Modality-Composable Diffusion Policy via Inference-Time Distribution-level Composition
On the map: Diffusion models → Diffusion and flow policies for robotics
Abstract (arXiv)
Diffusion Policy (DP) has attracted significant attention as an effective method for policy representation due to its capacity to model multi-distribution dynamics. However, current DPs are often based on a single visual modality (e.g., RGB or point cloud), limiting their accuracy and generalization potential. Although training a generalized DP capable of handling heterogeneous multimodal data would enhance performance, it entails substantial computational and data-related costs. To address these challenges, we propose a novel policy composition method: by leveraging multiple pre-trained DPs based on individual visual modalities, we can combine their distributional scores to form a more expressive Modality-Composable Diffusion Policy (MCDP), without the need for additional training. Through extensive empirical experiments on the RoboTwin dataset, we demonstrate the potential of MCDP to improve both adaptability and performance. This exploration aims to provide valuable insights into the flexible composition of existing DPs, facilitating the development of generalizable cross-modality, cross-domain, and even cross-embodiment policies. Our code is open-sourced at https://github.com/AndyCao1125/MCDP.
Key facts. Cited by 7 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in Diffusion and flow policies for robotics, one of 14 directions in Diffusion models. Builds on 30 of its 36 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 16 Mar 2025.
Builds on
30 of 36 references.
Closest ancestors · 8
Same direction, newest first
- 2024RDT-1B: a Diffusion Foundation Model for Bimanual Manipulation10 Oct
- 2024Scaling Diffusion Policy in Transformer to 1 Billion Parameters for Robotic Manipulation22 Sep
- 2024Mamba Policy: Towards Efficient 3D Diffusion Policy with Hybrid Selective State Models11 Sep
- 2024Multimodal Diffusion Transformer: Learning Versatile Behavior from Multimodal Goals8 Jul
- 2024Versatile Navigation under Partial Observability via Value-guided Diffusion Policy1 Apr
- 20243D Diffusion Policy: Generalizable Visuomotor Policy Learning via Simple 3D Representations6 Mar
- 2023NoMaD: Goal Masked Diffusion Policies for Navigation and Exploration11 Oct
- 2023Diffusion Policy: Visuomotor Policy Learning via Action Diffusion7 Mar
Other references · 22
- 2020Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Modelscited by 21,076
- 2020Denoising Diffusion Implicit Modelscited by 9,781
- 2020Score-Based Generative Modeling through Stochastic Differential Equationscited by 9,122
- 2022Classifier-Free Diffusion Guidancecited by 5,847
- 2021Improved Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Modelscited by 3,761
- 2024OpenVLA: An Open-Source Vision-Language-Action Modelcited by 2,887
- 2024π0: A Vision-Language-Action Flow Model for General Robot Controlcited by 2,407
- 2023Improving Factuality and Reasoning in Language Models through Multiagent Debatecited by 1,784
- 2024Octo: An Open-Source Generalist Robot Policycited by 1,484
- 2022Planning with Diffusion for Flexible Behavior Synthesiscited by 1,061
- 2024Prismatic VLMs: Investigating the Design Space of Visually-Conditioned Language Modelscited by 339
- 2022Analytic-DPM: an Analytic Estimate of the Optimal Reverse Variance in Diffusion Probabilistic Modelscited by 334
10 more
- 2024Video Prediction Policy: A Generalist Robot Policy with Predictive Visual Representationscited by 289
- 2024RoboMIND: Benchmark on Multi-embodiment Intelligence Normative Data for Robot Manipulationcited by 175
- 2021Learning to Compose Visual Relationscited by 72
- 2024RoboTwin: Dual-Arm Robot Benchmark with Generative Digital Twins (early version)cited by 69
- 2023Waypoint-Based Imitation Learning for Robotic Manipulationcited by 61
- 2025EnerVerse: Envisioning Embodied Future Space for Robotics Manipulationcited by 61
- 2024PoCo: Policy Composition from and for Heterogeneous Robot Learningcited by 42
- 2024Compositional Generative Modeling: A Single Model is Not All You Needcited by 41
- 2024Potential Based Diffusion Motion Planningcited by 41
- 2023Compositional Diffusion-Based Continuous Constraint Solverscited by 40
Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2025: 3; 2026: 4.
7 papers.
- 2025Multi-Modal Manipulation via Multi-Modal Policy Consensuscited by 13
- 2025Compose Your Policies! Improving Diffusion-based or Flow-based Robot Policies via Test-time Distribution-level Compositioncited by 9
- 2025Projected Coupled Diffusion for Test-Time Constrained Joint Generationcited by 7
- 2026Factored Diffusion Policies:Compositionally Generalized Robot Control with a Single Score Networkcited by 2
- 2026RAPID: Reconfigurable, Adaptive Platform for Iterative Designcited by 0
- 2026Encoded but Not in Control: Revealing the Grounding Gap in Vision-Language Robot Policiescited by 0
- 2026One for All, All for One: Coordinated Multi-Agent Diffusion Steering via Stochastic Optimal Controlcited by 0
- 2026One for All, All for One: Coordinated Multi-Agent Diffusion Steering via Stochastic Optimal Control6 Oct 2026
- 2026Encoded but Not in Control: Revealing the Grounding Gap in Vision-Language Robot Policies5 Oct 2026
- 2026Factored Diffusion Policies:Compositionally Generalized Robot Control with a Single Score Network21 May 2026
- 2026RAPID: Reconfigurable, Adaptive Platform for Iterative Design6 Feb 2026
- 2025Compose Your Policies! Improving Diffusion-based or Flow-based Robot Policies via Test-time Distribution-level Composition1 Oct 2025
- 2025Multi-Modal Manipulation via Multi-Modal Policy Consensus27 Sep 2025
- 2025Projected Coupled Diffusion for Test-Time Constrained Joint Generation14 Aug 2025
Similar, not cited
Close in wording, no citation either way
- 2025Factorizing Diffusion Policies for Observation Modality Prioritization
- 2026Asynchronous Multimodal Diffusion Policy Composition via Latency-Aware Guidance Fusion
- 2026Immiscible Diffusion Policy: Preserving Multimodal Robot Actions through Label-Free Noise Assignment
- 2025Dual-Stream Diffusion for World-Model Augmented Vision-Language-Action Model
- 2025MMaDA: Multimodal Large Diffusion Language Models
- 2025Conditioning Matters: Training Diffusion Policies is Faster Than You Think
- 2025Freeze, Share, Shrink: Rethinking the Action Backbone in Diffusion Policies
- 2026Sketch Then Paint: Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning for Diffusion Multi-Modal Large Language Models