# Rule-Compliant Visual Spatial Planning for Multimodal Large Language Models

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.20237 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.20237/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Spatial and embodied reasoning, one of 17 directions in LLM reasoning.
- Builds on 23 of its 39 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 20 Aug 2026.

## Placed in

- LLM reasoning / [Spatial and embodied reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/lr/spatial-and-embodied-reasoning/)
- Multimodal LLMs / vision-language models / [Embodied and 3D vision-language models](https://mlsanity.com/mllm/embodied-and-3d-vision-language-models/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 23 of 23)

- [Qwen2.5-VL Technical Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.13923/) (2025)
- [Gemini 2.5: Pushing the Frontier with Advanced Reasoning, Multimodality, Long Context, and Next Generation Agentic Capabilities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.06261/) (2025)
- [Imagine while Reasoning in Space: Multimodal Visualization-of-Thought](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.07542/) (2025)
- [On the Self-Verification Limitations of Large Language Models on Reasoning and Planning Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.08115/) (2024)
- [Dolphins: Multimodal Language Model for Driving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.00438/) (2023)
- [Model Editing Harms General Abilities of Large Language Models: Regularization to the Rescue](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.04700/) (2024)
- [Visual Planning: Let's Think Only with Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.11409/) (2025)
- [Can Large Language Models Reason and Plan?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.04121/) (2024)
- [Exploring Diverse In-Context Configurations for Image Captioning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.14800/) (2023)
- [LEGO-Puzzles: How Good Are MLLMs at Multi-Step Spatial Reasoning?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.19990/) (2025)
- [DeepEdit: Knowledge Editing as Decoding with Constraints](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.10471/) (2024)
- [Reasoning via Video: The First Evaluation of Video Models' Reasoning Abilities through Maze-Solving Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.15065/) (2025)
- [ChinaTravel: An Open-Ended Travel Planning Benchmark with Compositional Constraint Validation for Language Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.13682/) (2024)
- [Attribution Analysis Meets Model Editing: Advancing Knowledge Correction in Vision Language Models with VisEdit](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.09916/) (2024)
- [ToolVQA: A Dataset for Multi-step Reasoning VQA with External Tools](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.03284/) (2025)
- [LGMCTS: Language-Guided Monte-Carlo Tree Search for Executable Semantic Object Rearrangement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.15821/) (2023)
- [PlanLLM: Video Procedure Planning with Refinable Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.19139/) (2024)
- [Open-Vocabulary HOI Detection with Interaction-aware Prompt and Concept Calibration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.03207/) (2025)
- [Revisiting the Necessity of Lengthy Chain-of-Thought in Vision-centric Reasoning Generalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.22586/) (2025)
- [AR-VRM: Imitating Human Motions for Visual Robot Manipulation with Analogical Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.07626/) (2025)
- [Taming I2V models for Image HOI Editing: A Cognitive Benchmark and Agentic Self-Correcting Framework](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.19073/) (2026)
- [TRKT: Weakly Supervised Dynamic Scene Graph Generation with Temporal-enhanced Relation-aware Knowledge Transferring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.04943/) (2025)
- [Unleashing Multimodal Large Language Models for Training-free HOI Detection in the Wild](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.13881/) (2026)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [What Do Current Systematic Generalization Tasks Miss? A Reasoning-Centered Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.19212/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Multimodal large language models (MLLMs) combine linguistic reasoning with visual perception, yet their ability to perform visual spatial planning under explicit or previously unseen rule constraints remains underexplored. This setting requires models to jointly understand spatial layouts, interpret natural-language rules, and plan valid actions accordingly. To address this gap, we introduce RuleMaze, a controllable benchmark in which MLLMs must navigate mazes while obeying natural-language rules of varying complexity. RuleMaze isolates rule-compliant spatial planning by requiring accurate perception, rule interpretation, and constrained action planning. To enable scalable and systematic rule construction, we propose Language-Logic-Function Hybridization, which automatically generates natural-language rules and translates them into logical representations and executable validators, eliminating manual rule engineering. To improve rule following and generalization, we introduce Disentangled Multimodal Planning (DMP), which separates perception, execution, and rule verification through interpretable reasoning primitives. By disentangling these components, DMP facilitates systematic generalization to more complex and previously unseen rules, while providing transparent intermediate planning traces. Experiments demonstrate that DMP substantially improves rule compliance and planning success compared to end-to-end textual planning baselines. Overall, RuleMaze establishes a principled benchmark for studying grounded and interpretable rule-based spatial planning in MLLMs. Code is available at https://github.com/oceanflowlab/RuleMaze.