Factored Diffusion Policies:Compositionally Generalized Robot Control with a Single Score Network
On the map: Diffusion models → Diffusion and flow policies for robotics
Abstract (arXiv)
Robotic tasks are typically specified by a tuple of factors, such as the object to be grasped, the obstacles to be avoided, the color of the target, and so on. Collecting expert demonstrations for every combination of factor values grows combinatorially. We present factored diffusion policies: a single shared diffusion network trained with per-factor null-token dropout, whose score decomposes additively across factors at inference. Under approximate conditional independence between factors given the action-observation pair, this composition approximates the true joint score with a bounded uniform error, reducing the training-task budget from a product of factor cardinalities to a sum. A trajectory-tube certificate chains this score-level bound through the reverse-time sampling ODE and a contracting tracking controller into a closed-loop state-trajectory tube whose radius factors into an ODE-sensitivity constant and a per-factor score-error budget. Unlike compositional-diffusion methods for control that combine separately trained networks, we use one shared network. Drone racing experiments confirm both the generalization bound and the certificate. On state-based multi-gate racing, the factored policy passes 90% of held-out gates -- matching an oracle -- while a K-network composition baseline collapses to 3%; on vision-based single-gate traversal, it transfers zero-shot to an unseen venue with +11.7pp success-rate gain and 2.4X crash-rate reduction.
Key facts. Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in Diffusion and flow policies for robotics, one of 14 directions in Diffusion models. Builds on 25 of its 32 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 21 May 2026.
Builds on
25 of 32 references.
Closest ancestors · 8
Same direction, newest first
- 2025Flexible Multitask Learning with Factorized Diffusion Policy26 Dec
- 2025Compose Your Policies! Improving Diffusion-based or Flow-based Robot Policies via Test-time Distribution-level Composition1 Oct
- 2025Modality-Composable Diffusion Policy via Inference-Time Distribution-level Composition16 Mar
- 2024Composing Diffusion Policies for Few-shot Learning of Movement Trajectories22 Oct
- 2024Multimodal Diffusion Transformer: Learning Versatile Behavior from Multimodal Goals8 Jul
- 2023SkillDiffuser: Interpretable Hierarchical Planning via Skill Abstractions in Diffusion-Based Task Execution18 Dec
- 2023Generative Skill Chaining: Long-Horizon Skill Planning with Diffusion Models13 Oct
- 2023Diffusion Policy: Visuomotor Policy Learning via Action Diffusion7 Mar
Other references · 17
- 2020Denoising Diffusion Implicit Modelscited by 9,781
- 2020Score-Based Generative Modeling through Stochastic Differential Equationscited by 9,122
- 2022Classifier-Free Diffusion Guidancecited by 5,847
- 2024π0: A Vision-Language-Action Flow Model for General Robot Controlcited by 2,407
- 2017Domain Randomization for Transferring Deep Neural Networks from Simulation to the Real Worldcited by 1,498
- 2022Compositional Visual Generation with Composable Diffusion Modelscited by 624
- 2022Sampling is as easy as learning the score: theory for diffusion models with minimal data assumptionscited by 445
- 2019Efficient and Accurate Estimation of Lipschitz Constants for Deep Neural Networkscited by 293
- 2023Nearly d-Linear Convergence Bounds for Diffusion Models via Stochastic Localizationcited by 235
- 2016CAD2RL: Real Single-Image Flight without a Single Real Imagecited by 233
- 2023Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Compositional Generation with Energy-Based Diffusion Models and MCMCcited by 220
- 2023Reaching the Limit in Autonomous Racing: Optimal Control versus Reinforcement Learningcited by 111
5 more
- 2023Concept Algebra for (Score-Based) Text-Controlled Generative Modelscited by 59
- 2024PoCo: Policy Composition from and for Heterogeneous Robot Learningcited by 42
- 2021Reachability Analysis of Neural Feedback Loopscited by 41
- 2021Time-Optimal Planning for Quadrotor Waypoint Flightcited by 23
- 2025CoInD: Enabling Logical Compositions in Diffusion Modelscited by 8
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Citing papers per year: 2026: 2.
2 papers.
Similar, not cited
Close in wording, no citation either way
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- 2025Iterative Compositional Data Generation for Robot Control
- 2024Sparse Diffusion Policy: A Sparse, Reusable, and Flexible Policy for Robot Learning
- 2026World-Task Factorization for Robot Learning
- 2025CCDP: Composition of Conditional Diffusion Policies with Guided Sampling
- 2026Abstracting Robot Manipulation Skills via Mixture-of-Experts Diffusion Policies
- 2025Exploration and Adaptation in Non-Stationary Tasks with Diffusion Policies