Abstract
A Vision-Language-Action Flow Model for General Robot Control
1. 背景与动机
三个瓶颈:
- 现有的具身智能模型依赖大量的对特定 Task 的针对性训练,才有可能在这个 Task 上表现良好。因此,其泛化能力是取决于各 Domain Task 数据量的。
- 其次,能否泛化依赖于模型架构能否有效利用多种数据(网络文本,视频演示,robot 状态等),从而高效学习。
- 最后,能否提出一种标准的、类似于 LLM 的训练流程,方便规模化和精细调节。
我们能不能设计一种模型架构,使得模型在很少的数据集上能快速微调?我们把这种模型叫做 “机器人基础模型” / “通用机器人策略”。
这篇文章给出了一种解答:
2. 模型架构与设计
2.1 大致思路
- VLM(PaliGemma 3B) + Action Expert (300M) = VLA: VLM 能利用互联网的海量数据学习表征;Action Expert 能使模型学会操作。
- Flow-matching: 与 Auto-regressive 不同,Flow matching 作为 diffusion model 的一种变体,学习的是连续向量的变化方向。

Note
有点像 MOE,但只有两个 Expert。 二者有独立的 MLP,只在 Self-Attention 层有交互。
2.2 深入代码(pi0.py)
2.2.1 基础模块
先从 big_vision 抄了一个注意力掩码模块和 positional Embedding 模块,这里暂且按下不表。
# 这个有点帅,可以根据不同的 mask_ar 输出不同的掩码
def make_attn_mask(input_mask, mask_ar);
def posemb_sincos(
pos: at.Real[at.Array, " b"], embedding_dim: int, min_period: float, max_period: float
) -> at.Float[at.Array, "b {embedding_dim}"];2.2.2 主体类
都在一个 Pi0 class 下:
class Pi0(_model.BaseModel):
def __init__(self, config: pi0_config.Pi0Config, rngs: nnx.Rngs):
# init 就略了,比较繁杂,源代码还有很多考虑是不是 Pi0.5 的 if-else,就没必要细看了,只需要知道这个初始化了 Pi0Config 中规定的那些参数2.2.3 Prefix / Suffix 切分
数据分四种:文字 + 图像 + 状态 + 动作,前两者称作 prefix,后两者称作 suffix。
这样分方便:
- 喂数据
- KV Cache(只更新后缀,前缀可以 cached)
- 不同 attention mask 处理
因为 suffix 是模型要学的分布,所以 prefix 不能 attend suffix,只能 suffix 单向看 prefix;但注意,二者内部可以互相看。
训练时:
prefix: 观测 -> suffix: 真实动作
↓ ↓
已知 学习目标
推理时:
prefix: 观测 -> suffix: 噪声->动作
↓ ↓
已知 迭代生成# 先把文字和图像 embed 一下。注意掩码细节
def embed_prefix(
self, obs: _model.Observation # Observation 是一个三元数组,[视觉,状态,语言], 但 prefix 这里只处理 images and texts,故 state 并非 prefix!
) -> tuple[at.Float[at.Array, "b s emb"], at.Bool[at.Array, "b s"], at.Bool[at.Array, " s"]]:
# 返回 `(embeddings, mask_ar, mask_loss)`, 其中 mask_loss 标记哪些位置需要计算loss(一般是只对 action 算 loss)
input_mask = []
ar_mask = []
tokens = []
# embed images
for name in obs.images:
image_tokens, _ = self.PaliGemma.img(obs.images[name], train=False) ## 调用 PaliGemma 的视觉编码器,提取图像 token (ViT就在这里)
tokens.append(image_tokens)
# 把每个 batch 元素的 mask 复制 s 份(s = image token 数量),让每张图的所有 token 共享同一个 mask 值。
input_mask.append(
einops.repeat(
obs.image_masks[name],
"b -> b s",
s=image_tokens.shape[1],
)
)
# image tokens attend to each other
ar_mask += [False] * image_tokens.shape[1]
# add language (aka tokenized inputs)
if obs.tokenized_prompt is not None:
tokenized_inputs = self.PaliGemma.llm(obs.tokenized_prompt, method="embed")
tokens.append(tokenized_inputs)
input_mask.append(obs.tokenized_prompt_mask)
# full attention between image and language inputs
ar_mask += [False] * tokenized_inputs.shape[1]
tokens = jnp.concatenate(tokens, axis=1)
input_mask = jnp.concatenate(input_mask, axis=1)
ar_mask = jnp.array(ar_mask)
return tokens, input_mask, ar_mask# 这里 suffix 处理 State + Action + Timestep:
def embed_suffix(
# 输入:Observation(只用state),加噪后的动作 [b, horizon, action_dim], 扩散时间步[b] \in [0,1]
self, obs: _model.Observation, noisy_actions: _model.Actions, timestep: at.Float[at.Array, " b"]
# 输出:tokens, input_mask(全是有效token,故为 all true), ar_mask (因果边界标记)
) -> tuple[
at.Float[at.Array, "b s emb"],
at.Bool[at.Array, "b s"],
at.Bool[at.Array, " s"],
at.Float[at.Array, "b emb"] | None,
]:
input_mask = []
ar_mask = []
tokens = []
if not self.pi05:
# 1. add a single state token (把机器人当前状态变成一个token)
state_token = self.state_proj(obs.state)[:, None, :]
tokens.append(state_token)
input_mask.append(jnp.ones((obs.state.shape[0], 1), dtype=jnp.bool_))
# image/language inputs do not attend to state or actions
ar_mask += [True]
# 2. 把 noisy_action 投影到 embedding 空间
action_tokens = self.action_in_proj(noisy_actions)
# 3. embed timestep using sine-cosine positional encoding with sensitivity in the range [0, 1]
time_emb = posemb_sincos(timestep, self.action_in_proj.out_features, min_period=4e-3, max_period=4.0)
if self.pi05:
# time MLP (for adaRMS)
time_emb = self.time_mlp_in(time_emb)
time_emb = nnx.swish(time_emb)
time_emb = self.time_mlp_out(time_emb)
time_emb = nnx.swish(time_emb)
action_expert_tokens = action_tokens
adarms_cond = time_emb
else:
# 4. mix timestep + action information using an MLP (no adaRMS)
time_tokens = einops.repeat(time_emb, "b emb -> b s emb", s=self.action_horizon)
action_time_tokens = jnp.concatenate([action_tokens, time_tokens], axis=-1)
action_time_tokens = self.action_time_mlp_in(action_time_tokens)
action_time_tokens = nnx.swish(action_time_tokens)
action_time_tokens = self.action_time_mlp_out(action_time_tokens)
action_expert_tokens = action_time_tokens
adarms_cond = None
tokens.append(action_expert_tokens)
input_mask.append(jnp.ones(action_expert_tokens.shape[:2], dtype=jnp.bool_))
# image/language/state inputs do not attend to action tokens
ar_mask += [True] + ([False] * (self.action_horizon - 1))
tokens = jnp.concatenate(tokens, axis=1)
input_mask = jnp.concatenate(input_mask, axis=1)
ar_mask = jnp.array(ar_mask)
return tokens, input_mask, ar_mask, adarms_cond
# 最后返回带噪动作的 token 序列 + 因果掩码,告诉模型"当前的带噪动作长什么样,需要去噪生成真实动作"Prefix + Suffix 构成了完整 embedding 序列:
完整序列: [图像 | 语言 | state | action_0 | action_1 | action_2 | action_3]
cumsum: [0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 ]
↑ ↑
prefix suffix
(cumsum=0) (cumsum≥1)
注意力规则:只能看到 cumsum ≤ 自己的位置
- prefix 内部互相看 ✓
- suffix 内部互相看 ✓
- prefix → suffix 可以看 ✓
- suffix → prefix 不能看 ✗2.2.4 训练过程怎么算 Loss? → Flow Matching
整体流程:
干净 action → 加噪得到 x_t → 模型预测去噪方向 v_t → 和真实去噪方向 u_t 算 MSE
def compute_loss(
self, rng: at.KeyArrayLike, observation: _model.Observation, actions: _model.Actions, *, train: bool = False
) -> at.Float[at.Array, "*b ah"]:
preprocess_rng, noise_rng, time_rng = jax.random.split(rng, 3)
observation = _model.preprocess_observation(preprocess_rng, observation, train=train)
batch_shape = actions.shape[:-2]
# 1. 生成噪声:
noise = jax.random.normal(noise_rng, actions.shape) # 正态分布的噪声
time = jax.random.beta(time_rng, 1.5, 1, batch_shape) * 0.999 + 0.001 # beta分布采样
time_expanded = time[..., None, None]
# 得到噪声 x_t
x_t = time_expanded * noise + (1 - time_expanded) * actions
# 真实去噪方向u_t, 注意是直线轨迹,所以直接向量相减
u_t = noise - actions
# one big forward pass of prefix + suffix at once
# 2. 先 Embed
prefix_tokens, prefix_mask, prefix_ar_mask = self.embed_prefix(observation)
suffix_tokens, suffix_mask, suffix_ar_mask, adarms_cond = self.embed_suffix(observation, x_t, time)
input_mask = jnp.concatenate([prefix_mask, suffix_mask], axis=1)
ar_mask = jnp.concatenate([prefix_ar_mask, suffix_ar_mask], axis=0)
attn_mask = make_attn_mask(input_mask, ar_mask)
positions = jnp.cumsum(input_mask, axis=1) - 1
(prefix_out, suffix_out), _ = self.PaliGemma.llm(
[prefix_tokens, suffix_tokens], mask=attn_mask, positions=positions, adarms_cond=[None, adarms_cond]
)
# 3. 模型预测 v_t
v_t = self.action_out_proj(suffix_out[:, -self.action_horizon :])
# 4. Loss = MSE(v_t, u_t)
return jnp.mean(jnp.square(v_t - u_t), axis=-1)2.2.5 推理过程(又名“动作采样”)
欧拉积分法(其实就是走一小步)
def sample_actions(
self,
rng: at.KeyArrayLike,
observation: _model.Observation,
*,
num_steps: int | at.Int[at.Array, ""] = 10,
noise: at.Float[at.Array, "b ah ad"] | None = None,
) -> _model.Actions:
observation = _model.preprocess_observation(None, observation, train=False)
# note that we use the convention more common in diffusion literature, where t=1 is noise and t=0 is the target
# distribution. yes, this is the opposite of the pi0 paper, and I'm sorry. 给我整笑了,还挺真诚
dt = -1.0 / num_steps # 定义一小步的步长
batch_size = observation.state.shape[0]
if noise is None:
noise = jax.random.normal(rng, (batch_size, self.action_horizon, self.action_dim))
# first fill KV cache with a forward pass of the prefix
prefix_tokens, prefix_mask, prefix_ar_mask = self.embed_prefix(observation)
prefix_attn_mask = make_attn_mask(prefix_mask, prefix_ar_mask)
positions = jnp.cumsum(prefix_mask, axis=1) - 1
_, kv_cache = self.PaliGemma.llm([prefix_tokens, None], mask=prefix_attn_mask, positions=positions)
def step(carry):
x_t, time = carry
suffix_tokens, suffix_mask, suffix_ar_mask, adarms_cond = self.embed_suffix(
observation, x_t, jnp.broadcast_to(time, batch_size)
)
# `suffix_attn_mask` is shape (b, suffix_len, suffix_len) indicating how the suffix tokens can attend to each
# other
suffix_attn_mask = make_attn_mask(suffix_mask, suffix_ar_mask)
# `prefix_attn_mask` is shape (b, suffix_len, prefix_len) indicating how the suffix tokens can attend to the
# prefix tokens
prefix_attn_mask = einops.repeat(prefix_mask, "b p -> b s p", s=suffix_tokens.shape[1])
# `combined_mask` is shape (b, suffix_len, prefix_len + suffix_len) indicating how the suffix tokens (which
# generate the queries) can attend to the full prefix + suffix sequence (which generates the keys and values)
full_attn_mask = jnp.concatenate([prefix_attn_mask, suffix_attn_mask], axis=-1)
assert full_attn_mask.shape == (
batch_size,
suffix_tokens.shape[1],
prefix_tokens.shape[1] + suffix_tokens.shape[1],
)
# `positions` is shape (b, suffix_len) indicating the positions of the suffix tokens
positions = jnp.sum(prefix_mask, axis=-1)[:, None] + jnp.cumsum(suffix_mask, axis=-1) - 1
(prefix_out, suffix_out), _ = self.PaliGemma.llm(
[None, suffix_tokens],
mask=full_attn_mask,
positions=positions,
kv_cache=kv_cache,
adarms_cond=[None, adarms_cond],
)
assert prefix_out is None
v_t = self.action_out_proj(suffix_out[:, -self.action_horizon :])
# 高斯积分法:
return x_t + dt * v_t, time + dt
def cond(carry):
# 定义结束条件
x_t, time = carry
# robust to floating-point error
return time >= -dt / 2
x_0, _ = jax.lax.while_loop(cond, step, (noise, 1.0))
return x_03. 数据管道与训练
To be continued…
4. 微调
To be continued…