Diffusion-Guided Multi-Arm Motion Planning

Viraj Parimi, Brian C. Williams
Proceedings of The 9th Conference on Robot Learning, PMLR 305:4684-4696, 2025.

Abstract

Multi-arm motion planning is fundamental for enabling arms to complete collaborative tasks in shared spaces but current methods struggle with scalability due to exponential state-space growth and reliance on large training datasets for learned models. Inspired by Multi-Agent Path Finding (MAPF), which decomposes planning into single-agent problems coupled with collision resolution, we propose a novel diffusion-guided multi-arm planner (DG-MAP) that enhances scalability of learning-based models while reducing their reliance on massive multi-arm datasets. Recognizing that collisions are primarily pairwise, we train two conditional diffusion models, one to generate feasible single-arm trajectories, and a second, to model the dual-arm dynamics required for effective pairwise collision resolution. By integrating these specialized generative models within a MAPF-inspired structured decomposition, our planner efficiently scales to larger number of arms. Evaluations against alternative learning-based methods across various team sizes demonstrate our method’s effectiveness and practical applicability. Code and data will be made publicly available. View video demonstrations in our supplementary material.

Cite this Paper


BibTeX
@InProceedings{pmlr-v305-parimi25a, title = {Diffusion-Guided Multi-Arm Motion Planning}, author = {Parimi, Viraj and Williams, Brian C.}, booktitle = {Proceedings of The 9th Conference on Robot Learning}, pages = {4684--4696}, year = {2025}, editor = {Lim, Joseph and Song, Shuran and Park, Hae-Won}, volume = {305}, series = {Proceedings of Machine Learning Research}, month = {27--30 Sep}, publisher = {PMLR}, pdf = {https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mlresearch/v305/main/assets/parimi25a/parimi25a.pdf}, url = {https://proceedings.mlr.press/v305/parimi25a.html}, abstract = {Multi-arm motion planning is fundamental for enabling arms to complete collaborative tasks in shared spaces but current methods struggle with scalability due to exponential state-space growth and reliance on large training datasets for learned models. Inspired by Multi-Agent Path Finding (MAPF), which decomposes planning into single-agent problems coupled with collision resolution, we propose a novel diffusion-guided multi-arm planner (DG-MAP) that enhances scalability of learning-based models while reducing their reliance on massive multi-arm datasets. Recognizing that collisions are primarily pairwise, we train two conditional diffusion models, one to generate feasible single-arm trajectories, and a second, to model the dual-arm dynamics required for effective pairwise collision resolution. By integrating these specialized generative models within a MAPF-inspired structured decomposition, our planner efficiently scales to larger number of arms. Evaluations against alternative learning-based methods across various team sizes demonstrate our method’s effectiveness and practical applicability. Code and data will be made publicly available. View video demonstrations in our supplementary material.} }
Endnote
%0 Conference Paper %T Diffusion-Guided Multi-Arm Motion Planning %A Viraj Parimi %A Brian C. Williams %B Proceedings of The 9th Conference on Robot Learning %C Proceedings of Machine Learning Research %D 2025 %E Joseph Lim %E Shuran Song %E Hae-Won Park %F pmlr-v305-parimi25a %I PMLR %P 4684--4696 %U https://proceedings.mlr.press/v305/parimi25a.html %V 305 %X Multi-arm motion planning is fundamental for enabling arms to complete collaborative tasks in shared spaces but current methods struggle with scalability due to exponential state-space growth and reliance on large training datasets for learned models. Inspired by Multi-Agent Path Finding (MAPF), which decomposes planning into single-agent problems coupled with collision resolution, we propose a novel diffusion-guided multi-arm planner (DG-MAP) that enhances scalability of learning-based models while reducing their reliance on massive multi-arm datasets. Recognizing that collisions are primarily pairwise, we train two conditional diffusion models, one to generate feasible single-arm trajectories, and a second, to model the dual-arm dynamics required for effective pairwise collision resolution. By integrating these specialized generative models within a MAPF-inspired structured decomposition, our planner efficiently scales to larger number of arms. Evaluations against alternative learning-based methods across various team sizes demonstrate our method’s effectiveness and practical applicability. Code and data will be made publicly available. View video demonstrations in our supplementary material.
APA
Parimi, V. & Williams, B.C.. (2025). Diffusion-Guided Multi-Arm Motion Planning. Proceedings of The 9th Conference on Robot Learning, in Proceedings of Machine Learning Research 305:4684-4696 Available from https://proceedings.mlr.press/v305/parimi25a.html.

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