Improving Generative Behavior Cloning via Self-Guidance and Adaptive Chunking
On the map: Diffusion models → Diffusion and flow policies for robotics
Abstract (arXiv)
Generative Behavior Cloning (GBC) is a simple yet effective framework for robot learning, particularly in multi-task settings. Recent GBC methods often employ diffusion policies with open-loop (OL) control, where actions are generated via a diffusion process and executed in multi-step chunks without replanning. While this approach has demonstrated strong success rates and generalization, its inherent stochasticity can result in erroneous action sampling, occasionally leading to unexpected task failures. Moreover, OL control suffers from delayed responses, which can degrade performance in noisy or dynamic environments. To address these limitations, we propose two novel techniques to enhance the consistency and reactivity of diffusion policies: (1) self-guidance, which improves action fidelity by leveraging past observations and implicitly promoting future-aware behavior; and (2) adaptive chunking, which selectively updates action sequences when the benefits of reactivity outweigh the need for temporal consistency. Extensive experiments show that our approach substantially improves GBC performance across a wide range of simulated and real-world robotic manipulation tasks. Our code is available at https://github.com/junhyukso/SGAC
Key facts. Cited by 7 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Diffusion and flow policies for robotics, one of 14 directions in Diffusion models. Builds on 26 of its 34 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 14 Oct 2025.
Builds on
26 of 34 references.
Closest ancestors · 2
Same direction, newest first
- 2023Diffusion Policy: Visuomotor Policy Learning via Action Diffusion7 Mar
- 2023Imitating Human Behaviour with Diffusion Models25 Jan
Other references · 24
- 2015Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognitioncited by 51,809
- 2020Language Models are Few-Shot Learnerscited by 32,199
- 2020Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Modelscited by 20,851
- 2021High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Modelscited by 18,694
- 2020Denoising Diffusion Implicit Modelscited by 9,655
- 2021Diffusion Models Beat GANs on Image Synthesiscited by 8,185
- 2015Deep Unsupervised Learning using Nonequilibrium Thermodynamicscited by 7,005
- 2022Classifier-Free Diffusion Guidancecited by 5,717
- 2022Generative Adversarial Networkscited by 5,603
- 2019Generative Modeling by Estimating Gradients of the Data Distributioncited by 4,067
- 2024OpenVLA: An Open-Source Vision-Language-Action Modelcited by 2,777
- 2024π0: A Vision-Language-Action Flow Model for General Robot Controlcited by 2,297
12 more
- 2023Learning Fine-Grained Bimanual Manipulation with Low-Cost Hardwarecited by 1,490
- 2023LIBERO: Benchmarking Knowledge Transfer for Lifelong Robot Learningcited by 1,338
- 2019Normalizing Flows for Probabilistic Modeling and Inferencecited by 1,315
- 2025GR00T N1: An Open Foundation Model for Generalist Humanoid Robotscited by 1,167
- 2025Fine-Tuning Vision-Language-Action Models: Optimizing Speed and Successcited by 844
- 2023Neural Codec Language Models are Zero-Shot Text to Speech Synthesizerscited by 737
- 2021What Matters in Learning from Offline Human Demonstrations for Robot Manipulationcited by 699
- 2019Relay Policy Learning: Solving Long-Horizon Tasks via Imitation and Reinforcement Learningcited by 380
- 2022Behavior Transformers: Cloning k modes with one stonecited by 299
- 2024Guiding a Diffusion Model with a Bad Version of Itselfcited by 286
- 2024Improving Instruction-Following in Language Models through Activation Steeringcited by 149
- 2024No Training, No Problem: Rethinking Classifier-Free Guidance for Diffusion Modelscited by 52
Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2026: 7.
7 papers.
- 2026Adaptive Action Chunking at Inference-time for Vision-Language-Action Modelscited by 24
- 2026When to Trust Imagination: Adaptive Action Execution for World Action Modelscited by 18
- 2026VLA-Corrector: Lightweight Detect-and-Correct Inference for Adaptive Action Horizoncited by 14
- 2026Knowing When to Stop: Adaptive Action Chunking via Internal Cross-Attention Dynamics in VLAscited by 3
- 2026Self-Improving VLA Policies: Selected Diffusion Noise for Spurious-Robust Action Smoothingcited by 1
- 2026Beyond Appearance Shifts: Task-Semantic Action Calibration for VLA Modelscited by 0
- 2026Are Vision-Language-Action Models Robust to One-Step Observation Perturbations?cited by 0
- 2026Are Vision-Language-Action Models Robust to One-Step Observation Perturbations?26 Sep 2026
- 2026Beyond Appearance Shifts: Task-Semantic Action Calibration for VLA Models20 Sep 2026
- 2026Knowing When to Stop: Adaptive Action Chunking via Internal Cross-Attention Dynamics in VLAs1 Sep 2026
- 2026VLA-Corrector: Lightweight Detect-and-Correct Inference for Adaptive Action Horizon2 Jul 2026
- 2026Self-Improving VLA Policies: Selected Diffusion Noise for Spurious-Robust Action Smoothing12 Jun 2026
- 2026When to Trust Imagination: Adaptive Action Execution for World Action Models7 May 2026
- 2026Adaptive Action Chunking at Inference-time for Vision-Language-Action Models5 Apr 2026
Similar, not cited
Close in wording, no citation either way
- 2025Inference-Time Enhancement of Generative Robot Policies via Predictive World Modeling
- 2025Much Ado About Noising: Dispelling the Myths of Generative Robotic Control
- 2025Self-Guided Action Diffusion
- 2024How Generalizable Is My Behavior Cloning Policy? A Statistical Approach to Trustworthy Performance Evaluation
- 2025Two-Steps Diffusion Policy for Robotic Manipulation via Genetic Denoising
- 2024Streaming Diffusion Policy: Fast Policy Synthesis with Variable Noise Diffusion Models
- 2026Guided Discovery of New Behaviors using Diffusion Policies
- 2026Where Should Action Generation Begin? A Learnable Source Prior for Generative Robot Policies