arXiv:2605.13925v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Robotic dexterous hands are central to contact-rich manipulation, with rapid progress driven by advances in hardware, sensing, control, simulation, and data generation. However, existing studies are often developed under different assumptions regarding hand embodiments, sensory configurations, task settings, training data, and evaluation protocols, making systematic comparison difficult and obscuring the developmental trajectory of the field. This survey provides a holistic review of dexterous hand research from four complementary aspects. First, we present a hardware-level analysis covering actuation, transmission, perception, and representative hand designs, highlighting the key trade-offs in force capability, compliance, bandwidth, integration, and system complexity. Furthermore, we review control and learning methods for dexterous manipulation from a methodological perspective, grouping representative works by major paradigms and tracing their evolution in chronological order. In addition, we consolidate datasets, modality design, and evaluation practices, which enables methodological progress to be interpreted together with the ways in which it is trained, benchmarked, and assessed. Finally, we discuss the major limitations of current dexterous hand research and summarize the corresponding future directions. By connecting hardware analysis, methodological development, data resources, and evaluation, this survey aims to provide a structured understanding of dexterous hand research and to clarify the most important open challenges for future study.
Science Journals
arXiv:2605.15320v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Avatar reconstruction has traditionally relied on per-subject optimization that requires hours of computation or on expensive preprocessing that limits scalability. We introduce FFAvatar, a generalizable feed-forward framework that reconstructs high-quality, animatable 3D Gaussian head avatars from few-shot unposed portrait images in seconds. FFAvatar fuses information from multiple source images into a unified canonical Gaussian representation through Multi-View Query-Former, which is animated via FLAME parameters predicted end-to-end directly from pixels, eliminating the overhead of offline FLAME extraction. We further propose a three-stage training curriculum that achieves both broad generalization and high-fidelity reconstruction: (i) scalable pretraining on extensive monocular video data with over 1M identities to learn strong generalizable priors; (ii) multi-view fine-tuning on a small but high-quality dataset of 360-degree captures to enhance geometric fidelity and extreme-view awareness; and (iii) optional personalization that adapts to specific identities for maximum fidelity within 500 optimization steps. Extensive experiments demonstrate that FFAvatar sets a new standard for identity preservation, geometric consistency, and animation fidelity. On the NeRSemble benchmark, it outperforms the state-of-the-art LAM by a substantial 5.5 PSNR gain. Furthermore, FFAvatar enables real-time deployment, reconstructing avatars in 2 seconds without personalization and 10 seconds with personalization, while supporting 49 FPS animation on a single NVIDIA A100 GPU.
arXiv:2511.05297v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Digital Adoption Platforms (DAPs) have become essential tools for helping employees navigate complex enterprise software such as CRM, ERP, or HRMS systems. Companies like LemonLearning have shown how digital guidance can reduce training costs and accelerate onboarding. However, building and maintaining these interactive guides still requires extensive manual effort. Leveraging Large Language Models as virtual assistants is an appealing alternative, yet without a structured understanding of the target software, LLMs often hallucinate and produce unreliable answers. Moreover, most production-grade LLMs are black-box APIs, making fine-tuning impractical due to the lack of access to model weights. In this work, we introduce a Graph-based Retrieval-Augmented Generation framework that automatically converts enterprise web applications into state-action knowledge graphs, enabling LLMs to generate grounded and context-aware assistance. The framework was co-developed with the AI enterprise RAKAM, in collaboration with Lemon Learning. We detail the engineering pipeline that extracts and structures software interfaces, the design of the graph-based retrieval process, and the integration of our approach into production DAP workflows. Finally, we discuss scalability, robustness, and deployment lessons learned from industrial use cases.
arXiv:2512.15693v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: The misuse of AI-driven video generation technologies has raised serious social concerns, highlighting the urgent need for reliable AI-generated video detectors. However, most existing methods are limited to binary classification and lack the necessary explanations for human interpretation. In this paper, we present Skyra, a specialized multimodal large language model (MLLM) that identifies human-perceivable visual artifacts in AI-generated videos and leverages them as grounded evidence for both detection and explanation. To support this objective, we construct ViF-CoT-4K for Supervised Fine-Tuning (SFT), which represents the first large-scale AI-generated video artifact dataset with fine-grained human annotations. We then develop a two-stage training strategy that systematically enhances our model's spatio-temporal artifact perception, explanation capability, and detection accuracy. To comprehensively evaluate Skyra, we introduce ViF-Bench, a benchmark comprising 3K high-quality samples generated by over ten state-of-the-art video generators. Extensive experiments demonstrate that Skyra surpasses existing methods across multiple benchmarks, while our evaluation yields valuable insights for advancing explainable AI-generated video detection.
arXiv:2605.16232v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: The accelerating convergence of smart metering, generative artificial intelligence, and quantum-inspired combinatorial optimisation is reshaping how energy utilities manage physical infrastructure, customer engagement, and environmental accountability
arXiv:2410.05549v3 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: We propose using highly excited cyclotron states of a trapped electron to detect meV axion and dark photon dark matter, marking a significant improvement over our previous proposal and demonstration [Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 261801]. When the axion mass matches the cyclotron frequency $\omega_c$, the cyclotron state is resonantly excited, with a transition probability proportional to its initial quantum number, $n_c$. The sensitivity is enhanced by taking $n_c \sim 10^6 \left( \frac{0.1~\text{meV}}{\omega_c} \right)^2$. By optimizing key experimental parameters, we minimize the required averaging time for cyclotron detection to $t_{\text{ave}} \sim 10^{-6} $ seconds, permitting detection of such a highly excited state before its decay. An open-endcap trap design enables the external photon signal to be directed into the trap, rendering our background-free detector compatible with large focusing cavities, such as the BREAD proposal, while capitalizing on their strong magnetic fields. Furthermore, the axion conversion rate can be coherently enhanced by incorporating layers of dielectrics with alternating refractive indices within the cavity. Collectively, these optimizations enable us to probe the QCD axion parameter space from 0.1 meV to 2.3 meV (25-560 GHz), covering a substantial portion of the predicted post-inflationary QCD axion mass range. This sensitivity corresponds to probing the kinetic mixing parameter of the dark photon down to $\epsilon \approx 2 \times 10^{-16}$.
RanSOM: Second-Order Momentum with Randomized Scaling for Constrained and Unconstrained Optimization
arXiv:2602.06824v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Momentum methods, such as Polyak's Heavy Ball, are the standard for training deep networks but suffer from curvature-induced bias in stochastic settings, limiting convergence to suboptimal $\mathcal{O}(\epsilon^{-4})$ rates. Existing corrections typically require expensive auxiliary sampling or restrictive smoothness assumptions. We propose \textbf{RanSOM}, a unified framework that eliminates this bias by replacing deterministic step sizes with randomized steps drawn from distributions with mean $\eta_t$. This modification allows us to leverage Stein-type identities to compute an exact, unbiased estimate of the momentum bias using a single Hessian-vector product computed jointly with the gradient, avoiding auxiliary queries. We instantiate this framework in two algorithms: \textbf{RanSOM-E} for unconstrained optimization (using exponentially distributed steps) and \textbf{RanSOM-B} for constrained optimization (using beta-distributed steps to strictly preserve feasibility). Theoretical analysis confirms that RanSOM recovers the optimal $\mathcal{O}(\epsilon^{-3})$ convergence rate under standard bounded noise, and achieves optimal rates for heavy-tailed noise settings ($p \in (1, 2]$).
arXiv:2605.15927v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Quantum chemistry calculations are often performed using atom-centered basis sets which are chosen to balance accuracy and cost. While they are systematically improvable, the total energy converges slowly with basis set size towards the complete basis set (CBS) limit. Common extrapolation methods require several intermediate-quality calculations to afford an estimate of the CBS energy. We propose combining a pairwise interaction model with a minimal complementary auxiliary basis set (CABS) baseline to estimate the CBS energy from a single quantum chemistry calculation in a minimal basis set via Kernel-Ridge-Regression (KRR), which is more efficient than both direct and $\Delta$-machine learning. We show that KRR on standard molecular representations can be improved by approximating atom-wise local kernels using Chebyshev polynomials which allows us to train KRR models efficiently on moderate compute resources, further enabling a data-driven approach towards CBS combining physical baselines capturing leading order effects with data-efficient machine learning models.
arXiv:2512.10499v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: We construct a nontrivial three-dimensional subshift of finite type whose projective $\Z$-subdynamics, or $\Z$-trace, is 2-sparse, meaning that there are at most two nonzero symbols in any vertical column. The subshift is deterministic in the direction of the subdynamics, so it is topologically conjugate to the set of spacetime diagrams of a partial cellular automaton. We also present a variant of the subshift that is defined by Wang cubes, and one whose alphabet is binary.
arXiv:2605.14260v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Conformal prediction is often calibrated with a single pooled threshold, but this can hide cross-group heterogeneity in score distributions and distort group-wise coverage. We study this phenomenon through the population score distributions underlying split conformal calibration. First, we derive a conservation law and lower bound showing that pooled calibration incurs irreducible group-wise coverage distortion at a scale set by cross-group quantile heterogeneity. Second, we demonstrate that the two leading fairness definitions for conformal prediction, Equalized Coverage and Equalized Set Size, are fundamentally in tension. Third, we quantify the cost of moving between policies which treat groups separately or pool them. Experiments on synthetic and real data confirm the same bidirectional trade-off after finite-sample calibration. Our results show that, for the policy families studied here, calibration choice does not remove cross-group heterogeneity; it determines whether the resulting distortion appears in the coverage or size dimension, providing a principled lens for analyzing fairness-oriented calibration choices in practice.
arXiv:2605.16062v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Correlative nanoscale surface characterization benefits from simultaneously measuring electronic and structural properties in the same environment, a capability that is essential for modern-day materials science and semiconductor failure analysis. In-situ AFM-SEM measurements facilitated by self-sensing cantilevers offer great potential here; however, they are limited due to their inherent capacitive crosstalk. Here, we demonstrate for the first time the in-situ implementation of single-pass heterodyne Kelvin probe force microscopy inside a scanning electron microscope, using piezo-resistive cantilevers. We overcome the capacitive crosstalk prevalent in piezo-resistive cantilevers by demodulating excitation and detection to simultaneously map surface topography and contact potential difference for correlation with compositional analysis. We systematically compare different operational modes of this heterodyne technique, elucidating their spatial resolution, signal sensitivity, and signal-to-noise ratio. The integrated approach yields exceptional signal quality and reveals how electron beam scan parameters can directly influence surface potential contrast. We demonstrate this correlative analysis workflow on two-dimensional heterostructures and semiconductor circuits. This work establishes a robust and versatile correlative imaging mode for in-situ Kelvin force and topography imaging inside a scanning electron microscope for next-generation semiconductor device analysis and materials science.
arXiv:2601.07820v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: In human conversation, both interlocutors play an active role in maintaining mutual understanding. When listeners are uncertain about what speakers mean, for example, they can request clarification. It is an open question for language models whether they can assume a similar listener role, recognizing and expressing their own uncertainty through clarification. We argue that reference games are a suitable testbed to approach this question as they are controlled, self-contained, and make clarification needs explicit and measurable. To test this, we evaluate three vision-language models comparing a baseline reference resolution task to an experiment where the models are instructed to request clarification when uncertain. The results suggest that even in such simple tasks, models often struggle to recognize internal uncertainty and translate it into adequate clarification behavior. This demonstrates the value of reference games as testbeds for interaction qualities of (vision and) language models.
arXiv:2511.02342v3 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Aerial manipulation combines the maneuverability of multirotors with the dexterity of robotic arms to perform complex tasks in cluttered spaces. Yet planning safe, dynamically feasible trajectories remains difficult due to whole-body collision avoidance and the conservativeness of common geometric abstractions such as bounding boxes or ellipsoids. We present a whole-body motion planning and safety-critical control framework for aerial manipulators built on superquadrics (SQs). Using an SQ-plus-proxy representation, we model both the vehicle and obstacles with differentiable, geometry-accurate surfaces. Leveraging this representation, we introduce a maximum-clearance planner that fuses Voronoi diagrams with an equilibrium-manifold formulation to generate smooth, collision-aware trajectories. We further design a safety-critical controller that jointly enforces thrust limits and collision avoidance via high-order control barrier functions. In simulation, our approach outperforms sampling-based planners in cluttered environments, producing faster, safer, and smoother trajectories and exceeding ellipsoid-based baselines in geometric fidelity. Actual experiments on a physical aerial-manipulation platform confirm feasibility and robustness, demonstrating consistent performance across simulation and hardware settings. The video can be found at https://youtu.be/hQYKwrWf1Ak.
arXiv:2605.15920v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: We developed a tool for detecting domain shifts, namely subtle differences in the probability distributions of datasets. We identify these shifts using an algorithm designed to detect localised density anomalies in high-dimensional feature spaces. If an anomaly is present, we then identify the feature subspace in which the anomaly is most pronounced. This allows us to trace the domain shift to a small set of features, making the shift interpretable. Moreover, we provide a protocol for compensating domain shifts by extracting, from two unlabelled datasets, subsets of samples with no detectable residual distributional difference. We validate the framework on controlled 20-dimensional benchmarks with known ground truth, recovering both broad and localized shifts together with their supporting feature subspaces. We then apply it to healthy electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings represented by 782 features. In age- and sex-matched cohort comparisons differing in measurement-device composition, the method detects device-induced shifts, extracts representative subsets enriched in the imbalanced device components, and identifies ECG features associated with the acquisition contrast. These results suggest that density-shift detection and subspace attribution provide a practical framework for uncovering hidden cohort biases before downstream modelling.
arXiv:2602.16274v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: We present the first regret bound for classical online Q-learning in infinite-horizon discounted Markov decision processes (MDPs), without relying on optimism or bonus terms. We first analyze Boltzmann Q-learning with decaying temperature and show that its regret depends critically on the suboptimality gap of the MDP: for sufficiently large gaps, the regret is sublinear, while for small gaps it deteriorates and can approach linear growth. To address this limitation, we study a Smoothed $\epsilon_n$-Greedy exploration scheme that combines $\epsilon_n$-greedy and Boltzmann exploration, for which we prove a gap-robust regret bound of near-$\tilde{O}(N^{9/10})$. We also obtain sample complexity guarantees, with both regret and sample complexity bounds holding with high probability. To analyze these algorithms, we develop a high-probability concentration bound for contractive Markovian stochastic approximation with iterate- and time-dependent transition dynamics. This bound may be of independent interest as the contraction factor in our framework is allowed to converge to one asymptotically.
arXiv:2602.09297v3 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Transformers update token representations through multi-head attention and residual connections as $X \leftarrow X + \sum_{i} P^{(i)}XW_{V_i}W_{o_i}$, where $P^{(i)}$ is the softmax attention matrix in head $i$. We propose replacing a subset of $P^{(i)}$'s with the Laplacian $I - P^{(i)}$, giving $X \leftarrow X + \sum_{i \in \mathcal{A}} P^{(i)}XW_{V_i}W_{o_i} + \sum_{i \in \mathcal{L}} (I - P^{(i)})XW_{V_i}W_{o_i}$. Our proposal has two motivations. First, it allows attention heads to update the mean of token representations, while Laplacian heads can directly control within-sequence variance. Second, if tokens are viewed as nodes in a graph with edge weights $P^{(i)}$, then $I - P^{(i)}$ is the corresponding graph Laplacian, and the update can be interpreted as one step of heat diffusion on the graph. We show that this simple modification improves performance across supervised learning, language modeling, and self-supervised learning tasks. To investigate why, we examine the token representations learned with and without Laplacian heads. In supervised learning, Laplacian heads collapse token representations within the same sequence and align the sequence means with the geometry of Neural Collapse. In language modeling, they increase the separability of token representations that share the same next-token prediction. In self-supervised learning, they produce token representations whose principal components are better suited for segmentation. Across modalities, they also lead to faster-decaying spectra, indicating stronger token smoothing. Overall, our findings challenge the prevailing view that token oversmoothing is inherently harmful, showing instead that certain forms of smoothing can be beneficial.
arXiv:2603.20030v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: A triangulation of a surface is k-irreducible if every non-contractible curve has length at least k and any edge contraction breaks this property. Equivalently, every edge belongs to a non-contractible curve of length k and there are no shorter non-contractible curves. We prove that a k-irreducible triangulation of an orientable surface of genus g has $O(k^2g)$ triangles, which is optimal. This is an improvement over the previous best bound $k^{O(k)} g^2$ of Gao, Richter and Seymour [Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series B, 1996].
arXiv:2504.13850v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Federated learning (FL) systems facilitate distributed machine learning across a server and multiple devices. However, FL systems have low resource utilization on servers and devices, limiting their practical use in the real world. This inefficiency primarily arises from two types of idle time: (i) task dependency between the server and devices, and (ii) stragglers among heterogeneous devices. This paper introduces FedOptima, a resource-optimized FL system designed to simultaneously minimize both types of idle time; existing systems do not eliminate or reduce both at the same time. FedOptima offloads the training of certain layers of a neural network from a device to a server using three innovations. First, devices operate independently of each other using asynchronous aggregation to eliminate straggler effects, and independently of the server by utilizing auxiliary networks to minimize idle time caused by task dependency. Second, the server performs centralized training using a task scheduler that ensures balanced contributions from all devices, improving model accuracy. Third, an efficient memory management mechanism on the server increases the scalability of the number of participating devices. Extensive experiments are conducted on multiple lab-based testbeds, evaluated on image classification and sentiment analysis tasks with CNNs and Transformers. Compared to four state-of-the-art offloading-based and asynchronous FL baselines, FedOptima (i) achieves higher or comparable accuracy, (ii) accelerates training by 1.9x to 21.8x, (iii) reduces server and device idle time by up to 93.9% and 81.8%, respectively, and (iv) increases throughput by 1.1x to 2.0x.
arXiv:2601.19562v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Quality diversity (QD) is a branch of evolutionary computation that seeks high-quality and behaviorally diverse solutions to a problem. While adversarial problems are common, classical QD cannot be easily applied to them, as both the fitness and the behavior depend on the opposing solutions. Recently, Generational Adversarial MAP-Elites (GAME) has been proposed to coevolve both sides of an adversarial problem by alternating the execution of a multi-task QD algorithm against previous elites, called tasks. The original algorithm selects new tasks based on a behavioral criterion, which may lead to undesired dynamics due to inter-side dependencies. In addition, comparing sets of solutions cannot be done directly using classical QD measures due to side dependencies. In this paper, we (1) use an inter-variants tournament to compare the sets of solutions, ensuring a fair comparison, with 6 measures of quality and diversity, and (2) propose two tournament-informed task selection methods to promote higher quality and diversity at each generation. We evaluate the variants across three adversarial problems: Pong, a Cat-and-mouse game, and a Pursuers-and-evaders game. We show that the tournament-informed task selection method leads to higher adversarial quality and diversity. We hope that this work will help further advance adversarial quality diversity. Code, videos, and supplementary material are available at https://github.com/Timothee-ANNE/GAME_tournament_informed.
arXiv:2507.05961v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Low-temperature spin dynamics can become trapped in long-lived patterns shaped by the geometry of the interaction network. Here we introduce Chladni states: spin configurations obtained by binarizing the eigenmodes of the interaction Laplacian. These graph-spectral patterns organize the metastable configurations reached by Ising systems under non-ergodic relaxation. The resulting Topological Mode Decomposition provides a compact way to monitor and reconstruct frozen spin configurations in ferromagnets, frustrated antiferromagnets, and spin glasses.
arXiv:2604.08302v3 Announce Type: replace Abstract: We present DMax, a new paradigm for efficient diffusion language models (dLLMs). It mitigates error accumulation in parallel decoding, enabling aggressive decoding parallelism while preserving generation quality. Unlike conventional masked dLLMs that decode through a binary mask-to-token transition, DMax reformulates decoding as a progressive self-refinement from mask embeddings to token embeddings. At the core of our approach is On-Policy Uniform Training, a novel training strategy that efficiently unifies masked and uniform dLLMs, equipping the model to recover clean tokens from both masked inputs and its own erroneous predictions. Building on this foundation, we further propose Soft Parallel Decoding. We represent each intermediate decoding state as an interpolation between the predicted token embedding and the mask embedding, enabling iterative self-revising in embedding space. Extensive experiments across a variety of benchmarks demonstrate the effectiveness of DMax. Compared with the original LLaDA-2.0-mini, our method improves TPF on GSM8K from 2.04 to 5.47 while preserving accuracy. On MBPP, it increases TPF from 2.71 to 5.86 while maintaining comparable performance. On two H200 GPUs, our model achieves an average of 1,338 TPS at batch size 1. Code is available at: https://github.com/czg1225/DMax
arXiv:2505.03307v3 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Simulating Clifford and near-Clifford circuits using the extended stabilizer formalism has become increasingly popular, particularly in quantum error correction. Compared to the state-vector approach, the extended stabilizer formalism can solve the same problems with fewer computational resources, as it operates on stabilizers rather than full state vectors. Most existing studies on near-Clifford circuits focus on balancing the trade-off between the number of ancilla qubits and simulation accuracy, often overlooking performance considerations. Furthermore, in the presence of high-rank stabilizers, performance is limited by the sequential property of the stabilizer formalism. In this work, we introduce a parallelized version of the extended stabilizer formalism, enabling efficient execution on multi-core devices such as GPU. Experimental results demonstrate that, in certain scenarios, our Python-based implementation outperforms state-of-the-art simulators such as Qiskit and Pennylane.
arXiv:2311.14344v3 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: This work presents a tensor-network formulation of the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) and several of its variants. The approach represents candidate tours with tensor-network layers, weights them by Boltzmann factors, and enforces constraints through explicit counting filters. This formalism also yields an explicit tensor-network marginal formula whose zero-temperature, exact-arithmetic limit identifies an optimal feasible tour through a sequential marginal rule. At finite $\tau$ and finite precision, the implemented extraction is a heuristic whose behavior depends on numerical contrast, calibration, and near-degeneracies. We adapt the construction to several generalizations of the TSP and apply it to the Job Reassignment Problem, as a representative industrial integration. The experiments are deliberately small and illustrative; they contextualize the method against exact and heuristic references but do not establish general computational superiority over specialized classical solvers.
arXiv:2605.15795v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: We study real-time reconstruction and actuation for two binary Markov sources that share a wireless multi-packet reception (MPR) channel. Each sensor follows a stationary randomized sampling policy, and the receiver maintains source estimates using the most recently decoded updates. We derive closed-form expressions for the steady-state real-time reconstruction error (RTE) and the cost of actuation error (CAE) as functions of the source transition probabilities and the effective update probabilities. We then characterize these update probabilities under randomized sampling, linking the physical-layer MPR model to task-oriented reconstruction and actuation metrics. Using these expressions, we formulate a sampling-constrained optimization problem with a weighted-error objective. The resulting analysis reveals how source dynamics, semantic weights, and MPR coupling affect the allocation of sampling resources. Numerical results show that optimized randomized sampling outperforms random, greedy, and time-sharing baselines.
arXiv:2605.15743v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: This paper develops a feedback-based method to preserve the topology privacy of consensus protocols in network systems. The key idea is to intentionally violate topology identifiability conditions, thereby preventing unique or accurate recovery of the true topology from available observations, while preserving the intended consensus behavior. This problem is challenging because the feedback magnitude directly reflects the privacy level of edges, while it is strongly coupled with the consensus convergence and constrained by local communications at each node. To begin with, we derive the feedback conditions of both partial and full observation cases, where the topology unsolvability from observation data is characterized in the former, and the solution space that enforces topology inaccuracy from data is constructed in the latter. Then, we propose a novel distributed topology modification design under limited privacy budgets, and establish the performance guarantees through a controllable tradeoff between the consensus deviation and the topology privacy. Finally, we develop a low-complexity heuristic algorithm to achieve optimal privacy preservation on existing edges. Comparative simulations validate the effectiveness and outperformance of the proposed preservation design.