IMITATION-LEARNINGCURRENT2026-04-20

COFFAIL: A Dataset of Successful and Anomalous Robot Skill Executions in the Context of Coffee Preparation

Alex Mitrevski, Ayush Salunke

This Robot LearningDatasetA collection of training or evaluation data. includes both successful AND failed Core ConceptsRobotA physical system with sensors and actuators that can observe the world and take actions. Manipulation & TasksManipulationUsing a robot arm or hand to move or interact with objects. episodes for coffee preparation tasks, enabling developers to train policies that recognize and recover from Core ConceptsExecutionActually carrying out planned or predicted actions on the robot. anomalies rather than just learning ideal behaviors. Unlike typical Manipulation & TasksManipulationUsing a robot arm or hand to move or interact with objects. datasets with only successes, COFFAIL lets you build robots that can detect when a Modern Robot LearningSkillA reusable behavior like grasp, push, place, or open drawer. is going wrong.

THE PROBLEM

This paper focuses on Imitation & Reinforcement LearningImitation Learning (IL)Teaching a robot by showing it examples of how to do a task.. This Robot LearningDatasetA collection of training or evaluation data. includes both successful AND failed Core ConceptsRobotA physical system with sensors and actuators that can observe the world and take actions. Manipulation & TasksManipulationUsing a robot arm or hand to move or interact with objects. episodes for coffee preparation tasks, enabling developers to train policies that recognize and recover from Core ConceptsExecutionActually carrying out planned or predicted actions on the robot. anomalies rather than just learning ideal behaviors. Unlike typical Manipulation & TasksManipulationUsing a robot arm or hand to move or interact with objects. datasets with only successes, COFFAIL lets you build robots that can detect when a Modern Robot LearningSkillA reusable behavior like grasp, push, place, or open drawer. is going wrong. Read the paper by tracking the Core ConceptsTaskThe job the robot is supposed to complete, such as pick-and-place, navigation, or drawer opening. definition, the Core ConceptsRobotA physical system with sensors and actuators that can observe the world and take actions. or data assumptions, and the evidence that supports the claimed improvement.

HOW IT WORKS

1

Task framing

The paper frames the work as Imitation & Reinforcement LearningImitation Learning (IL)Teaching a robot by showing it examples of how to do a task.. Start here because it defines what success means and which assumptions the rest of the method inherits.

2

Core method

This Robot LearningDatasetA collection of training or evaluation data. includes both successful AND failed Core ConceptsRobotA physical system with sensors and actuators that can observe the world and take actions. Manipulation & TasksManipulationUsing a robot arm or hand to move or interact with objects. episodes for coffee preparation tasks, enabling developers to train policies that recognize and recover from Core ConceptsExecutionActually carrying out planned or predicted actions on the robot. anomalies rather than just learning ideal behaviors. Unlike typical Manipulation & TasksManipulationUsing a robot arm or hand to move or interact with objects. datasets with only successes, COFFAIL lets you build robots that can detect when a Modern Robot LearningSkillA reusable behavior like grasp, push, place, or open drawer. is going wrong. When reading the method section, identify the inputs, the learned or engineered representation, and the Core ConceptsActionA command the robot sends to its motors, controller, or low-level system. or prediction produced by the system.

3

Data and supervision

For robotics work, the data story is part of the method: check whether the system depends on Imitation & Reinforcement LearningTeleoperation (teleop)A human remotely controlling the robot, often to collect demonstrations., Simulation & Sim-to-RealSimulationA virtual environment where robots can be trained or tested., internet video, human labels, or Core ConceptsRobotA physical system with sensors and actuators that can observe the world and take actions. rollouts.

4

Evaluation evidence

The paper should be judged through its Simulation & Sim-to-RealEvaluationMeasuring how well a robot system performs. protocol: what data is used, what Core ConceptsRobotA physical system with sensors and actuators that can observe the world and take actions. or simulator is tested, and which Evaluation & ResearchBaselineA reference method used for comparison. comparisons support the claim. Look for the gap between the headline result and the Simulation & Sim-to-RealDeploymentPutting the trained system on a real robot. setting you would actually care about.

KEY RESULTS

Main contributionConceptual contribution

This Robot LearningDatasetA collection of training or evaluation data. includes both successful AND failed Core ConceptsRobotA physical system with sensors and actuators that can observe the world and take actions. Manipulation & TasksManipulationUsing a robot arm or hand to move or interact with objects. episodes for coffee preparation tasks, enabling developers to train policies that recognize and recover from Core ConceptsExecutionActually carrying out planned or predicted actions on the robot. anomalies rather than just learning ideal behaviors. Unlike typical Manipulation & TasksManipulationUsing a robot arm or hand to move or interact with objects. datasets with only successes, COFFAIL lets you build robots that can detect when a Modern Robot LearningSkillA reusable behavior like grasp, push, place, or open drawer. is going wrong.

WHY DEVELOPERS SHOULD CARE

This Robot LearningDatasetA collection of training or evaluation data. includes both successful AND failed Core ConceptsRobotA physical system with sensors and actuators that can observe the world and take actions. Manipulation & TasksManipulationUsing a robot arm or hand to move or interact with objects. episodes for coffee preparation tasks, enabling developers to train policies that recognize and recover from Core ConceptsExecutionActually carrying out planned or predicted actions on the robot. anomalies rather than just learning ideal behaviors. Unlike typical Manipulation & TasksManipulationUsing a robot arm or hand to move or interact with objects. datasets with only successes, COFFAIL lets you build robots that can detect when a Modern Robot LearningSkillA reusable behavior like grasp, push, place, or open drawer. is going wrong.

LIMITATIONS

The main limitation to check is whether the claimed behavior holds outside the paper's reported setup. That means testing across different Core ConceptsRobotA physical system with sensors and actuators that can observe the world and take actions. embodiments, scenes, objects, and data distributions.

WHAT COMES NEXT

The practical next step is independent reproduction with clear baselines, ablations, and stress tests. For a developer, the useful follow-up is to map the paper's Imitation & Reinforcement LearningImitation Learning (IL)Teaching a robot by showing it examples of how to do a task. assumptions onto a concrete Core ConceptsRobotA physical system with sensors and actuators that can observe the world and take actions. stack, then test the smallest version of the method that could run end to end.

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