Discover, Learn, and Reinforce: Scaling Vision-Language-Action Pretraining with Diverse RL-Generated Trajectories
On the map: Vision-language-action models → Reinforcement learning and post-training
Abstract (arXiv)
Scaling vision-language-action (VLA) model pre-training requires large volumes of diverse, high-quality manipulation trajectories. Most current data is obtained via human teleoperation, which is expensive and difficult to scale. Reinforcement learning (RL) methods learn useful skills through autonomous exploration, making them a viable approach for generating data. However, standard RL training collapses to a narrow execution pattern, limiting its utility for large-scale pre-training. We propose Discover, Lea rn and Reinforce (DLR), an information-theoretic pattern discovery framework that generates multiple distinct, high-success behavioral patterns for VLA pretraining. Empirically, DLR generates a markedly more diverse trajectory corpus on LIBERO. Specifically, it learns multiple distinct, high-success strategies for the same task where standard RL discovers only one, and hence it covers substantially broader regions of the state-action space. When adapted to unseen downstream task suites, VLA models pretrained on our diverse RL data surpass counterparts trained on equal-sized standard RL datasets. Moreover, DLR exhibits positive data-scaling behavior that single-pattern RL lacks. These results position multi-pattern RL as a practical, scalable data engine for embodied foundation models.
Key facts. Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in Reinforcement learning and post-training, one of 13 directions in Vision-language-action models. Builds on 63 of its 71 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 24 Nov 2025.
Builds on
63 of 71 references.
Closest ancestors · 12
Same direction, newest first
- 2025RLinf-VLA: A Unified and Efficient Framework for Reinforcement Learning of Vision-Language-Action Models8 Oct
- 2025Beyond Human Demonstrations: Diffusion-Based Reinforcement Learning to Generate Data for VLA Training24 Sep
- 2025SimpleVLA-RL: Scaling VLA Training via Reinforcement Learning11 Sep
- 2025CO-RFT: Efficient Fine-Tuning of Vision-Language-Action Models through Chunked Offline Reinforcement Learning4 Aug
- 2025TGRPO :Fine-tuning Vision-Language-Action Model via Trajectory-wise Group Relative Policy Optimization10 Jun
- 2025What Can RL Bring to VLA Generalization? An Empirical Study26 May
- 2025VLA-RL: Towards Masterful and General Robotic Manipulation with Scalable Reinforcement Learning24 May
- 2025ReinboT: Amplifying Robot Visual-Language Manipulation with Reinforcement Learning12 May
- 2025MoRE: Unlocking Scalability in Reinforcement Learning for Quadruped Vision-Language-Action Models11 Mar
- 2025ConRFT: A Reinforced Fine-tuning Method for VLA Models via Consistency Policy8 Feb
- 2025Improving Vision-Language-Action Model with Online Reinforcement Learning28 Jan
- 2024Octo: An Open-Source Generalist Robot Policy20 May
Other references · 51
- 2015Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognitioncited by 52,096
- 2023RT-2: Vision-Language-Action Models Transfer Web Knowledge to Robotic Controlcited by 3,080
- 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
- 2022RT-1: Robotics Transformer for Real-World Control at Scalecited by 2,061
- 2025π0.5: a Vision-Language-Action Model with Open-World Generalizationcited by 1,761
- 2016Generative Adversarial Imitation Learningcited by 1,597
- 2023LIBERO: Benchmarking Knowledge Transfer for Lifelong Robot Learningcited by 1,410
- 2021Isaac Gym: High Performance GPU-Based Physics Simulation For Robot Learningcited by 998
- 2018Diversity is All You Need: Learning Skills without a Reward Functioncited by 752
- 2017Learning Complex Dexterous Manipulation with Deep Reinforcement Learning and Demonstrationscited by 715
- 2023VILA: On Pre-training for Visual Language Modelscited by 692
38 more
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- 2020AWAC: Accelerating Online Reinforcement Learning with Offline Datasetscited by 671
- 2025RoboTwin 2.0: A Scalable Data Generator and Benchmark with Strong Domain Randomization for Robust Bimanual Robotic Manipulationcited by 518
- 2025CoT-VLA: Visual Chain-of-Thought Reasoning for Vision-Language-Action Modelscited by 451
- 2025AgiBot World Colosseo: A Large-scale Manipulation Platform for Scalable and Intelligent Embodied Systemscited by 405
- 2023Driving into the Future: Multiview Visual Forecasting and Planning with World Model for Autonomous Drivingcited by 319
- 2019Dynamics-Aware Unsupervised Discovery of Skillscited by 313
- 2018Reinforced Cross-Modal Matching and Self-Supervised Imitation Learning for Vision-Language Navigationcited by 305
- 2018Residual Reinforcement Learning for Robot Controlcited by 274
- 2024Navigation World Modelscited by 272
- 2016Unsupervised Learning for Physical Interaction through Video Predictioncited by 260
- 2023Cal-QL: Calibrated Offline RL Pre-Training for Efficient Online Fine-Tuningcited by 237
- 2016Variational Deep Embedding: An Unsupervised and Generative Approach to Clusteringcited by 220
- 2024Precise and Dexterous Robotic Manipulation via Human-in-the-Loop Reinforcement Learningcited by 189
- 2023Real-World Humanoid Locomotion with Reinforcement Learningcited by 187
- 2021Behavior From the Void: Unsupervised Active Pre-Trainingcited by 174
- 2023ManipLLM: Embodied Multimodal Large Language Model for Object-Centric Robotic Manipulationcited by 162
- 2024Fine-Tuning Large Vision-Language Models as Decision-Making Agents via Reinforcement Learningcited by 158
- 2023ANYmal Parkour: Learning Agile Navigation for Quadrupedal Robotscited by 152
- 2024BEHAVIOR-1K: A Human-Centered, Embodied AI Benchmark with 1,000 Everyday Activities and Realistic Simulationcited by 148
- 2017Imagination-Augmented Agents for Deep Reinforcement Learningcited by 140
- 2025Magma: A Foundation Model for Multimodal AI Agentscited by 139
- 2024DeeR-VLA: Dynamic Inference of Multimodal Large Language Models for Efficient Robot Executioncited by 117
- 2023Policy Representation via Diffusion Probability Model for Reinforcement Learningcited by 112
- 2024RoboMamba: Efficient Vision-Language-Action Model for Robotic Reasoning and Manipulationcited by 103
- 2024IRASim: A Fine-Grained World Model for Robot Manipulationcited by 100
- 2019Truly Proximal Policy Optimizationcited by 69
- 2025villa-X: Enhancing Latent Action Modeling in Vision-Language-Action Modelscited by 63
- 2024FLaRe: Achieving Masterful and Adaptive Robot Policies with Large-Scale Reinforcement Learning Fine-Tuningcited by 54
- 2024Learning Multimodal Behaviors from Scratch with Diffusion Policy Gradientcited by 51
- 2024RLDG: Robotic Generalist Policy Distillation via Reinforcement Learningcited by 47
- 2025VidBot: Learning Generalizable 3D Actions from In-the-Wild 2D Human Videos for Zero-Shot Robotic Manipulationcited by 46
- 2024From Multimodal LLMs to Generalist Embodied Agents: Methods and Lessonscited by 42
- 2025Is Diversity All You Need for Scalable Robotic Manipulation?cited by 20
- 2025Balancing Signal and Variance: Adaptive Offline RL Post-Training for VLA Flow Modelscited by 15
- 2025A Data-Centric Revisit of Pre-Trained Vision Models for Robot Learningcited by 7
- 2024Learning World Models for Unconstrained Goal Navigationcited by 6
- 2023Galactic: Scaling End-to-End Reinforcement Learning for Rearrangement at 100k Steps-Per-Secondcited by 5
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Citing papers per year: 2026: 3.
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