Active Perception

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Overview

Active perception studies how an agent can improve what it knows by moving a camera or robot, selecting video frames or image regions, or probing an object or person. Common approaches use information gain and belief models, next-best-view planning, learned policies, and vision-language agents that gather evidence in multiple steps; maps and memory help combine observations over time. These methods support tasks such as robot navigation and manipulation, 3D mapping, and visual question answering, where a poorly chosen viewpoint or missing detail can lead to errors. Benchmarks such as ESI-Bench and ActiveArena show that active observation can help, but agents still struggle with reliable memory, long-horizon tasks, transfer to new settings, and balancing information gathering against time, energy, and safety.

Latest papers

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107 papers11 papers in the last four weeks, down 50% on the four weeks before. 0.1% of all new papers.

  1. Episodic looking - using reinforcement learning to bias perception enhances few-shot and continual learning with protection from forgetting

    Oct 28, 2026David Rawlinson, Gideon KowadloContinual LearningCatastrophic Forgetting

    Cerenaut Melbourne Australia

  2. SpaceAct: Benchmarking 3D Spatial and Temporal Reasoning via Closed-Loop Action and Active Perception

    Oct 28, 2026Chenglong Shi, Zekai Yuan, Yue Song +2Spatial Reasoning BenchmarksSpatiotemporal Reasoning

    Tencent HY

  3. SplatScout: Query-Driven Part-Level Referring Segmentation in Gaussian Scenes

    Oct 27, 2026Yihan Zang, Da Li, Shinkyu Park +23D Referring Segmentation3D Part Segmentation

    CEMSE Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

  4. I Won't Know Until I Try: Interactive Information Gathering for Long-Horizon Manipulation

    Oct 25, 2026Linfei Yuan, Rachel HolladayLong-Horizon Robotic ManipulationMotion Planning

    GRASP Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA

  5. SpatialScout: Can VLM Agents Actively Explore and Map 3D Scenes?

    Oct 19, 2026Zhaoxi Zhang, Hao Liang, Linxuan Wu +73D MappingActive Perception

    Peking University · Tianjin University

  6. VP-EVT: Active Visibility Preservation for Embodied Visual Tracking

    Oct 15, 2026Yanci Wen, Tianle Zeng, Jianwei Peng +3Active VisionVisual Object Tracking

    Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Robotics and Computer Vision, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China. · Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China. · Tencent Robotics X, Shenzhen, China.

  7. Active Perception of Upper-Limb Functional Mobility through Human-Robot Handovers

    Oct 14, 2026Francesco Semeraro, Marta Lagomarsino, Alberto Ranavolo +1Active PerceptionHuman-Robot Collaboration

    Human-Robot Interfaces and Interaction (HRI2) Laboratory, Italian Institute of Technology, 16163, Genoa, Italy. · Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, INAIL, 00078, Rome, Italy.

  8. Acting from Belief, Looking When Needed: A Bayesian Spatial World Model for Navigation under Intermittent Perception

    Oct 8, 2026Feihong Yang, Xiang Long, Jincheng Yu +4Robot NavigationWorld Models for Robotics

    Qiyuan Lab, Beijing, China · Department of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

  9. Borrowed Eyes: Markerless Nano-UAV Flight with an Active Quadruped Observer

    Oct 7, 2026Alejandro Lorite Mora, Dimitrios Arapis, Andrés FaíñaUAV NavigationGNSS-Denied Localization

    IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark · Novo Nordisk A/S, Hillerød, Denmark

  10. ActiveLang: Active Open-Vocabulary 3D Mapping with Semantic-Uncertainty-Guided Exploration

    Oct 7, 2026Liyan Chen, Hairong Yin, Huangying Zhan +33D Semantic Mapping3D Mapping

    Stevens Institute of Technology · Purdue University · Goertek Alpha Labs

  11. Communication-Free Obstacle Localization from Aggregate Wrench Measurements in Leader--Follower Cooperative Transport

    Oct 6, 2026Amin Kashiri, Aditya Mohan, Yasin YazıcıoğluActive PerceptionMulti-Agent Coordination

    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Northeastern University, Boston, MA

  12. Agentic Semantic Sensing for Resource-Adaptive AI-RAN

    Oct 6, 2026Zhongqin Wang, Xiaoqi Zhang, Nan Yang +3Adaptive SensingActive Perception

    Global Big Data Technologies Centre, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia · School of Science, Engineering and Digital Technologies, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia · School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia

  13. Online Planning for Sparse Ground Target Search from a High-Altitude UAV under Partial Observability

    Oct 1, 2026Ashik E Rasul, Hyung-Jin YoonActive PerceptionRemote Sensing Small Object Detection

    Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering Tennessee Technological University Cookeville, USA

  14. Learning to Explore Hidden Kinematics for Articulated Object Manipulation

    Sep 29, 2026Ruiyao Liu, Boshu Lei, Zhuoyang Pan +1RL for RoboticsActive Perception

    GRASP Lab, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA

  15. Probe to Act: Elevating Browser-Use Agent via Active Visual Probing

    Sep 27, 2026Keliang Li, Heng Wang, Chen Hu +3Active PerceptionVisual Grounding

    Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences · University of Chinese Academy of Sciences · StepFun

  16. Vision-Language Agents for Active Perception in Optics Laboratories

    Sep 26, 2026Ryan Lopez, Sachin Vaidya, Seou Choi +2Tool-Using Vision-Language AgentsActive Perception

    Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology · Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology · NSF Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions

  17. CoralPlan: Observation Skill Selection and Execution for Underwater Robotic Inspection

    Sep 25, 2026Yuer Gao, Yu Zhao, Yi CaiUnderwater RoboticsRobotic Inspection

    The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).

  18. TRACE: Interactive Bi-Directional Tracing of Monochrome Cables Amid Clutter

    Sep 24, 2026Nidhya Shivakumar, Ethan Ransing, Josh Zhang +6Active PerceptionVisual Object Tracking

    AUTOLab at the University of California, Berkeley

  19. AquaMend: Minimal Re-probing and Conditional Rollback for Latent-Belief Failures in Embodied Agents

    Sep 24, 2026Yufan Liu, Shang Luo, Yang Liu +9Belief-Space PlanningAI Agent Reliability

    University College London · Peking University · School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University +4

  20. Robust Active-Perception Control for Global-State-Free Aerial-Ground Cooperation

    Sep 22, 2026Mingxuan Zhang, Jiajun Yu, Baozhe Zhang +5Active PerceptionMulti-Robot Coordination

    State Key Laboratory of Industrial Control Technology, Institute of Cyber-Systems and Control, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China · Huzhou Institute of Zhejiang University and Huzhou Key Laboratory of Autonomous Systems, Huzhou 313000, China · The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen 518172, China

  21. Audio-based UAV Localization with Adaptive Temporal Correspondence via Reinforcement Learning

    Sep 21, 2026Haoxiang Lei, Mingzheng Feng, Daotong Wang +1Active PerceptionRobot Localization

  22. ActiveArena: Benchmarking and Understanding Active Perception in Robotic Manipulation

    Sep 21, 2026Yibo Li, Enshen Zhou, Rui Chen +7Memory-Augmented VLMsActive Perception

    Beihang University · Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence · Peking University +1

  23. LEAP-NBV: Lightweight Edge Active-Perception for Foundation-Model Next-Best-View Planning

    Sep 21, 2026Boxun Hu, Jiawei Ge, Axel Krieger +2Active PerceptionNext-Best-View Planning

    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA · Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA · US Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005, USA

  24. GAPS: Generative Active Pseudo-view Selection for Sparse-View 3D Gaussian Splatting

    Sep 20, 2026Hongfei Zhu, Haochen Deng, Sitao Zhang +13D Gaussian SplattingActive Perception

    Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, Shanghai, China · Goertek Inc., No. 268 Dongfang Road, Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone, Weifang, 261031, Shandong, China · Fudan University, 220 Handan Road, Shanghai, 200433, Shanghai, China

  25. Splat-CBF: Safe Next-Best-View Control in 3D Gaussian-Splat Maps

    Sep 19, 2026Amirhossein Mollaei Khass, Athanasios Cosse, Nader MoteeRobot NavigationActive Perception

    Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, 18015, USA

  26. How Many Posterior Samples? Calibrated Stopping for Adaptive Sensing

    Sep 18, 2026Vincent Corlay, Andriy EnttselActive PerceptionOptimal Stopping

    Mitsubishi Electric R&D Centre Europe

  27. INSPECT: Learning Robot View Selection from Assistant Use

    Sep 17, 2026Di Wen, Kailun Yang, Wenhao Guo +7Active PerceptionRobotic Inspection

    Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe 76131, Germany · Hunan University, Changsha 410012, China · Independent Researcher

  28. Imagine-TAMP: Imagination-Guided Task and Motion Planning in Partial Observability

    Sep 17, 2026Antareep Singha, Shivaram Kumar, Yoonwoo Kim +1Belief-Space PlanningActive Perception

    Nanyang Technological University · The University of Texas at Austin

  29. VABench: Measuring Embodied Spatial Intelligence through Visual Demonstrations, Active Perception, and Metric Control

    Sep 17, 2026Zhongbo Zhang, Jiayi Jin, Yifan Wang +4Active PerceptionSpatial Reasoning Benchmarks

    Dalian University of Technology · Nanyang Technological University

  30. PIVOT: Perception-aware Independent Viewpoint Online Optimization

    Sep 16, 2026Yuyang Chen, Shekoufeh Sadeghi, Charuvahan Adhivarahan +4Active PerceptionNext-Best-View Planning

    Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA · Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32603, USA