VersualRL: Closed-Loop Verbal Reinforcement Learning with Visual Execution Feedback for Task-Level Robot Planning
Organizations: The authors are with the Intelligent Space Robotics Laboratory, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology.
Abstract
We introduce VersualRL, a closed-loop framework for task-level robot planning that uses visual execution feedback to iteratively refine executable Behavior Trees through structured natural-language critique. VersualRL combines a vision-language model critic, which analyzes visual observations and Behavior Tree execution traces, with a large language model actor that performs discrete and interpretable policy updates. During physical deployment, both foundation models remain frozen, while the executed Behavior Tree is updated at the symbolic level without online gradient-based policy optimization. This enables transparent reasoning, explicit causal feedback, and human-interpretable policy evolution. We validate VersualRL on a real mobile robot performing a multi-stage navigation and manipulation task under execution uncertainty. Experimental results show that the framework supports explainable policy improvements, closed-loop adaptation to execution failures, and successful deployment on physical robotic systems.
Figures & tables
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Base model | Qwen2.5-VL-3B-Instruct (8-bit, bitsandbytes) |
| LoRA rank / | 16 / 16 |
| LoRA dropout | 0.15 |
| Target modules | Attention and MLP projections |
| Optimizer | AdamW (fused), |
| Learning rate / schedule | , linear, warmup ratio 0.15 |
| Condition | Score |
|---|---|
| Operating time penalty | 1 point per second |
| Additional timeout penalty ( s) | 20 points |
| Block correctly placed | 10 points per block |
| Full batch of 4 correctly placed blocks | 10 bonus points |
| Block incorrectly placed | 5 points per block |
| Block completely outside any zone | 10 points per block |
Robot Policy Learning
Robot policy learning develops controllers that map sensory observations, task goals, and interaction history to actions for embodied robots.
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