Phase-Conditioned Imitation Learning with Autonomous Failure Recovery for Robust Deformable Object Manipulation

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Chen, Dayuan, Tang, Kai, Zhang, Yukuan, Kosuge, Kazuhiro, Hirata, Yasuhisa
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Chen, Dayuan
Tang, Kai
Zhang, Yukuan
Kosuge, Kazuhiro
Hirata, Yasuhisa
author_facet Chen, Dayuan
Tang, Kai
Zhang, Yukuan
Kosuge, Kazuhiro
Hirata, Yasuhisa
contents This paper presents a phase-conditioned, force-aware framework for robust deformable object manipulation. Standard imitation learning policies such as Action Chunking with Transformers (ACT) rely on a Markovian assumption at inference, causing state aliasing when visually similar observations require contradictory actions and preventing autonomous recovery from execution failures. We address this with a closed-loop hierarchical architecture. A FiLM-conditioned ACT encoder modulates feature extraction based on the current task phase, enabling a single unified policy to produce phase-specific behaviors while sharing action dynamics across phases. A multi-modal phase predictor fusing visual, force, and pose feedback estimates the phase in real time, detecting contact failures that are invisible to vision alone and autonomously triggering recovery trajectories. The system is completed by a hybrid impedance controller for compliant execution and a haptic teleoperation interface for force-aware data collection. Ablation studies show that FiLM-based modulation significantly outperforms both unconditioned and token-level conditioned baselines, and t-SNE analysis confirms that FiLM induces well-separated, phase-specific feature representations. Validated on hanging and removing a T-shirt with dual arms, the closed-loop system improves the hanging success rate from 56\% to 87\% through autonomous error recovery. Code and videos: https://leledeyuan00.github.io/phaser/
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_29407
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Phase-Conditioned Imitation Learning with Autonomous Failure Recovery for Robust Deformable Object Manipulation
Chen, Dayuan
Tang, Kai
Zhang, Yukuan
Kosuge, Kazuhiro
Hirata, Yasuhisa
Robotics
This paper presents a phase-conditioned, force-aware framework for robust deformable object manipulation. Standard imitation learning policies such as Action Chunking with Transformers (ACT) rely on a Markovian assumption at inference, causing state aliasing when visually similar observations require contradictory actions and preventing autonomous recovery from execution failures. We address this with a closed-loop hierarchical architecture. A FiLM-conditioned ACT encoder modulates feature extraction based on the current task phase, enabling a single unified policy to produce phase-specific behaviors while sharing action dynamics across phases. A multi-modal phase predictor fusing visual, force, and pose feedback estimates the phase in real time, detecting contact failures that are invisible to vision alone and autonomously triggering recovery trajectories. The system is completed by a hybrid impedance controller for compliant execution and a haptic teleoperation interface for force-aware data collection. Ablation studies show that FiLM-based modulation significantly outperforms both unconditioned and token-level conditioned baselines, and t-SNE analysis confirms that FiLM induces well-separated, phase-specific feature representations. Validated on hanging and removing a T-shirt with dual arms, the closed-loop system improves the hanging success rate from 56\% to 87\% through autonomous error recovery. Code and videos: https://leledeyuan00.github.io/phaser/
title Phase-Conditioned Imitation Learning with Autonomous Failure Recovery for Robust Deformable Object Manipulation
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.29407