, providing essential resources for TLA training and evaluation. Our results show that TLA significantly outperforms traditional imitation learning methods (e.g., diffusion policy) in terms of effective action generation and action accuracy, while demonstrating strong generalization capabilities by achieving over 85% success rate on previously unseen assembly clearances and peg shapes. We publicly release all data and code in the hope of advancing research in language-conditioned tactile manipulation skill learning. Project website: https://sites.google.com/view/tactile-language-action/

Key facts. Cited by 46 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Embodied and 3D vision-language models, one of 16 directions in Multimodal LLMs / vision-language models. Builds on 30 of its 48 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 11 Mar 2025.

Builds on

30 of 48 references.

Closest ancestors · 2

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2023Vision-Language Foundation Models as Effective Robot Imitators2 Nov
  2. 2023RT-2: Vision-Language-Action Models Transfer Web Knowledge to Robotic Control28 Jul

Other references · 28

  1. 2015Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognitioncited by 51,809
  2. 2020An Image is Worth 16x16 Words: Transformers for Image Recognition at Scalecited by 29,915
  3. 2021LoRA: Low-Rank Adaptation of Large Language Modelscited by 14,084
  4. 2024Qwen2-VL: Enhancing Vision-Language Model's Perception of the World at Any Resolutioncited by 4,151
  5. 2024OpenVLA: An Open-Source Vision-Language-Action Modelcited by 2,777
  6. 2023Diffusion Policy: Visuomotor Policy Learning via Action Diffusioncited by 2,730
  7. 2024π0: A Vision-Language-Action Flow Model for General Robot Controlcited by 2,297
  8. 2024Qwen2 Technical Reportcited by 2,076
  9. 2024Octo: An Open-Source Generalist Robot Policycited by 1,427
  10. 2025SigLIP 2: Multilingual Vision-Language Encoders with Improved Semantic Understanding, Localization, and Dense Featurescited by 1,127
  11. 2024RDT-1B: a Diffusion Foundation Model for Bimanual Manipulationcited by 670
  12. 2023A Comprehensive Overview of Large Language Modelscited by 639
16 more
  1. 2018Behavioral Cloning from Observationcited by 482
  2. 2023Unleashing Large-Scale Video Generative Pre-training for Visual Robot Manipulationcited by 353
  3. 2024Prismatic VLMs: Investigating the Design Space of Visually-Conditioned Language Modelscited by 336
  4. 2024TinyVLA: Towards Fast, Data-Efficient Vision-Language-Action Models for Robotic Manipulationcited by 331
  5. 2024GR-2: A Generative Video-Language-Action Model with Web-Scale Knowledge for Robot Manipulationcited by 290
  6. 2024An Introduction to Vision-Language Modelingcited by 175
  7. 2024Momentor: Advancing Video Large Language Model with Fine-Grained Temporal Reasoningcited by 122
  8. 2018More Than a Feeling: Learning to Grasp and Regrasp using Vision and Touchcited by 100
  9. 2024Binding Touch to Everything: Learning Unified Multimodal Tactile Representationscited by 94
  10. 2023General In-Hand Object Rotation with Vision and Touchcited by 87
  11. 2019Making Sense of Vision and Touch: Learning Multimodal Representations for Contact-Rich Taskscited by 80
  12. 2024A Touch, Vision, and Language Dataset for Multimodal Alignmentcited by 68
  13. 2021Tactile-RL for Insertion: Generalization to Objects of Unknown Geometrycited by 45
  14. 2025Beyond Sight: Finetuning Generalist Robot Policies with Heterogeneous Sensors via Language Groundingcited by 40
  15. 2024Touch100k: A Large-Scale Touch-Language-Vision Dataset for Touch-Centric Multimodal Representationcited by 27
  16. 2021SwingBot: Learning Physical Features from In-hand Tactile Exploration for Dynamic Swing-up Manipulationcited by 24

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2025: 18; 2026: 28.

46 papers.

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  1. 2025Reason-RFT: Reinforcement Fine-Tuning for Visual Reasoning of Vision Language Modelscited by 92
  2. 2025ForceVLA: Enhancing VLA Models with a Force-aware MoE for Contact-rich Manipulationcited by 87
  3. 2025Vision-Language-Action Models for Robotics: A Review Towards Real-World Applicationscited by 82
  4. 2025Vision-Language-Action (VLA) Models: Concepts, Progress, Applications and Challengescited by 72
  5. 2025Pure Vision Language Action (VLA) Models: A Comprehensive Surveycited by 46
  6. 2026World Action Models: The Next Frontier in Embodied AIcited by 46
  7. 2025Vision Language Action Models in Robotic Manipulation: A Systematic Reviewcited by 38
  8. 2025VLA-Touch: Enhancing Vision-Language-Action Models with Dual-Level Tactile Feedbackcited by 37
  9. 2025OmniVTLA: Vision-Tactile-Language-Action Models with Semantic-Aligned Tactile Sensingcited by 37
  10. 2025RoboOS: A Hierarchical Embodied Framework for Cross-Embodiment and Multi-Agent Collaborationcited by 28
  11. 2026TacVLA: Contact-Aware Tactile Fusion for Robust Vision-Language-Action Manipulationcited by 17
  12. 2025Tactile-VLA: Unlocking Vision-Language-Action Model's Physical Knowledge for Tactile Generalizationcited by 16
34 more
  1. 2026VTAM: Video-Tactile-Action Models for Complex Physical Interaction Beyond VLAscited by 14
  2. 2025A Survey on Imitation Learning for Contact-Rich Tasks in Roboticscited by 12
  3. 2026TaF-VLA: Tactile-Force Alignment in Vision-Language-Action Models for Force-aware Manipulationcited by 11
  4. 2026AnyTouch 2: General Optical Tactile Representation Learning For Dynamic Tactile Perceptioncited by 11
  5. 2025VisualTrans: A Benchmark for Real-World Visual Transformation Reasoningcited by 9
  6. 2026AT-VLA: Adaptive Tactile Injection for Enhanced Feedback Reaction in Vision-Language-Action Modelscited by 9
  7. 2025Survey of Vision-Language-Action Models for Embodied Manipulationcited by 7
  8. 2026ForceFlow: Learning to Feel and Act via Contact-Driven Flow Matchingcited by 5
  9. 2025Vision-EKIPL: External Knowledge-Infused Policy Learning for Visual Reasoningcited by 4
  10. 2025Uni-Hand: Universal Hand Motion Forecasting in Egocentric Viewscited by 4
  11. 2025An Anatomy of Vision-Language-Action Models: From Modules to Milestones and Challengescited by 4
  12. 2026Action-Sketcher: From Reasoning to Action via Visual Sketches for Long-Horizon Robotic Manipulationcited by 4
  13. 2026TORL-VLA: Tactile Guided Online Reinforcement Learning for Contact-Rich Manipulationcited by 4
  14. 2026UniTacVLA: Unified Tactile Understanding and Prediction in Vision Language Action Modelscited by 4
  15. 2026Human-Centric Transferable Tactile Pre-Training for Dexterous Robotic Manipulationcited by 4
  16. 2026TacCoRL: Integrating Tactile Feedback into VLA via Simulationcited by 3
  17. 2025Collaborative Representation Learning for Alignment of Tactile, Language, and Vision Modalitiescited by 2
  18. 2026Tactile Modality Fusion for Vision-Language-Action Modelscited by 2
  19. 2026Towards Backdoor-Based Ownership Verification for Vision-Language-Action Modelscited by 2
  20. 2026Tactile-based Multimodal Fusion in Embodied Intelligence: A Survey of Vision, Language, and Contact-Driven Paradigmscited by 2
  21. 2026N0-TWAM: Scaling Tactile-Native World-Action Model for Contact-Rich Manipulationcited by 2
  22. 2026Bench2Dex: Benchmarking Visuo-Tactile Bimanual Dexterous Manipulation Across Dexterous Handscited by 2
  23. 2025Audio-VLA: Adding Contact Audio Perception to Vision-Language-Action Model for Robotic Manipulationcited by 1
  24. 2026Selective Perception for Robot: Task-Aware Attention in Multimodal VLAcited by 1
  25. 2026ThermoAct:Thermal-Aware Vision-Language-Action Models for Robotic Perception and Decision-Makingcited by 1
  26. 2026CoRAL: Contact-Rich Adaptive LLM-based Control for Robotic Manipulationcited by 1
  27. 2026HapTile: A Haptic-Informed Vision-Tactile-Language-Action Dataset for Contact-Rich Imitation Learningcited by 1
  28. 2026FWBC-VLA: Force-Aware Whole-Body Compensation for Contact-Rich Loco-Manipulationcited by 1
  29. 2026TAP-VLA: Tactile Annotation Prompting for Vision Language Action Modelscited by 0
  30. 2026What Language Does and What the Evidence Supports: A Functional Role Taxonomy and Evidence Audit of Language Grounding in Embodied Agentscited by 0
  31. 2026PhaseLoRA: Control-Regime-Conditioned Low-Rank Adaptation for Continuous-Action Vision-Language-Action Policiescited by 0
  32. 2026Language-Guided Representation Learning for Robust Cross-Sensor Material Recognitioncited by 0
  33. 2026TAO-Force: Unifying Force-Aware Perception and Fast-Slow Control for Contact-Rich Manipulationcited by 0
  34. 2026TacDyn-WAM: Learning Implicit Tactile Dynamics in a Heterogeneous Visuo-Tactile World Action Modelcited by 0

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2025VTLA: Vision-Tactile-Language-Action Model with Preference Learning for Insertion Manipulation
  2. 2026SimpleTouch: Can Vision-Language-Action Models Master Contact-Rich Manipulation Without Tactile Policy Pretraining?
  3. 2026N0-VTLA: Scaling Vision-Tactile-Language-Action Model with Latent Tactile Tokens
  4. 2026ForeTac-VLA: A Forecasting-Based Tactile-Vision-Language-Action Model for Contact-Rich Robotic Manipulation
  5. 2026τ: Learning Touch-Augmented Vision-Language-Action Models from Future Visual Supervision
  6. 2026T-Rex: Tactile-Reactive Dexterous Manipulation
  7. 2026HapticVLA: Contact-Rich Manipulation via Vision-Language-Action Model without Inference-Time Tactile Sensing
  8. 2026Representation-Aligned Tactile Grounding for Contact-Rich Robotic Manipulation ↗