# TesserAct: Learning 4D Embodied World Models

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.20995 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.20995/

## Key facts

- Cited by 94 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Embodied and robot world models, one of 11 directions in World models.
- Builds on 60 of its 78 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 29 Apr 2025.

## Placed in

- World models / [Embodied and robot world models](https://mlsanity.com/wm/embodied-and-robot-world-models/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 60)

- [Learning Transferable Visual Models From Natural Language Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.00020/) (2021)
- [Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.11239/) (2020)
- [High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.10752/) (2021)
- [3D Gaussian Splatting for Real-Time Radiance Field Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.04079/) (2023)
- [Scalable Diffusion Models with Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.09748/) (2022)
- [Neural Discrete Representation Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.00937/) (2017)
- [PointNet++: Deep Hierarchical Feature Learning on Point Sets in a Metric Space](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.02413/) (2017)
- [Zero-Shot Text-to-Image Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.12092/) (2021)
- [RT-2: Vision-Language-Action Models Transfer Web Knowledge to Robotic Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.15818/) (2023)
- [OpenVLA: An Open-Source Vision-Language-Action Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.09246/) (2024)
- [RAFT: Recurrent All-Pairs Field Transforms for Optical Flow](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.12039/) (2020)
- [CogVideoX: Text-to-Video Diffusion Models with An Expert Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.06072/) (2024)
- [RT-1: Robotics Transformer for Real-World Control at Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.06817/) (2022)
- [The "something something" video database for learning and evaluating visual common sense](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.04261/) (2017)
- [Planning with Diffusion for Flexible Behavior Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.09991/) (2022)
- [Mastering Atari with Discrete World Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.02193/) (2020)
- [WorldSimBench: Towards Video Generation Models as World Simulators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.18072/) (2024)
- [Recurrent World Models Facilitate Policy Evolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1809.01999/) (2018)
- [Genie: Generative Interactive Environments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.15391/) (2024)
- [SpatialVLM: Endowing Vision-Language Models with Spatial Reasoning Capabilities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.12168/) (2024)
- [Point-E: A System for Generating 3D Point Clouds from Complex Prompts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.08751/) (2022)
- [RLBench: The Robot Learning Benchmark & Learning Environment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.12271/) (2019)
- [ZoeDepth: Zero-shot Transfer by Combining Relative and Metric Depth](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.12288/) (2023)
- [BridgeData V2: A Dataset for Robot Learning at Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.12952/) (2023)
- [BC-Z: Zero-Shot Task Generalization with Robotic Imitation Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.02005/) (2022)
- [Learning Universal Policies via Text-Guided Video Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.00111/) (2023)
- [Learning Interactive Real-World Simulators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.06114/) (2023)
- [VIMA: General Robot Manipulation with Multimodal Prompts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.03094/) (2022)
- [An Embodied Generalist Agent in 3D World](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.12871/) (2023)
- [Transformers are Sample-Efficient World Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.00588/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 94)

- [Geometry Forcing: Marrying Video Diffusion and 3D Representation for Consistent World Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.07982/) (2025)
- [PointWorld: Scaling 3D World Models for In-The-Wild Robotic Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.03782/) (2026)
- [Vid2World: Crafting Video Diffusion Models to Interactive World Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.14357/) (2025)
- [WorldArena: A Unified Benchmark for Evaluating Perception and Functional Utility of Embodied World Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.08971/) (2026)
- [Unified 4D World Action Modeling from Video Priors with Asynchronous Denoising](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.26694/) (2026)
- [Large Video Planner Enables Generalizable Robot Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.15840/) (2025)
- [A Comprehensive Survey on World Models for Embodied AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.16732/) (2025)
- [GigaWorld-0: World Models as Data Engine to Empower Embodied AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.19861/) (2025)
- [A Survey: Learning Embodied Intelligence from Physical Simulators and World Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.00917/) (2025)
- [World Action Models: The Next Frontier in Embodied AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.12090/) (2026)
- [World-in-World: World Models in a Closed-Loop World](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.18135/) (2025)
- [World Model for Robot Learning: A Comprehensive Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.00080/) (2026)
- [GigaBrain-0: A World Model-Powered Vision-Language-Action Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.19430/) (2025)
- [RoboScape: Physics-informed Embodied World Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.23135/) (2025)
- [VRAG: Learning World Models for Interactive Video Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.21996/) (2025)
- [ImageWAM: Do World Action Models Really Need Video Generation, or Just Image Editing?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.19531/) (2026)
- [3DFlowAction: Learning Cross-Embodiment Manipulation from 3D Flow World Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.06199/) (2025)
- [Learning Video Generation for Robotic Manipulation with Collaborative Trajectory Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.01943/) (2025)
- [4DNeX: Feed-Forward 4D Generative Modeling Made Easy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.13154/) (2025)
- [Multimodal Spatial Reasoning in the Large Model Era: A Survey and Benchmarks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.25760/) (2025)
- [Rethinking Video Generation Model for the Embodied World](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.15282/) (2026)
- [Learning 3D Persistent Embodied World Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.05495/) (2025)
- [Xiaomi-Robotics-1: Scaling Vision-Language-Action Models with over 100K Hours of Real-World Trajectories](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.15330/) (2026)
- [Advances in Feed-Forward 3D Reconstruction and View Synthesis: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.14501/) (2025)
- [Geometry-aware 4D Video Generation for Robot Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.01099/) (2025)
- [WristWorld: Generating Wrist-Views via 4D World Models for Robotic Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.07313/) (2025)
- [MultiWorld: Scalable Multi-Agent Multi-View Video World Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.18564/) (2026)
- [Robot Learning from a Physical World Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.07416/) (2025)
- [ORV: 4D Occupancy-centric Robot Video Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.03079/) (2025)
- [MVISTA-4D: View-Consistent 4D World Model with Test-Time Action Inference for Robotic Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.09878/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

This paper presents an effective approach for learning novel 4D embodied world models, which predict the dynamic evolution of 3D scenes over time in response to an embodied agent's actions, providing both spatial and temporal consistency. We propose to learn a 4D world model by training on RGB-DN (RGB, Depth, and Normal) videos. This not only surpasses traditional 2D models by incorporating detailed shape, configuration, and temporal changes into their predictions, but also allows us to effectively learn accurate inverse dynamic models for an embodied agent. Specifically, we first extend existing robotic manipulation video datasets with depth and normal information leveraging off-the-shelf models. Next, we fine-tune a video generation model on this annotated dataset, which jointly predicts RGB-DN (RGB, Depth, and Normal) for each frame. We then present an algorithm to directly convert generated RGB, Depth, and Normal videos into a high-quality 4D scene of the world. Our method ensures temporal and spatial coherence in 4D scene predictions from embodied scenarios, enables novel view synthesis for embodied environments, and facilitates policy learning that significantly outperforms those derived from prior video-based world models.