# TRACT: Temporally Routed Action Chunks with Chronological Phase Authority for Contact-Rich Manipulation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.29285 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.29285/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Robot manipulation imitation learning, one of 13 directions in Offline RL and imitation learning from data.
- First posted on arXiv 31 Jul 2026.

## Placed in

- Offline RL and imitation learning from data / [Robot manipulation imitation learning](https://mlsanity.com/offlinerl/robot-manipulation-imitation-learning/)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Continuous Manifold-Decomposed Impedance Retargeting for Contact-Rich Imitation Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.15716/) (2026)
- [RouteRLT: Learning When and Which RL Specialist Should Control a Vision-Language-Action Policy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.26467/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Action chunking shortens the effective decision horizon of robot imitation learning by predicting multiple future actions, while conventional phase conditioning describes the current control instant. When a predicted horizon crosses a procedural boundary, assigning the current phase to the entire chunk creates a structural temporal mismatch. We present TRACT, which factorizes phase-structured action chunking into an accepted current phase and a single CURRENT-to-NEXT boundary inside the future horizon. A task-local graph constrains chronological phase authority, and a cumulative boundary distribution monotonically routes future queries through phase-specific query and action paths. For contact execution, a causal response-deficit integrator compares policy intent with ACK-eligible subsequent motion, accumulates arm compensation when directional response is suppressed, and decays after confirmed recovery. Across six real-robot variants with ten trials each, full TRACT achieves 10/10 full-sequence success, 99.00 [88.75, 100.00]% median [min, max] wipe completion, zero observed phase ambiguity, and zero stalls. Under the current complete method package and evaluation setting, the routed representation obtains better observed task results than the flat package (6/10 vs. 3/10 success; 77.08% vs. 8.03% median wipe completion). Chronological authority reduces observed phase ambiguity from 8/10 to 0/10, and response integration reduces stalls from 4/10 to 0/10. The package comparison does not isolate routing from other generator-package differences.