feat(rollout): adding episodic strategy (#3717)

* feat(rollout): adding legacy strategy

* adding legacy to existing tests

* updating docs and docstring

* changing misleading docstring

Signed-off-by: Maxime Ellerbach <maxime@ellerbach.net>

* adding extra guard like dagged with try except finally

* Potential fix for pull request finding

Signed-off-by: Maxime Ellerbach <maxime@ellerbach.net>

* adding reset to initial position

* moving smooth teleop handover to control_utils and adding this behavior to legacy strategy

* reducing duration of the handover

* * renaming to episodic
* changing semantics of the docstring
* fixing leader - follower handover disable torque
* adding optionnal config to disable handover

* wiring the smooth_leader_follower_handover config

* renaming config smooth_leader_to_follower_handover

---------

Signed-off-by: Maxime Ellerbach <maxime@ellerbach.net>

docs/source/il_robots.mdx

@@ -647,5 +647,6 @@ The `--strategy.type` flag selects the execution mode:
 - `sentry`: Continuous recording with auto-upload (useful for large-scale evaluation)
 - `highlight`: Ring buffer recording with keystroke save (useful for capturing interesting events)
 - `dagger`: Human-in-the-loop data collection (see [HIL Data Collection](./hil_data_collection))
+- `episodic`: Episode-oriented policy recording with reset phases between episodes
 
 All strategies support `--inference.type=rtc` for smooth execution with slow VLA models (Pi0, Pi0.5, SmolVLA).

docs/source/inference.mdx

@@ -157,6 +157,44 @@ Foot pedal input is also supported via `--strategy.input_device=pedal`. Configur
 | `--strategy.input_device`            | Input device: `keyboard` or `pedal` (default: keyboard) |
 | `--teleop.type`                      | **Required.** Teleoperator type                         |
 
+### Episodic (`--strategy.type=episodic`)
+
+Episode-oriented recording that mirrors the behavior of `lerobot-record`. The policy drives the robot for each episode; an optional teleoperator can drive the robot during the reset phase between episodes.
+
+```bash
+lerobot-rollout \
+    --strategy.type=episodic \
+    --policy.path=${HF_USER}/my_policy \
+    --robot.type=so100_follower \
+    --robot.port=/dev/ttyACM0 \
+    --teleop.type=so100_leader \
+    --teleop.port=/dev/ttyACM1 \
+    --dataset.repo_id=${HF_USER}/my_eval_data \
+    --dataset.num_episodes=20 \
+    --dataset.episode_time_s=30 \
+    --dataset.reset_time_s=10 \
+    --dataset.single_task="Pick up the red cube"
+```
+
+Teleop is optional — if omitted the robot holds its position during the reset phase.
+
+**Keyboard controls:**
+
+| Key         | Action                           |
+| ----------- | -------------------------------- |
+| `→` (right) | End the current episode early    |
+| `←` (left)  | Discard episode and re-record it |
+| `ESC`       | Stop the recording session       |
+
+| Flag                                            | Description                                                                |
+| ----------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `--dataset.num_episodes`                        | Number of episodes to record                                               |
+| `--dataset.episode_time_s`                      | Duration of each recording episode in seconds                              |
+| `--dataset.reset_time_s`                        | Duration of the reset phase between episodes in seconds                    |
+| `--teleop.type`                                 | Optional. Teleoperator to drive the robot during resets                    |
+| `--strategy.reset_to_initial_position`          | Whether to reset the robot to its initial position between episodes        |
+| `--strategy.smooth_leader_to_follower_handover` | Whether to turn on or off the leader -> follower smooth handover behavior. |
+
 ---
 
 ## Inference Backends