Robot-Aligned 3D Gaussian Splatting for Precise Reaching with Wrist-Camera VLA Policies

Efficient robotic data collection remains a major bottleneck for vision-language-action (VLA) policy learning, especially for tasks requiring accurate end-effector positioning and camera-action alignment. This challenge is particularly severe in electronic-waste disassembly, where robots operate in cluttered assemblies of densely packed, visually similar components. Full digital-twin simulation is difficult because many parts are thin, reflective, or mechanically complex, making accurate object-level meshes and contact models difficult to obtain. In this work, we focus on pre-contact reaching and propose a 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS)-based data generation pipeline for wrist-camera VLA adaptation. Our method reconstructs the real workspace with 3DGS and renders diverse wrist-camera observations from robot-aligned poses. These observations are paired with smooth, structured reaching trajectories to provide robot-aligned visual-action supervision for VLA fine-tuning. We further augment the VLA policy with an instruction-conditioned reach verifier that estimates target proximity and provides reliable termination before physical interaction. Experiments in motherboard disassembly demonstrate precise VLA-based reaching using wrist-camera observations alone, without an external side-view camera. With $π$0.5, 1,500 generated trajectories achieve 80.0\% precise-reaching success across three targets, compared with 58.7\% using 150 teleoperated demonstrations, while requiring less than 10 minutes of active human capture. Project website: https://001-wang.github.io/PrecisionReach-GS/

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
arXiv (Cornell University)
Published
2026-10-26
DOI
https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2610.35626
Primary Topic
Robot Manipulation and Learning
Type
preprint
Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
preprint

Robot-Aligned 3D Gaussian Splatting for Precise Reaching with Wrist-Camera VLA Policies

Zuoxu Wang, Xiao Liang
arXiv (Cornell University)
Robot Manipulation and Learning
preprint

Robot-Aligned 3D Gaussian Splatting for Precise Reaching with Wrist-Camera VLA Policies

Zuoxu Wang, Xiao Liang
preprint en

Abstract

Efficient robotic data collection remains a major bottleneck for vision-language-action (VLA) policy learning, especially for tasks requiring accurate end-effector positioning and camera-action alignment. This challenge is particularly severe in electronic-waste disassembly, where robots operate in cluttered assemblies of densely packed, visually similar components. Full digital-twin simulation is difficult because many parts are thin, reflective, or mechanically complex, making accurate object-level meshes and contact models difficult to obtain. In this work, we focus on pre-contact reaching and propose a 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS)-based data generation pipeline for wrist-camera VLA adaptation. Our method reconstructs the real workspace with 3DGS and renders diverse wrist-camera observations from robot-aligned poses. These observations are paired with smooth, structured reaching trajectories to provide robot-aligned visual-action supervision for VLA fine-tuning. We further augment the VLA policy with an instruction-conditioned reach verifier that estimates target proximity and provides reliable termination before physical interaction. Experiments in motherboard disassembly demonstrate precise VLA-based reaching using wrist-camera observations alone, without an external side-view camera. With $π$0.5, 1,500 generated trajectories achieve 80.0\% precise-reaching success across three targets, compared with 58.7\% using 150 teleoperated demonstrations, while requiring less than 10 minutes of active human capture. Project website: https://001-wang.github.io/PrecisionReach-GS/

arXiv (Cornell University)
Robot Manipulation and Learning
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.

Laika access coming soon