A technical analysis reveals that pi0-FAST's reported 60% baseline on LIBERO-10 is incorrect due to a duplicated DeltaActions transform during fine-tuning; ablation studies show the actual performance is 85%, meaning many recent VLA papers cite a wrong baseline. The article also covers dataset access issues with ABC-130k, reproducibility problems with ACT's CVAE ablation, and GSI's new robotic capture system.
The article explores how cultural imitation, from Yoruba pepper sauce to shared music preferences, provides material and social advantages that bind communities together. Through examples like foot binding and religious practices, it demonstrates how conformity pressures—reinforced by bonding, resource control, and fear of ostracism—have shaped human mimetic instincts so powerfully they can override self-preservation.