chore(policies): add guards, warnings and comments + recover tests n1.5 check

src/lerobot/policies/groot/configuration_groot.py

@@ -324,9 +324,14 @@ class GrootConfig(PreTrainedConfig):
     # Set to True only after installing a flash-attn build matching your torch/CUDA env.
     use_flash_attention: bool = False
 
-    # Enable GR00T-style state-relative action chunks. Prefer deriving action representation from
-    # embodiment metadata; relative_exclude_joints is a flat-vector override for datasets without it.
+    # Enable GR00T-style state-relative action chunks (action chunk expressed relative to the current
+    # observation state).
     use_relative_actions: bool = False
+    
+    # relative_exclude_joints names the action dimensions that stay absolute; the
+    # match is substring/case-insensitive against the dataset action feature names. With the empty
+    # default every dimension is treated as relative, including the gripper -- set e.g. ["gripper"] to
+    # keep the gripper absolute, matching the Isaac-GR00T single-arm + absolute-gripper convention.
     relative_exclude_joints: list[str] = field(default_factory=list)
 
     # Training parameters

src/lerobot/policies/groot/processor_groot.py

@@ -996,6 +996,7 @@ def _build_n1_7_relative_action_processor_assets(
         }
         for group in groups
     ]
+    # 40 matches the action horizon of the only N1.7 base model (nvidia/GR00T-N1.7-3B)
     action_horizon = min(config.chunk_size, 40)
     modality_config: dict[str, Any] = {
         "state": {"modality_keys": [group.key for group in groups]},
@@ -1194,6 +1195,13 @@ def make_groot_pre_post_processors(
     )
     relative_step: RelativeActionsProcessorStep | None = None
     if config.use_relative_actions and not uses_native_relative_actions:
+        logging.warning(
+            "GR00T relative actions are using the generic RelativeActionsProcessorStep fallback because "
+            "the checkpoint already carries non-relative statistics. Relative deltas will be normalized "
+            "with absolute action stats rather than Isaac-GR00T's per-horizon relative stats. For "
+            "OSS-faithful relative normalization, build from a checkpoint without baked-in stats (or "
+            "pass dataset_meta) so native relative stats are computed."
+        )
         relative_step = RelativeActionsProcessorStep(
             enabled=True,
             exclude_joints=list(config.relative_exclude_joints or []),
@@ -1658,6 +1666,25 @@ class GrootN17PackInputsStep(ProcessorStep):
             return None
         return torch.cat(normalized_groups, dim=-1)
 
+    def _uses_relative_action_groups(self) -> bool:
+        """True when the action modality declares at least one relative group.
+
+        Relative groups normalize with per-chunk-timestep (2D) ``relative_action`` stats, which the
+        flat ``_min_max_norm`` fallback cannot honor, so a relative config that fails grouped
+        normalization must fail loudly rather than silently mis-scale every timestep.
+        """
+        if not isinstance(self.modality_config, dict):
+            return False
+        action_config = self.modality_config.get("action", {})
+        if not isinstance(action_config, dict):
+            return False
+        action_configs = action_config.get("action_configs", [])
+        if not isinstance(action_configs, list):
+            return False
+        return any(
+            isinstance(cfg, dict) and config_value(cfg.get("rep")) == "relative" for cfg in action_configs
+        )
+
     def __call__(self, transition: EnvTransition) -> EnvTransition:
         obs = transition.get(TransitionKey.OBSERVATION, {}) or {}
         comp = transition.get(TransitionKey.COMPLEMENTARY_DATA, {}) or {}
@@ -1775,6 +1802,15 @@ class GrootN17PackInputsStep(ProcessorStep):
                 normalized_action = self._normalize_action_groups_for_training(action)
                 if normalized_action is not None:
                     action = normalized_action
+                elif self._uses_relative_action_groups():
+                    raise ValueError(
+                        "GrootN17PackInputsStep could not apply native grouped normalization to a "
+                        "relative-action chunk: the action layout or horizon does not match the "
+                        f"checkpoint relative_action stats (action shape {tuple(action.shape)}). The flat "
+                        "min/max fallback cannot honor per-chunk-timestep relative stats, so refusing to "
+                        "silently mis-normalize. Recompute the relative action stats so their horizon and "
+                        "dimensions match the action chunk."
+                    )
                 else:
                     flat = _min_max_norm(action.reshape(bsz * horizon, dim), ACTION)
                     action = flat.view(bsz, horizon, dim)

tests/policies/groot/test_groot_n1_7.py

@@ -30,10 +30,12 @@ from lerobot.configs import FeatureType, PolicyFeature
 from lerobot.policies.factory import make_policy_config, make_pre_post_processors
 from lerobot.policies.groot.configuration_groot import (
     GROOT_ACTION_DECODE_TRANSFORM_LIBERO,
+    GROOT_N1_7,
     GROOT_N1_7_BASE_MODEL,
     GrootConfig,
     infer_groot_n1_7_action_execution_horizon,
     infer_groot_n1_7_action_horizon,
+    normalize_groot_model_version,
 )
 from lerobot.policies.groot.modeling_groot import GrootPolicy
 from lerobot.policies.groot.processor_groot import (
@@ -350,6 +352,18 @@ def test_groot_defaults_use_n1_7():
     assert len(config.action_delta_indices) == 40
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("legacy_version", ["n1.5", "n1_5", "n15", "1.5"])
+def test_groot_normalize_model_version_rejects_n1_5_aliases(legacy_version):
+    # model_version is no longer a GrootConfig field, but normalize_groot_model_version is still
+    # live (e.g. via infer_groot_model_version) and must keep rejecting N1.5 with removal guidance.
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="Unsupported GR00T model_version"):
+        normalize_groot_model_version(legacy_version)
+
+
+def test_groot_normalize_model_version_accepts_n1_7():
+    assert normalize_groot_model_version(GROOT_N1_7) == GROOT_N1_7
+
+
 def test_groot_n1_7_accepts_named_action_decode_transform():
     config = GrootConfig(
         action_decode_transform="libero",
@@ -997,6 +1011,42 @@ def test_groot_n1_7_pack_inputs_normalizes_action_chunk_per_dimension_before_pad
     assert action_mask[0, :, 3:].sum().item() == 0
 
 
+def test_groot_n1_7_pack_inputs_raises_when_relative_groups_cannot_normalize():
+    # Relative groups carry per-chunk-timestep stats; if the action horizon exceeds the available
+    # stat rows, grouped normalization cannot apply and the flat fallback would silently mis-scale.
+    step = GrootN17PackInputsStep(
+        action_horizon=3,
+        valid_action_horizon=3,
+        max_state_dim=2,
+        max_action_dim=2,
+        normalize_min_max=True,
+        raw_stats={
+            "state": {"single_arm": {"min": [0.0, 0.0], "max": [1.0, 1.0]}},
+            "action": {"single_arm": {"min": [0.0, 0.0], "max": [1.0, 1.0]}},
+            # only one horizon row, but the action chunk has horizon 3
+            "relative_action": {"single_arm": {"min": [[-1.0, -1.0]], "max": [[1.0, 1.0]]}},
+        },
+        modality_config={
+            "state": {"modality_keys": ["single_arm"]},
+            "action": {
+                "modality_keys": ["single_arm"],
+                "action_configs": [
+                    {"rep": "RELATIVE", "type": "NON_EEF", "format": "DEFAULT", "state_key": None}
+                ],
+                "delta_indices": [0, 1, 2],
+            },
+        },
+    )
+    transition = {
+        TransitionKey.OBSERVATION: {OBS_STATE: torch.zeros(1, 2)},
+        TransitionKey.ACTION: torch.zeros(1, 3, 2),
+        TransitionKey.COMPLEMENTARY_DATA: {"task": ["Move"]},
+    }
+
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="could not apply native grouped normalization"):
+        step(transition)
+
+
 def test_groot_n1_7_pack_inputs_trains_native_relative_groups_with_absolute_gripper():
     step = GrootN17PackInputsStep(
         action_horizon=2,