mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Boosting Virtual Agent Learning and Reasoning: A Step-Wise, Multi-Dimensional, and Generalist Reward Model with Benchmark

arXiv 2503.18665 ↗First posted 24 Mar 2025cs.CVcited by 9

On the map: LLM alignment / RLHF / preference optimisation → Process reward models for reasoning

Abstract (arXiv)

The development of Generalist Virtual Agents (GVAs) has shown significant promise in autonomous task execution. However, current training paradigms face critical limitations, including reliance on outcome supervision and labor-intensive human annotations. To address these challenges, we propose Similar, a Step-Wise Multi-Dimensional Generalist Reward Model, which offers fine-grained signals for agent training and can choose better action for inference-time scaling. Specifically, we begin by systematically defining five dimensions for evaluating agent actions. Building on this framework, we design an MCTS-P algorithm to automatically collect and annotate step-wise, five-dimensional agent execution data. Using this data, we train Similar with the Triple-M strategy. Furthermore, we introduce the first benchmark in the virtual agent domain for step-wise, multi-dimensional reward model training and evaluation, named SRM. This benchmark consists of two components: SRMTrain, which serves as the training set for Similar, and SRMEval, a manually selected test set for evaluating the reward model. Experimental results demonstrate that Similar, through its step-wise, multi-dimensional assessment and synergistic gain, provides GVAs with effective intermediate signals during both training and inference-time scaling. The project is available at https://github.com/antgroup/Similar.

Key facts. Cited by 9 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Process reward models for reasoning, one of 10 directions in LLM alignment / RLHF / preference optimisation. Builds on 41 of its 52 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 24 Mar 2025.

Builds on

41 of 52 references.

Closest ancestors · 3

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2024Step-DPO: Step-wise Preference Optimization for Long-chain Reasoning of LLMs26 Jun
  2. 2024Chain of Preference Optimization: Improving Chain-of-Thought Reasoning in LLMs13 Jun
  3. 2024ReST-MCTS*: LLM Self-Training via Process Reward Guided Tree Search6 Jun

Other references · 38

  1. 2023Direct Preference Optimization: Your Language Model is Secretly a Reward Modelcited by 7,916
  2. 2024GPT-4o System Cardcited by 4,467
  3. 2024Qwen2-VL: Enhancing Vision-Language Model's Perception of the World at Any Resolutioncited by 4,151
  4. 2023Let's Verify Step by Stepcited by 3,598
  5. 2024Scaling LLM Test-Time Compute Optimally can be More Effective than Scaling Model Parameterscited by 1,928
  6. 2023WebArena: A Realistic Web Environment for Building Autonomous Agentscited by 1,908
  7. 2023Mind2Web: Towards a Generalist Agent for the Webcited by 1,210
  8. 2023HuggingGPT: Solving AI Tasks with ChatGPT and its Friends in Hugging Facecited by 1,173
  9. 2023NExT-GPT: Any-to-Any Multimodal LLMcited by 610
  10. 2017A Brief Survey of Deep Reinforcement Learningcited by 466
  11. 2024Improve Mathematical Reasoning in Language Models by Automated Process Supervisioncited by 426
  12. 2024WebVoyager: Building an End-to-End Web Agent with Large Multimodal Modelscited by 424
26 more
  1. 2023Scaling Relationship on Learning Mathematical Reasoning with Large Language Modelscited by 417
  2. 2024Navigating the Digital World as Humans Do: Universal Visual Grounding for GUI Agentscited by 373
  3. 2024OS-ATLAS: A Foundation Action Model for Generalist GUI Agentscited by 370
  4. 2024Interpretable Preferences via Multi-Objective Reward Modeling and Mixture-of-Expertscited by 369
  5. 2023Android in the Wild: A Large-Scale Dataset for Android Device Controlcited by 314
  6. 2022Making Large Language Models Better Reasoners with Step-Aware Verifiercited by 231
  7. 2024Trial and Error: Exploration-Based Trajectory Optimization for LLM Agentscited by 194
  8. 2024UFO: A UI-Focused Agent for Windows OS Interactioncited by 147
  9. 2023HalluciDoctor: Mitigating Hallucinatory Toxicity in Visual Instruction Datacited by 124
  10. 2022A data-driven approach for learning to control computerscited by 87
  11. 2023OVM, Outcome-supervised Value Models for Planning in Mathematical Reasoningcited by 84
  12. 2023Fine-tuning Multimodal LLMs to Follow Zero-shot Demonstrative Instructionscited by 76
  13. 2025InternLM-XComposer2.5-Reward: A Simple Yet Effective Multi-Modal Reward Modelcited by 73
  14. 2022Fine-Grained Semantically Aligned Vision-Language Pre-Trainingcited by 68
  15. 2024A Comparative Study on Reasoning Patterns of OpenAI's o1 Modelcited by 62
  16. 2022A Dataset for Interactive Vision-Language Navigation with Unknown Command Feasibilitycited by 61
  17. 2024Multi-step Problem Solving Through a Verifier: An Empirical Analysis on Model-induced Process Supervisioncited by 51
  18. 2021Grounding Open-Domain Instructions to Automate Web Support Taskscited by 43
  19. 2019Unsupervised Reinforcement Learning of Transferable Meta-Skills for Embodied Navigationcited by 39
  20. 2023Visually-Prompted Language Model for Fine-Grained Scene Graph Generation in an Open Worldcited by 35
  21. 2024Auto-Encoding Morph-Tokens for Multimodal LLMcited by 30
  22. 2024Enhancing Decision-Making for LLM Agents via Step-Level Q-Value Modelscited by 28
  23. 2024TRAD: Enhancing LLM Agents with Step-Wise Thought Retrieval and Aligned Decisioncited by 23
  24. 2023Variational Cross-Graph Reasoning and Adaptive Structured Semantics Learning for Compositional Temporal Groundingcited by 19
  25. 2024Towards Unified Multimodal Editing with Enhanced Knowledge Collaborationcited by 18
  26. 2024Robust Modality-incomplete Anomaly Detection: A Modality-instructive Framework with Benchmarkcited by 3

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2025: 4; 2026: 5.

9 papers.

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2026Exploring Reasoning Reward Model for Agents
  2. 2026AgentV-RL: Scaling Reward Modeling with Agentic Verifier
  3. 2026Skill-RM: Unifying Heterogeneous Evaluation Criteria via Agent Skill
  4. 2026NitroGen: An Open Foundation Model for Generalist Gaming Agents
  5. 2026OSReward: Instituting Standardized Evaluation for Cross-Platform Computer-Use Reward Models
  6. 2025Process Reward Models for LLM Agents: Practical Framework and Directions
  7. 2025Agent-RewardBench: Towards a Unified Benchmark for Reward Modeling across Perception, Planning, and Safety in Real-World Multimodal Agents
  8. 2025Multi-Agent Collaborative Reward Design for Enhancing Reasoning in Reinforcement Learning