mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

WoW: Towards a World omniscient World model Through Embodied Interaction

arXiv 2509.22642 ↗First posted 26 Sep 2025cs.RO cs.CV cs.MMcited by 67

On the map: World models → Latent predictive world models

Abstract (arXiv)

Humans develop an understanding of intuitive physics through active interaction with the world. This approach is in stark contrast to current video models, such as Sora, which rely on passive observation and therefore struggle with grasping physical causality. This observation leads to our central hypothesis: authentic physical intuition of the world model must be grounded in extensive, causally rich interactions with the real world. To test this hypothesis, we present WoW, a 14-billion-parameter generative world model trained on 2 million robot interaction trajectories. Our findings reveal that the model's understanding of physics is a probabilistic distribution of plausible outcomes, leading to stochastic instabilities and physical hallucinations. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this emergent capability can be actively constrained toward physical realism by SOPHIA, where vision-language model agents evaluate the DiT-generated output and guide its refinement by iteratively evolving the language instructions. In addition, a co-trained Inverse Dynamics Model translates these refined plans into executable robotic actions, thus closing the imagination-to-action loop. We establish WoWBench, a new benchmark focused on physical consistency and causal reasoning in video, where WoW achieves state-of-the-art performance in both human and autonomous evaluation, demonstrating strong ability in physical causality, collision dynamics, and object permanence. Our work provides systematic evidence that large-scale, real-world interaction is a cornerstone for developing physical intuition in AI. Models, data, and benchmarks will be open-sourced.

Key facts. Cited by 67 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in Latent predictive world models, one of 11 directions in World models. Builds on 79 of its 105 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 26 Sep 2025.

Builds on

79 of 105 references.

Closest ancestors · 2

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2024Revisiting Feature Prediction for Learning Visual Representations from Video15 Feb
  2. 2018Learning Latent Dynamics for Planning from Pixels12 Nov

Other references · 77

  1. 2021Learning Transferable Visual Models From Natural Language Supervisioncited by 33,744
  2. 2019Exploring the Limits of Transfer Learning with a Unified Text-to-Text Transformercited by 14,599
  3. 2023DINOv2: Learning Robust Visual Features without Supervisioncited by 7,974
  4. 2022Scalable Diffusion Models with Transformerscited by 6,054
  5. 2025Gemini 2.5: Pushing the Frontier with Advanced Reasoning, Multimodality, Long Context, and Next Generation Agentic Capabilitiescited by 3,796
  6. 2024OpenVLA: An Open-Source Vision-Language-Action Modelcited by 2,887
  7. 2023Diffusion Policy: Visuomotor Policy Learning via Action Diffusioncited by 2,838
  8. 2025Wan: Open and Advanced Large-Scale Video Generative Modelscited by 2,708
  9. 2024CogVideoX: Text-to-Video Diffusion Models with An Expert Transformercited by 2,261
  10. 2016Understanding deep learning requires rethinking generalizationcited by 1,674
  11. 2019Dream to Control: Learning Behaviors by Latent Imaginationcited by 1,653
  12. 2023Learning Fine-Grained Bimanual Manipulation with Low-Cost Hardwarecited by 1,568
38 more
  1. 2025VGGT: Visual Geometry Grounded Transformercited by 1,539
  2. 2018World Modelscited by 1,513
  3. 2023Mastering Diverse Domains through World Modelscited by 1,253
  4. 2018Towards Accurate Generative Models of Video: A New Metric & Challengescited by 1,234
  5. 2025Cosmos World Foundation Model Platform for Physical AIcited by 864
  6. 2024DROID: A Large-Scale In-The-Wild Robot Manipulation Datasetcited by 852
  7. 2025V-JEPA 2: Self-Supervised Video Models Enable Understanding, Prediction and Planningcited by 809
  8. 2023CRITIC: Large Language Models Can Self-Correct with Tool-Interactive Critiquingcited by 783
  9. 2024Genie: Generative Interactive Environmentscited by 747
  10. 2024Representation Alignment for Generation: Training Diffusion Transformers Is Easier Than You Thinkcited by 703
  11. 2023Automatic Prompt Optimization with "Gradient Descent" and Beam Searchcited by 653
  12. 2023GAIA-1: A Generative World Model for Autonomous Drivingcited by 637
  13. 2024Thinking in Space: How Multimodal Large Language Models See, Remember, and Recall Spacescited by 611
  14. 2025GEPA: Reflective Prompt Evolution Can Outperform Reinforcement Learningcited by 542
  15. 2019Confident Learning: Estimating Uncertainty in Dataset Labelscited by 413
  16. 2025AgiBot World Colosseo: A Large-scale Manipulation Platform for Scalable and Intelligent Embodied Systemscited by 405
  17. 2024MLLM-as-a-Judge: Assessing Multimodal LLM-as-a-Judge with Vision-Language Benchmarkcited by 372
  18. 2024TempCompass: Do Video LLMs Really Understand Videos?cited by 363
  19. 2025VBench-2.0: Advancing Video Generation Benchmark Suite for Intrinsic Faithfulnesscited by 315
  20. 2023UniSim: A Neural Closed-Loop Sensor Simulatorcited by 297
  21. 2024Video Prediction Policy: A Generalist Robot Policy with Predictive Visual Representationscited by 289
  22. 2024TextGrad: Automatic "Differentiation" via Textcited by 273
  23. 2023Large Language Models as Commonsense Knowledge for Large-Scale Task Planningcited by 231
  24. 2025EmbodiedBench: Comprehensive Benchmarking Multi-modal Large Language Models for Vision-Driven Embodied Agentscited by 221
  25. 2024RoboMIND: Benchmark on Multi-embodiment Intelligence Normative Data for Robot Manipulationcited by 175
  26. 2023Learning to Act from Actionless Videos through Dense Correspondencescited by 164
  27. 2025Cosmos-Reason1: From Physical Common Sense To Embodied Reasoningcited by 164
  28. 2025Do generative video models understand physical principles?cited by 161
  29. 2025PhysBench: Benchmarking and Enhancing Vision-Language Models for Physical World Understandingcited by 160
  30. 2025WorldScore: A Unified Evaluation Benchmark for World Generationcited by 156
  31. 2025Goedel-Prover-V2: Scaling Formal Theorem Proving with Scaffolded Data Synthesis and Self-Correctioncited by 154
  32. 2025VideoPhy-2: A Challenging Action-Centric Physical Commonsense Evaluation in Video Generationcited by 149
  33. 2024LLM Critics Help Catch LLM Bugscited by 147
  34. 2024Draw-and-Understand: Leveraging Visual Prompts to Enable MLLMs to Comprehend What You Wantcited by 101
  35. 2025A Survey on Vision-Language-Action Models: An Action Tokenization Perspectivecited by 96
  36. 2023System 2 Attention (is something you might need too)cited by 89
  37. 2024Prover-Verifier Games improve legibility of LLM outputscited by 85
  38. 2023EgoPlan-Bench: Benchmarking Multimodal Large Language Models for Human-Level Planningcited by 69

50 most cited of 77 All 77 (JSON)

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Cited by year (2026 to 14 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2025: 9; 2026: 58.

67 papers.

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  1. 2025Ctrl-World: A Controllable Generative World Model for Robot Manipulationcited by 167
  2. 2026WorldArena: A Unified Benchmark for Evaluating Perception and Functional Utility of Embodied World Modelscited by 76
  3. 2026World Action Models: The Next Frontier in Embodied AIcited by 50
  4. 2026World Model for Robot Learning: A Comprehensive Surveycited by 46
  5. 2026MIND: Benchmarking Memory Consistency and Action Control in World Modelscited by 35
  6. 2026ABot-PhysWorld: Interactive World Foundation Model for Robotic Manipulation with Physics Alignmentcited by 29
  7. 2025Robobench: A Comprehensive Evaluation Benchmark for Multimodal Large Language Models as Embodied Braincited by 25
  8. 2025WristWorld: Generating Wrist-Views via 4D World Models for Robotic Manipulationcited by 23
  9. 2026MultiWorld: Scalable Multi-Agent Multi-View Video World Modelscited by 23
  10. 2025Seeing Across Views: Benchmarking Spatial Reasoning of Vision-Language Models in Robotic Scenescited by 20
  11. 2025TiViBench: Benchmarking Think-in-Video Reasoning for Video Generative Modelscited by 19
  12. 2026RoboWM-Bench: A Benchmark for Evaluating World Models in Robotic Manipulationcited by 19
38 more
  1. 2026Dream-Tac: A Unified Tactile World Action Model for Contact-Rich Robot Manipulationcited by 19
  2. 2026World Action Verifier: Self-Improving World Models via Forward-Inverse Asymmetrycited by 18
  3. 2026Mask World Model: Predicting What Matters for Robust Robot Policy Learningcited by 17
  4. 2026Scaling World Model for Hierarchical Manipulation Policiescited by 16
  5. 2026WAM4D: Fast 4D World Action Model via Spatial Register Tokenscited by 15
  6. 2026EVA: Aligning Video World Models with Executable Robot Actions via Inverse Dynamics Rewardscited by 14
  7. 2025Video2Act: A Dual-System Video Diffusion Policy with Robotic Spatio-Motional Modelingcited by 13
  8. 2026Wow, wo, val! A Comprehensive Embodied World Model Evaluation Turing Testcited by 13
  9. 2026PhysicsMind: Sim and Real Mechanics Benchmarking for Physical Reasoning and Prediction in Foundational VLMs and World Modelscited by 11
  10. 2026Prisma-World: Camera-Controllable Multi-Agent Video World Modelcited by 11
  11. 2026Making Foresight Actionable: Repurposing Representation Alignment in World Action Modelscited by 11
  12. 2026RoboStereo: Dual-Tower 4D Embodied World Models for Unified Policy Optimizationcited by 10
  13. 2026Hi-WM: Human-in-the-World-Model for Scalable Robot Post-Trainingcited by 10
  14. 2026STARRY: Spatial-Temporal Action-Centric World Modeling for Robotic Manipulationcited by 10
  15. 2026HarmoWAM: Harmonizing Generalizable and Precise Manipulation via Adaptive World Action Modelscited by 10
  16. 2026WorldArena 2.0: Extending Embodied World Model Benchmarking on Modality, Functionality and Platformcited by 10
  17. 2026PhysisForcing: Physics Reinforced World Simulator for Robotic Manipulationcited by 10
  18. 2025MIND-V: Hierarchical World Model for Long-Horizon Robotic Manipulation with RL-based Physical Alignmentcited by 9
  19. 2026ReWorld: Multi-Dimensional Reward Modeling for Embodied World Modelscited by 8
  20. 2026TC-IDM: Grounding Video Generation for Executable Zero-shot Robot Motioncited by 8
  21. 2026Pelican-Unify 1.0: A Unified Embodied Intelligence Model for Understanding, Reasoning, Imagination and Actioncited by 8
  22. 2026Towards Interactive Video World Modeling: Frontiers, Challenges, Benchmarks, and Future Trendscited by 8
  23. 2026WAM-TTT: Steering World-Action Models by Watching Human Play at Test Timecited by 8
  24. 2025Towards High-Consistency Embodied World Model with Multi-View Trajectory Videoscited by 6
  25. 2026VAG: Dual-Stream Video-Action Generation for Embodied Data Synthesiscited by 6
  26. 2026WorldOlympiad: Can Your World Model Survive a Triathlon?cited by 6
  27. 2026MV-WAM: Manifold-Aware World Action Model with Value Augmentationcited by 6
  28. 2026Aligning Agentic World Models via Knowledgeable Experience Learningcited by 5
  29. 2026MME-CoF-Pro: Evaluating Reasoning Coherence in Video Generative Models with Text and Visual Hintscited by 5
  30. 2026Nano World Models: A Minimalist Implementation of Future Video Predictioncited by 5
  31. 2026ViTacWorld: Scaling Visuo-Tactile World Models for Contact-Rich Robot Manipulationcited by 5
  32. 2026Improving Robustness of Vision-Language-Action Models by Restoring Corrupted Visual Inputscited by 4
  33. 2025AdaPower: Specializing World Foundation Models for Predictive Manipulationcited by 3
  34. 2026OpenWorldLib: A Unified Codebase and Definition of Advanced World Modelscited by 3
  35. 2026PanoWorld: Geometry-Consistent Panoramic Video World Modelingcited by 3
  36. 2026AnchorWorld: Embodied Egocentric World Simulation with View-based Evolution Customizationcited by 3
  37. 2026BWM: A Low-Cost High-Fidelity World Simulator for Robot Learningcited by 3
  38. 2026From Imagined Futures to Executable Actions: Mixture of Latent Actions for Robot Manipulationcited by 2

50 most cited of 67 All 67 (JSON)

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  1. 2026From Generative Engines to Actionable Simulators: The Imperative of Physical Grounding in World Models
  2. 2025WorldLens: Full-Spectrum Evaluations of Driving World Models in Real World
  3. 2026WorldBench: Benchmarking Physical Understanding of World Models by Isolating Physics Concepts
  4. 2026InternW0: A Foundational Physical World Model for Efficient Real-World Interactions
  5. 2026Physically Viable World Models: A Case for Query-Conditioned Embodied AI
  6. 2025World-in-World: World Models in a Closed-Loop World
  7. 2026Physically Native World Models: A Hamiltonian Perspective on Generative World Modeling
  8. 2026Robotic Video World Models: A Survey of Applications, Research Challenges, Future Directions