Foundation Models in Robotics: A Comprehensive Review of Methods, Models, Datasets, Challenges and Future Research Directions

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Hauptverfasser: Psiris, Aggelos, Argyriou, Vasileios, Markakis, Evangelos K., Sarigiannidis, Panagiotis, Gavves, Efstratios, Bekris, Kostas, Papadopoulos, Arash Ajoudani adn Georgios Th.
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Veröffentlicht: 2026
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author Psiris, Aggelos
Argyriou, Vasileios
Markakis, Evangelos K.
Sarigiannidis, Panagiotis
Gavves, Efstratios
Bekris, Kostas
Papadopoulos, Arash Ajoudani adn Georgios Th.
author_facet Psiris, Aggelos
Argyriou, Vasileios
Markakis, Evangelos K.
Sarigiannidis, Panagiotis
Gavves, Efstratios
Bekris, Kostas
Papadopoulos, Arash Ajoudani adn Georgios Th.
contents Over the recent years, the field of robotics has been undergoing a transformative paradigm shift from fixed, single-task, domain-specific solutions towards adaptive, multi-function, general-purpose agents, capable of operating in complex, open-world, and dynamic environments. This tremendous advancement is primarily driven by the emergence of Foundation Models (FMs), i.e., large-scale neural-network architectures trained on massive, heterogeneous datasets that provide unprecedented capabilities in multi-modal understanding and reasoning, long-horizon planning, and cross-embodiment generalization. In this context, the current study provides a holistic, systematic, and in-depth review of the research landscape of FMs in robotics. In particular, the evolution of the field is initially delineated through five distinct research phases, spanning from the early incorporation of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Computer Vision (CV) models to the current frontier of multi-sensory generalization and real-world deployment. Subsequently, a highly-granular taxonomic investigation of the literature is performed, examining the following key aspects: a) the employed FM types, including LLMs, VFMs, VLMs, and VLAs, b) the underlying neural-network architectures, c) the adopted learning paradigms, d) the different learning stages of knowledge incorporation, e) the major robotic tasks, and f) the main real-world application domains. For each aspect, comparative analysis and critical insights are provided. Moreover, a report on the publicly available datasets used for model training and evaluation across the considered robotic tasks is included. Furthermore, a hierarchical discussion on the current open challenges and promising future research directions in the field is incorporated.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_15395
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publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Foundation Models in Robotics: A Comprehensive Review of Methods, Models, Datasets, Challenges and Future Research Directions
Psiris, Aggelos
Argyriou, Vasileios
Markakis, Evangelos K.
Sarigiannidis, Panagiotis
Gavves, Efstratios
Bekris, Kostas
Papadopoulos, Arash Ajoudani adn Georgios Th.
Robotics
Over the recent years, the field of robotics has been undergoing a transformative paradigm shift from fixed, single-task, domain-specific solutions towards adaptive, multi-function, general-purpose agents, capable of operating in complex, open-world, and dynamic environments. This tremendous advancement is primarily driven by the emergence of Foundation Models (FMs), i.e., large-scale neural-network architectures trained on massive, heterogeneous datasets that provide unprecedented capabilities in multi-modal understanding and reasoning, long-horizon planning, and cross-embodiment generalization. In this context, the current study provides a holistic, systematic, and in-depth review of the research landscape of FMs in robotics. In particular, the evolution of the field is initially delineated through five distinct research phases, spanning from the early incorporation of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Computer Vision (CV) models to the current frontier of multi-sensory generalization and real-world deployment. Subsequently, a highly-granular taxonomic investigation of the literature is performed, examining the following key aspects: a) the employed FM types, including LLMs, VFMs, VLMs, and VLAs, b) the underlying neural-network architectures, c) the adopted learning paradigms, d) the different learning stages of knowledge incorporation, e) the major robotic tasks, and f) the main real-world application domains. For each aspect, comparative analysis and critical insights are provided. Moreover, a report on the publicly available datasets used for model training and evaluation across the considered robotic tasks is included. Furthermore, a hierarchical discussion on the current open challenges and promising future research directions in the field is incorporated.
title Foundation Models in Robotics: A Comprehensive Review of Methods, Models, Datasets, Challenges and Future Research Directions
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.15395