Perception

Perception includes object recognition, motion estimation, pose detection, and reading human cues. For embodied robots, it depends on fusing RGB, depth, LiDAR, proprioception, and audio into a coherent model of the environment.

Recent advances combine classical vision pipelines with transformer-based models. Tools like Segment Anything and DINOv2 enable zero-shot segmentation, while diffusion-based methods reconstruct 3D scenes from a single image. Systems like PerAct map visual input directly to manipulation commands.

The frontier now links perception to control. Rather than analyzing scenes in isolation, robots learn visual representations optimized for decision-making. Seeing is no longer the goal, it’s the starting point for intelligent action.