mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

UniMPA: A Unified Memory-Prediction-Action Model via Action-Grounded Transition Modeling

arXiv 2609.11875 ↗First posted 10 Sep 2026cs.ROcited by 1

On the map: Vision-language-action models → World model-based VLA

Abstract (arXiv)

Recent advances in Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models have improved robotic manipulation, yet observation-to-action learning remains limited by a fundamental transition realizability gap, manifested in three tightly coupled problems: (i) Transition ambiguity. Visually similar current observations may correspond to different manipulation phases and imply different subsequent transitions. (ii) Prediction--execution mismatch. A visually plausible predicted future observation does not necessarily correspond to a physically realizable transition. (iii) Experience--realization mismatch. A historically executable action pattern may not necessarily realize the intended transition in the current scene and therefore requires context-aware adaptation. Accordingly, we propose UniMPA, a Unified Memory-Prediction-Action model that addresses these problems through a shared action-grounded transition interface. (i) UniMPA introduces Persistent-Selective Future Prediction to resolve transition ambiguity by modeling the intended future state evolution. A persistent latent stream continuously tracks task-level progress, while a transition-critical pixel stream selectively resolves fine-grained interaction changes through memory-grounded prediction. (ii) To assess the physical executability of the anticipated transition, the predicted transition queries a temporal Visual-Action Memory Bank. The bank retrieves historically realized visual-action experience, grounding future prediction in executable evidence. (iii) To adapt executable experience to the current scene, an Action-Visual Memory Bank retrieves visually grounded action prototypes from historical action evolution. Prototype-Biased Flow then shifts the flow source toward a historically supported action manifold for context-aware refinement.

Key facts. Cited by 1 paper in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in World model-based VLA, one of 13 directions in Vision-language-action models. Builds on 104 of its 113 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 10 Sep 2026.

Builds on

104 of 113 references.

Closest ancestors · 12

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2026World Action Models: The Next Frontier in Embodied AI12 May
  2. 2026OA-WAM: Object-Addressable World Action Model for Robust Robot Manipulation7 May
  3. 2026Test-Time Training for Visual Foresight Vision-Language-Action Models6 May
  4. 2026Fast-WAM: Do World Action Models Need Test-time Future Imagination?17 Mar
  5. 2026FutureVLA: Joint Visuomotor Prediction for Vision-Language-Action Model11 Mar
  6. 2026Global Prior Meets Local Consistency: Dual-Memory Augmented Vision-Language-Action Model for Efficient Robotic Manipulation22 Feb
  7. 2026World Action Models are Zero-shot Policies17 Feb
  8. 2026JEPA-VLA: Video Predictive Embedding is Needed for VLA Models12 Feb
  9. 2026VLA-JEPA: Enhancing Vision-Language-Action Model with Latent World Model10 Feb
  10. 2025RynnVLA-002: A Unified Vision-Language-Action and World Model21 Nov
  11. 2025Ctrl-World: A Controllable Generative World Model for Robot Manipulation11 Oct
  12. 2025DreamVLA: A Vision-Language-Action Model Dreamed with Comprehensive World Knowledge6 Jul

Other references · 92

  1. 2024The Llama 3 Herd of Modelscited by 14,715
  2. 2025Qwen3 Technical Reportcited by 8,820
  3. 2023Mamba: Linear-Time Sequence Modeling with Selective State Spacescited by 4,718
  4. 2023RT-2: Vision-Language-Action Models Transfer Web Knowledge to Robotic Controlcited by 3,080
  5. 2024OpenVLA: An Open-Source Vision-Language-Action Modelcited by 2,887
  6. 2023Diffusion Policy: Visuomotor Policy Learning via Action Diffusioncited by 2,838
  7. 2024π0: A Vision-Language-Action Flow Model for General Robot Controlcited by 2,407
  8. 2025π0.5: a Vision-Language-Action Model with Open-World Generalizationcited by 1,761
  9. 2023Learning Fine-Grained Bimanual Manipulation with Low-Cost Hardwarecited by 1,568
  10. 2024Octo: An Open-Source Generalist Robot Policycited by 1,484
  11. 2023LIBERO: Benchmarking Knowledge Transfer for Lifelong Robot Learningcited by 1,410
  12. 2025GR00T N1: An Open Foundation Model for Generalist Humanoid Robotscited by 1,225
38 more
  1. 2025Fine-Tuning Vision-Language-Action Models: Optimizing Speed and Successcited by 883
  2. 2025V-JEPA 2: Self-Supervised Video Models Enable Understanding, Prediction and Planningcited by 809
  3. 2024RDT-1B: a Diffusion Foundation Model for Bimanual Manipulationcited by 691
  4. 2025FAST: Efficient Action Tokenization for Vision-Language-Action Modelscited by 665
  5. 2024An Image is Worth 1/2 Tokens After Layer 2: Plug-and-Play Inference Acceleration for Large Vision-Language Modelscited by 642
  6. 2025SmolVLA: A Vision-Language-Action Model for Affordable and Efficient Roboticscited by 530
  7. 2023Learning Universal Policies via Text-Guided Video Generationcited by 522
  8. 2025SpatialVLA: Exploring Spatial Representations for Visual-Language-Action Modelcited by 519
  9. 2025RoboTwin 2.0: A Scalable Data Generator and Benchmark with Strong Domain Randomization for Robust Bimanual Robotic Manipulationcited by 518
  10. 2025CoT-VLA: Visual Chain-of-Thought Reasoning for Vision-Language-Action Modelscited by 451
  11. 2024CogACT: A Foundational Vision-Language-Action Model for Synergizing Cognition and Action in Robotic Manipulationcited by 422
  12. 2025UniVLA: Learning to Act Anywhere with Task-centric Latent Actionscited by 410
  13. 2024Mobile ALOHA: Learning Bimanual Mobile Manipulation with Low-Cost Whole-Body Teleoperationcited by 391
  14. 2024SparseVLM: Visual Token Sparsification for Efficient Vision-Language Model Inferencecited by 391
  15. 2025WorldVLA: Towards Autoregressive Action World Modelcited by 367
  16. 2023Unleashing Large-Scale Video Generative Pre-training for Visual Robot Manipulationcited by 364
  17. 2020Transporter Networks: Rearranging the Visual World for Robotic Manipulationcited by 344
  18. 2026Causal World Modeling for Robot Controlcited by 321
  19. 2024TraceVLA: Visual Trace Prompting Enhances Spatial-Temporal Awareness for Generalist Robotic Policiescited by 304
  20. 2025X-VLA: Soft-Prompted Transformer as Scalable Cross-Embodiment Vision-Language-Action Modelcited by 303
  21. 2025LIBERO-Plus: In-depth Robustness Analysis of Vision-Language-Action Modelscited by 303
  22. 2026Cosmos Policy: Fine-Tuning Video Models for Visuomotor Control and Planningcited by 300
  23. 2024Video Prediction Policy: A Generalist Robot Policy with Predictive Visual Representationscited by 289
  24. 2026Gemma 4 Technical Reportcited by 259
  25. 2025Motus: A Unified Latent Action World Modelcited by 251
  26. 2025MemoryVLA: Perceptual-Cognitive Memory in Vision-Language-Action Models for Robotic Manipulationcited by 192
  27. 2025DivPrune: Diversity-based Visual Token Pruning for Large Multimodal Modelscited by 181
  28. 2025DreamGen: Unlocking Generalization in Robot Learning through Video World Modelscited by 179
  29. 2024VLABench: A Large-Scale Benchmark for Language-Conditioned Robotics Manipulation with Long-Horizon Reasoning Taskscited by 175
  30. 2025Knowledge Insulating Vision-Language-Action Models: Train Fast, Run Fast, Generalize Bettercited by 146
  31. 2025VLA-Adapter: An Effective Paradigm for Tiny-Scale Vision-Language-Action Modelcited by 145
  32. 2025Spatial Forcing: Implicit Spatial Representation Alignment for Vision-language-action Modelcited by 134
  33. 2025NORA: A Small Open-Sourced Generalist Vision Language Action Model for Embodied Taskscited by 127
  34. 2025UP-VLA: A Unified Understanding and Prediction Model for Embodied Agentcited by 102
  35. 2023Detecting and Grounding Multi-Modal Media Manipulationcited by 99
  36. 2025PD-VLA: Accelerating Vision-Language-Action Model Integrated with Action Chunking via Parallel Decodingcited by 88
  37. 2025OpenHelix: A Short Survey, Empirical Analysis, and Open-Source Dual-System VLA Model for Robotic Manipulationcited by 82
  38. 2025ReconVLA: Reconstructive Vision-Language-Action Model as Effective Robot Perceivercited by 81

50 most cited of 92 All 92 (JSON)

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 14 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2026: 1.

1 paper.

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2026MemoryWAM: Efficient World Action Modeling with Persistent Memory
  2. 2026RM-WAM: Reliable Memory-Augmented World Action Models for Long-Horizon Robot Manipulation
  3. 2025SwitchVLA: Execution-Aware Task Switching for Vision-Language-Action Models
  4. 2026Reflex: Enabling Fast and Predictive Vision-Language-Action Models for Reaction-Critical Manipulation
  5. 2026PACT-WAM: Predicting Actions and Visual Foresight with Compact Temporal Encoding for Robot Manipulation
  6. 2026Beyond Actions: Learning Future Operation Targets for Vision-Language-Action Models
  7. 2026Intercepting the Future: Latent-Space Predictive World Model for Dynamic VLA Manipulation
  8. 2026ChainVLA: Chaining Vision-Language-Action Queries through a Unified Execution State for Long-Horizon Manipulation