Merge branch 'main' into codex/language-recipes

* Add dataloader_multiprocessing_context, default to spawn

Make the DataLoader multiprocessing start method configurable on
TrainPipelineConfig and default it to 'spawn'.

The previous default (fork on Linux) is unsafe with libraries that hold
non-fork-safe state in the parent process — common ones in this codebase
are PyAV, torchcodec, and the ffmpeg shared libs they wrap. Symptoms
reported in #2488, #2209, and observed locally include:

- multiprocessing.context.AuthenticationError: digest received was wrong
- RuntimeError: Pin memory thread exited unexpectedly
- RuntimeError: DataLoader worker exited unexpectedly
- Random SIGSEGV inside worker processes during video decode

Switching to spawn re-imports modules cleanly in each worker and
eliminates these failure modes. Added the setting as a config field
rather than hard-coding so users on platforms where fork is preferred
can opt back in via --dataloader-multiprocessing-context=fork.

* Address review: shorten config comment, note spawn startup tradeoff

Per @jashshah999, mention that spawn workers re-import modules and so
add some startup time vs fork. Also trim the failure-mode dump from
the inline comment — the linked issue covers the symptoms in detail.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* chore(scripts): add multiprocessing_context safeguards

* chore(config): add libs note

---------

Co-authored-by: 0o8o0-blip <0o8o0-blip@users.noreply.github.com>

.github/dependabot.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+version: 2
+updates:
+  - package-ecosystem: "github-actions"
+    directory: "/"
+    schedule:
+      interval: "weekly"
+    cooldown:
+      default-days: 7
+    groups:
+      actions:
+        patterns: ["*"]

AGENTS.md

@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ pre-commit run --all-files                           # Lint + format (ruff, typo
 ## Notes
 
 - **Mypy is gradual**: strict only for `lerobot.envs`, `lerobot.configs`, `lerobot.optim`, `lerobot.model`, `lerobot.cameras`, `lerobot.motors`, `lerobot.transport`. Add type annotations when modifying these modules.
-- **Optional dependencies**: many policies, envs, and robots are behind extras (e.g., `lerobot[aloha]`). New imports for optional packages must be guarded or lazy. See `pyproject.toml [project.optional-dependencies]`.
+- **Imports**: prefer top-level imports; relative (`from .sibling import X`) across sibling files within a module, absolute (`from lerobot.module import X`) across modules.
+- **Optional dependencies**: many policies, envs, and robots are behind extras (e.g., `lerobot[aloha]`, see `pyproject.toml`). Guard optional imports with `TYPE_CHECKING or _foo_available` at module top + a `require_package(...)` check at use time. Reuse the `_foo_available` flags in `utils/import_utils.py`; don't call `is_package_available`.
 - **Video decoding**: datasets can store observations as video files. `LeRobotDataset` handles frame extraction, but tests need ffmpeg installed.
 - **Prioritize use of `uv run`** to execute Python commands (not raw `python` or `pip`).

README.md

@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ episode_index=0
 print(f"{dataset[episode_index]['action'].shape=}\n")
 ```
 
-Learn more about it in the [LeRobotDataset Documentation](https://huggingface.co/docs/lerobot/lerobot-dataset-v3)
+Learn more about it in the [LeRobotDataset Documentation](https://huggingface.co/docs/lerobot/lerobot-dataset-v3).
 
 ## SoTA Models
 
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ lerobot-train \
 | **World Models**           | [VLA-JEPA](./docs/source/vla_jepa.mdx), [LingBot-VA](./docs/source/lingbot_va.mdx), [FastWAM](./docs/source/fastwam.mdx)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
 | **Reward Models**          | [SARM](./docs/source/sarm.mdx), [TOPReward](./docs/source/topreward.mdx), [Robometer](./docs/source/robometer.mdx)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
 
-Similarly to the hardware, you can easily implement your own policy & leverage LeRobot's data collection, training, and visualization tools, and share your model to the HF Hub
+Similarly to the hardware, you can easily implement your own policy & leverage LeRobot's data collection, training, and visualization tools, and share your model to the HF Hub.
 
 For detailed policy setup guides, see the [Policy Documentation](https://huggingface.co/docs/lerobot/bring_your_own_policies). For GPU/RAM requirements and expected training time per policy, see the [Compute Hardware Guide](https://huggingface.co/docs/lerobot/hardware_guide).
 
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ lerobot-eval \
   --eval.n_episodes=10
 ```
 
-Learn how to implement your own simulation environment or benchmark and distribute it from the HF Hub by following the [EnvHub Documentation](https://huggingface.co/docs/lerobot/envhub)
+Learn how to implement your own simulation environment or benchmark and distribute it from the HF Hub by following the [EnvHub Documentation](https://huggingface.co/docs/lerobot/envhub).
 
 ## Resources
 

docs/source/annotation_pipeline.mdx

@@ -89,8 +89,8 @@ subtask.
 
 The resulting spans are then stitched into a gap-free, full-episode
 cover, so **every frame has exactly one active subtask**. See
-[`run_hf_job.py`](https://github.com/huggingface/lerobot/blob/main/examples/annotations/run_hf_job.py)
-for the production settings (single camera, timestamped contact sheets,
+[Running on Hugging Face Jobs](#running-on-hugging-face-jobs) for the
+production settings (single camera, timestamped contact sheets,
 auto-windowed subtask generation).
 
 ### Tools
@@ -110,28 +110,67 @@ not-yet-implemented.
 
 ## Running on Hugging Face Jobs
 
-Annotation runs on [Hugging Face Jobs](https://huggingface.co/docs/hub/en/jobs).
-The repo ships a launcher script you copy and tweak for your dataset:
+Annotating a real dataset needs a GPU big enough to serve the VLM, so
+`lerobot-annotate` can dispatch itself to
+[Hugging Face Jobs](https://huggingface.co/docs/hub/en/jobs) — same as
+`lerobot-train`. Add `--job.target=<flavor>` to the exact command you'd
+run locally and it runs on that hardware instead:
 
 ```bash
-HF_TOKEN=hf_... uv run python examples/annotations/run_hf_job.py
+hf auth login   # once
+
+uv run lerobot-annotate \
+    --repo_id=user/my_dataset \
+    --new_repo_id=user/my_dataset_annotated \
+    --push_to_hub=true \
+    --vlm.model_id=Qwen/Qwen3.6-27B \
+    --vlm.num_gpus=1 \
+    --vlm.serve_command="vllm serve Qwen/Qwen3.6-27B --tensor-parallel-size 1 \
+        --max-model-len 32768 --gpu-memory-utilization 0.8 \
+        --uvicorn-log-level warning --port {port}" \
+    --vlm.serve_ready_timeout_s=1800 \
+    --vlm.chat_template_kwargs='{"enable_thinking": false}' \
+    --job.target=h200
 ```
 
-[`run_hf_job.py`](https://github.com/huggingface/lerobot/blob/main/examples/annotations/run_hf_job.py)
-starts a single-GPU `h200` job (bump it to `h200x4` for big datasets)
-that:
+That submits a single-GPU `h200` job that:
 
-1. installs `lerobot` (from `main`) plus the annotation extras,
-2. boots one vLLM server per GPU (using the `vllm/vllm-openai` image) and
-   drives it over the OpenAI-compatible API,
-3. runs the `plan` / `interjections` / `vqa` modules across the dataset
-   with `lerobot-annotate`,
+1. starts from the `vllm/vllm-openai` image and installs `lerobot` on top,
+2. boots one vLLM server per GPU and drives it over the OpenAI-compatible API,
+3. runs the `plan` / `interjections` / `vqa` modules across the dataset,
 4. with `--push_to_hub=true`, uploads the result to `--new_repo_id` (or
    back to `--repo_id` in place if you leave that unset).
 
-To use a different dataset, model, or hub repo, edit the `CMD` block in
-the script. Every flag there maps directly to a `lerobot-annotate` flag
-(run `lerobot-annotate --help` for the full list).
+The command streams the job's logs; `Ctrl-C` detaches without cancelling
+it. List the available flavors and their pricing with `hf jobs hardware`.
+
+<Tip warning={true}>
+
+Qwen3.6 ships with thinking enabled, which eats the token budget the
+annotator needs for its JSON answer — `--vlm.chat_template_kwargs='{"enable_thinking": false}'`
+turns it off. Without `--push_to_hub=true` the annotated dataset is
+discarded when the pod exits.
+
+</Tip>
+
+### Job options
+
+| Flag                | Default                   | What it does                                                                    |
+| ------------------- | ------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `--job.target`      | `local`                   | HF Jobs flavor to run on (e.g. `h200`, `h200x4`). Omitted/`local` runs here.    |
+| `--job.image`       | `vllm/vllm-openai:latest` | Runtime image for the pod.                                                      |
+| `--job.timeout`     | `2h`                      | Wall-clock cap. Raise it for large datasets.                                    |
+| `--job.detach`      | `false`                   | Submit and exit instead of streaming logs.                                      |
+| `--job.lerobot_ref` | `main`                    | Git ref of lerobot installed on the pod — point it at a branch to test changes. |
+| `--job.tags`        | `[]`                      | Extra tags on the job and on any dataset it pushes (`lerobot` is always added). |
+
+For a bigger dataset, scale to `h200x4` and raise
+`--vlm.parallel_servers` / `--vlm.num_gpus` to match, and give the job
+more headroom with e.g. `--job.timeout=8h`.
+
+Remote runs need `--repo_id` (the pod pulls the dataset from the Hub;
+`--root` names a directory only your machine has). A dataset that exists
+only in your local cache is pushed to a **private** repo first.
 
 ## Key options
 

docs/source/bring_your_own_policies.mdx

@@ -165,6 +165,8 @@ Batches are flat dictionaries keyed by the constants in [`lerobot.utils.constant
 
 LeRobot uses `PolicyProcessorPipeline`s to normalize inputs and de-normalize outputs around your policy. For a concrete reference, see [`processor_act.py`](https://github.com/huggingface/lerobot/blob/main/src/lerobot/policies/act/processor_act.py) or [`processor_diffusion.py`](https://github.com/huggingface/lerobot/blob/main/src/lerobot/policies/diffusion/processor_diffusion.py).
 
+Pay close attention here: processors are the most common reproducibility pain point. A mismatch in normalization mode (`IDENTITY` vs `MEAN_STD` vs `MIN_MAX` vs `QUANTILES`/`QUANTILE10`) or in which features get normalized will train and eval without erroring, yet silently wreck results. Make sure the modes match how the checkpoint was trained, that the required stats exist (e.g. `QUANTILES` needs `q01`/`q99`), and that the pre- and post-processors stay consistent.
+
 ```python
 # processor_my_policy.py
 from typing import Any
@@ -304,7 +306,9 @@ Mirror an existing policy that's structurally similar to yours; the diff is smal
 
 ### Heavy / optional dependencies
 
-Most policies need a heavy backbone (transformers, diffusers, a specific VLM SDK). The convention is **two-step gating**: a `TYPE_CHECKING`-guarded import at module top, and a `require_package` runtime check in the constructor. [`modeling_diffusion.py`](https://github.com/huggingface/lerobot/blob/main/src/lerobot/policies/diffusion/modeling_diffusion.py) is the canonical reference:
+Most policies need a heavy backbone (transformers, diffusers, a specific VLM SDK). Wherever one exists, prefer loading it e.g from `transformers` or `diffusers` rather than re-implementing the architecture in-tree.
+
+The convention is **two-step gating**: a `TYPE_CHECKING`-guarded import at module top, and a `require_package` runtime check in the constructor. [`modeling_diffusion.py`](https://github.com/huggingface/lerobot/blob/main/src/lerobot/policies/diffusion/modeling_diffusion.py) is the canonical reference:
 
 ```python
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
@@ -374,6 +378,7 @@ The general expectations are in [`CONTRIBUTING.md`](https://github.com/huggingfa
 - [ ] Optional deps live behind a `[project.optional-dependencies]` extra and the `TYPE_CHECKING + require_package` guard.
 - [ ] `tests/policies/` updated; backward-compat artifact committed & policy-specific tests.
 - [ ] `src/lerobot/policies/<name>/README.md` symlinked into `docs/source/policy_<name>_README.md`; user-facing `docs/source/<name>.mdx` written and added to `_toctree.yml`.
+- [ ] `lerobot-train --policy.type my_policy ...` runs end-to-end for at least a few steps + save a checkpoint that can be loaded and run by `lerobot-eval` or `lerobot-rollout`.
 - [ ] `templates/lerobot_modelcard_template.md` has a description entry and a `policy_docs` link for your policy.
 - [ ] The models table in the root `README.md` lists your policy in the right category, linking to your doc page.
 - [ ] At least one reproducible benchmark eval in the policy MDX with a published checkpoint (sim benchmark, or real-robot dataset + checkpoint).

docs/source/language_and_recipes.mdx

@@ -141,6 +141,17 @@ sample["target_message_indices"]
 
 The renderer does not apply a tokenizer chat template. Policy processors decide how to serialize the messages for their backbone, which keeps the same dataset usable across SmolVLA, Pi0.5, and any future VLM that expects OpenAI-style chat messages.
 
+## Blends
+
+Blend recipes select one weighted sub-recipe deterministically from the sample index.
+`recipes/subtask_mem.yaml` trains the compact core blend — high-level subtask prediction, low-level execution, and memory. `recipes/subtask_mem_vqa_speech.yaml` is the fuller variant that also adds VQA and spoken interjection responses.
+
+A message recipe with a supervised assistant turn on the `low_level` stream trains
+the π0.5 paper's joint sequence instead of a blend: the target span gets text CE
+while also conditioning the action losses in the same forward.
+`recipes/subtask_joint.yaml` is the provided example; pair it with
+`--policy.joint_subtask_conditioning=true` at inference.
+
 ## Graceful absence
 
 If both language columns are missing, `None`, or empty, `RenderMessagesStep` is a no-op.

docs/source/omx.mdx

@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+# OMX
+
+<img
+  src="https://huggingface.co/datasets/huggingface/documentation-images/resolve/main/lerobot/omx_mainimage.png"
+  alt="OMX"
+  width=600
+/>
+
 ## Order and Assemble the parts
 
 First, assemble the OMX hardware following the official assembly guide.

docs/source/using_dataset_tools.mdx

@@ -252,6 +252,10 @@ lerobot-dataset-viz \
     --episode-index 0
 ```
 
+For a private or gated dataset, authenticate first with `hf auth login`, or set the
+`HF_TOKEN` environment variable. The Hub client then discovers the credential
+automatically; no token argument is needed.
+
 **From a local folder:**
 Add the `--root` option and set `--mode local`. For example, to search in `./my_local_data_dir/lerobot/pusht`:
 

examples/annotations/run_hf_job.py

@@ -1,80 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
-
-# Copyright 2026 The HuggingFace Inc. team. All rights reserved.
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-# You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-# limitations under the License.
-"""Launch ``lerobot-annotate`` on a Hugging Face job (vllm + Qwen3.6-27B VLM).
-
-Spawns one single-GPU ``h200`` job that:
-
-  1. installs ``lerobot`` from ``main`` plus the annotation extras,
-  2. boots one vllm server with Qwen3.6-27B (dense VLM),
-  3. runs the plan / interjections / vqa modules across the dataset
-     in free-form mode (each episode generates its own subtasks +
-     memory),
-  4. uploads the annotated dataset to ``--new_repo_id`` (when set)
-     or back to ``--repo_id``.
-
-Usage:
-
-    HF_TOKEN=hf_... uv run python examples/annotations/run_hf_job.py
-
-Adjust ``CMD`` (dataset, model, hub repo) and ``flavor`` below for your
-run. For larger datasets, scale to ``h200x4`` and raise
-``--vlm.parallel_servers`` / ``--vlm.num_gpus`` to match.
-"""
-
-import os
-
-from huggingface_hub import get_token, run_job
-
-token = os.environ.get("HF_TOKEN") or get_token()
-if not token:
-    raise RuntimeError("No HF token. Run `huggingface-cli login` or `export HF_TOKEN=hf_...`")
-
-CMD = (
-    "apt-get update -qq && apt-get install -y -qq git ffmpeg && "
-    "pip install --no-deps "
-    "'lerobot @ git+https://github.com/huggingface/lerobot.git@main' && "
-    # Pins mirror pyproject.toml — unpinned installs pull av 18 / datasets 5 /
-    # draccus 0.11, which break lerobot at import time.
-    "pip install --upgrade-strategy only-if-needed "
-    "'datasets>=4.7.0,<5.0.0' 'pyarrow>=21.0.0,<30.0.0' 'av>=15.0.0,<16.0.0' 'draccus==0.10.0' "
-    "'pandas>=2.0.0,<3.0.0' jsonlines gymnasium torchcodec mergedeep pyyaml-include toml typing-inspect "
-    "openai && "
-    "export VLLM_MEMORY_PROFILER_ESTIMATE_CUDAGRAPHS=0 && "
-    "export VLLM_VIDEO_BACKEND=pyav && "
-    "lerobot-annotate "
-    "--repo_id=pepijn223/robocasa_pretrain_human300_v4 "
-    "--new_repo_id=pepijn223/robocasa_pretrain_human300_v4_annotated "
-    "--push_to_hub=true "
-    "--vlm.backend=openai "
-    "--vlm.model_id=Qwen/Qwen3.6-27B "
-    "--vlm.num_gpus=1 "
-    '--vlm.serve_command="vllm serve Qwen/Qwen3.6-27B '
-    "--tensor-parallel-size 1 --max-model-len 32768 "
-    '--gpu-memory-utilization 0.8 --uvicorn-log-level warning --port {port}" '
-    "--vlm.serve_ready_timeout_s=1800 "
-    # Qwen3.6 ships with thinking on; annotation wants plain JSON answers.
-    "--vlm.chat_template_kwargs='{\"enable_thinking\": false}'"
-)
-
-job = run_job(
-    image="vllm/vllm-openai:latest",
-    command=["bash", "-c", CMD],
-    flavor="h200",
-    secrets={"HF_TOKEN": token},
-    timeout="2h",
-)
-print(f"Job URL: {job.url}")
-print(f"Job ID:  {job.id}")

pyproject.toml

@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ accelerate-dep = ["accelerate>=1.14.0,<2.0.0"]
 can-dep = ["python-can>=4.2.0,<5.0.0"]
 peft-dep = ["peft>=0.18.0,<1.0.0"]
 scipy-dep = ["scipy>=1.14.0,<2.0.0"]
-diffusers-dep = ["diffusers>=0.27.2,<0.36.0"]
+diffusers-dep = ["diffusers>=0.38.0,<0.40.0"]
 qwen-vl-utils-dep = ["qwen-vl-utils>=0.0.11,<0.1.0"]
 matplotlib-dep = ["matplotlib>=3.10.3,<4.0.0", "contourpy>=1.3.0,<2.0.0"] # NOTE: Explicitly listing contourpy helps the resolver converge faster.
 pyserial-dep = ["pyserial>=3.5,<4.0"]

src/lerobot/annotations/steerable_pipeline/config.py

@@ -20,6 +20,29 @@ from dataclasses import dataclass, field
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any
 
+from lerobot.configs.default import JobConfig
+
+# The annotation pipeline boots its own vLLM server, so the pod starts from the
+# official vLLM runtime rather than the prebuilt `lerobot-gpu` training image;
+# `lerobot` is pip-installed on top (see `lerobot.jobs.annotate`).
+DEFAULT_ANNOTATE_JOB_IMAGE = "vllm/vllm-openai:latest"
+
+
+@dataclass
+class AnnotationJobConfig(JobConfig):
+    """`JobConfig` with the annotation runtime's defaults.
+
+    Adds `lerobot_ref` because the vLLM image ships no lerobot: the pod installs
+    it from git, and the ref decides which code actually annotates. Point it at a
+    branch/tag/SHA to try unmerged changes remotely.
+    """
+
+    image: str = DEFAULT_ANNOTATE_JOB_IMAGE
+    # Annotation is a bounded pass over a dataset; a tighter cap than training's
+    # "2d" keeps a wedged vLLM server from burning a day of GPU time.
+    timeout: str | None = "2h"
+    lerobot_ref: str = "main"
+
 
 @dataclass
 class PlanConfig:
@@ -207,6 +230,11 @@ class AnnotationPipelineConfig:
     vlm: VlmConfig = field(default_factory=VlmConfig)
     executor: ExecutorConfig = field(default_factory=ExecutorConfig)
 
+    # Where the annotation runs: omitted / "local" annotates on this machine, any
+    # other value is an HF Jobs flavor (e.g. "h200") and submits the run there.
+    # List flavors + pricing with `hf jobs hardware`.
+    job: AnnotationJobConfig = field(default_factory=AnnotationJobConfig)
+
     skip_validation: bool = False
     only_episodes: tuple[int, ...] | None = None
 

src/lerobot/annotations/steerable_pipeline/executor.py

@@ -30,8 +30,8 @@ Phase 3 is why the ``plan`` module must be re-entered after the
 timestamps.
 
 Distributed execution is provided by Hugging Face Jobs (see
-``examples/annotations/run_hf_job.py``); the runner inside the job
-invokes ``lerobot-annotate`` which uses this in-process executor.
+``lerobot.jobs.annotate``, reached via ``--job.target=<flavor>``); the pod
+inside the job invokes ``lerobot-annotate`` which uses this in-process executor.
 Episode-level concurrency is controlled by
 ``ExecutorConfig.episode_parallelism``.
 """

src/lerobot/annotations/steerable_pipeline/vlm_client.py

@@ -194,12 +194,13 @@ def make_vlm_client(config: VlmConfig) -> VlmClient:
     """Build the shared VLM client.
 
     Only the ``openai`` backend is supported for now. The shipped workflow
-    is Hugging Face Jobs (``examples/annotations/run_hf_job.py``): it boots
-    a vLLM server inside the ``vllm/vllm-openai`` image and the pipeline
-    talks to it over the OpenAI-compatible API (``--vlm.backend=openai``,
-    optionally auto-spawning the server via ``auto_serve`` /
-    ``serve_command``). The former in-process ``vllm`` / ``transformers``
-    backends were removed to keep the support surface to the HF Jobs path.
+    is Hugging Face Jobs (``lerobot-annotate --job.target=<flavor>``): it
+    boots a vLLM server inside the ``vllm/vllm-openai`` image and the
+    pipeline talks to it over the OpenAI-compatible API
+    (``--vlm.backend=openai``, optionally auto-spawning the server via
+    ``auto_serve`` / ``serve_command``). The former in-process ``vllm`` /
+    ``transformers`` backends were removed to keep the support surface to
+    the HF Jobs path.
 
     For ``stub``, construct :class:`StubVlmClient` directly with a responder
     callable; it is rejected here to make accidental misuse obvious.
@@ -213,8 +214,8 @@ def make_vlm_client(config: VlmConfig) -> VlmClient:
     if config.backend in {"vllm", "transformers"}:
         raise ValueError(
             f"backend={config.backend!r} (in-process local model) is not supported for now — "
-            "only backend='openai' (the Hugging Face Jobs flow) is. Run the pipeline via "
-            "examples/annotations/run_hf_job.py, which serves the model with vLLM in the "
+            "only backend='openai' (the Hugging Face Jobs flow) is. Run the pipeline with "
+            "`lerobot-annotate --job.target=<flavor>`, which serves the model with vLLM in the "
             "vllm/vllm-openai image and talks to it over the OpenAI-compatible API."
         )
     raise ValueError(f"Unknown VLM backend: {config.backend!r}")

src/lerobot/cameras/reachy2_camera/reachy2_camera.py

@@ -173,7 +173,8 @@ class Reachy2Camera(Camera):
             raise ValueError(
                 f"Invalid color mode '{self.color_mode}'. Expected {ColorMode.RGB} or {ColorMode.BGR}."
             )
-        if self.color_mode == ColorMode.RGB:
+        is_depth_frame = self.config.name == "depth" and self.config.image_type == "depth"
+        if not is_depth_frame and self.color_mode == ColorMode.RGB:
             frame = cv2.cvtColor(frame, cv2.COLOR_BGR2RGB)
 
         self.latest_frame = frame

src/lerobot/cameras/realsense/camera_realsense.py

@@ -453,7 +453,7 @@ class RealSenseCamera(Camera):
             )
 
         processed_image = image
-        if self.color_mode == ColorMode.BGR:
+        if not depth_frame and self.color_mode == ColorMode.BGR:
             processed_image = cv2.cvtColor(image, cv2.COLOR_RGB2BGR)
 
         if self.rotation in [cv2.ROTATE_90_CLOCKWISE, cv2.ROTATE_90_COUNTERCLOCKWISE, cv2.ROTATE_180]:

src/lerobot/configs/default.py

@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ class DatasetConfig:
     # looked up under $HF_LEROBOT_HOME/repo_id and Hub downloads use a revision-safe cache under $HF_LEROBOT_HOME/hub.
     root: str | None = None
     episodes: list[int] | None = None
+    # Episode indices to drop (e.g. corrupt or heterogeneous ones). Applied on top of `episodes`.
+    exclude_episodes: list[int] | None = None
     image_transforms: ImageTransformsConfig = field(default_factory=ImageTransformsConfig)
     revision: str | None = None
     use_imagenet_stats: bool = True
@@ -62,6 +64,10 @@ class DatasetConfig:
             if len(self.episodes) != len(set(self.episodes)):
                 duplicates = sorted({ep for ep in self.episodes if self.episodes.count(ep) > 1})
                 raise ValueError(f"Episode indices contain duplicates: {duplicates}")
+        if self.exclude_episodes is not None and any(ep < 0 for ep in self.exclude_episodes):
+            raise ValueError(
+                f"exclude_episodes must be non-negative, got: {[ep for ep in self.exclude_episodes if ep < 0]}"
+            )
 
 
 @dataclass

src/lerobot/configs/recipe.py

@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ class MessageTurn:
             raise ValueError(f"Unsupported message stream: {self.stream!r}")
         if self.content is None and self.tool_calls_from is None:
             raise ValueError("MessageTurn.content is required unless tool_calls_from is set.")
-        if self.content is not None and not isinstance(self.content, (str, list)):
+        if self.content is not None and not isinstance(self.content, str | list):
             raise TypeError("MessageTurn.content must be a string, a list of HF-style blocks, or None.")
         if isinstance(self.content, list):
             for block in self.content:
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ class TrainingRecipe:
         return cls.from_dict(data)
 
     def _validate_message_recipe(self) -> None:
-        """Ensure every templated binding is known and at least one turn is a target."""
+        """Validate bindings and require text or low-level action supervision."""
         assert self.messages is not None
         known_bindings = set(DEFAULT_BINDINGS) | set(self.bindings or {}) | {"task"}
 
@@ -156,8 +156,14 @@ class TrainingRecipe:
             if missing:
                 raise ValueError(f"MessageTurn references unknown binding(s): {sorted(missing)}")
 
-        if not any(turn.target for turn in self.messages):
-            raise ValueError("Message recipes must contain at least one target turn.")
+        has_target = any(turn.target for turn in self.messages)
+        has_low_level = any(turn.stream == "low_level" for turn in self.messages)
+        if not (has_target or has_low_level):
+            raise ValueError(
+                "Message recipes must contain at least one supervised turn — "
+                "either ``target: true`` (text CE) or ``stream: low_level`` "
+                "(flow/action loss)."
+            )
 
     def _validate_blend_recipe(self) -> None:
         """Ensure each blend component is a non-empty, weighted message recipe."""

src/lerobot/configs/recipes/subtask.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+# Predicts subtasks from tasks and trains subtask-conditioned action flow without memory or plans.
+# Requires `subtask` annotations; samples with missing `if_present` bindings do not render.
+
+blend:
+
+  high_level_subtask:
+    weight: 0.30
+    messages:
+      - {role: user, content: "${task}", stream: high_level}
+      - {role: assistant, content: "${subtask}", stream: high_level, target: true, if_present: subtask}
+
+  low_level_execution:
+    weight: 0.70
+    messages:
+      # The low-level stream trains action flow on the generated or annotated subtask.
+      - {role: user, content: "${subtask}", stream: low_level, if_present: subtask}

src/lerobot/configs/recipes/subtask_joint.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+# Paper-style joint sequence (pi0.5 §IV-B): one sample supervises the subtask
+# text with CE and, because the assistant turn is part of the prefix, conditions
+# the FAST and flow action losses on the same annotated subtask in one forward.
+# The supervised span is attended causally; the action losses see task + subtask.
+#
+# Pair with `--policy.joint_subtask_conditioning=true` at inference so the flow
+# prefix reproduces this layout (task turn with state + causal generated subtask).
+# Samples without a `subtask` annotation fall back to a plain task-prompt
+# low-level sample via `if_present`.
+
+messages:
+  - {role: user, content: "${task}", stream: low_level}
+  - {role: assistant, content: "${subtask}", stream: low_level, target: true, if_present: subtask}

src/lerobot/configs/recipes/subtask_mem.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+# Trains subtask prediction, subtask-conditioned action flow, and memory updates without plans.
+# Requires `subtask` and `memory`; missing `if_present` bindings skip the affected sub-recipe.
+
+blend:
+
+  high_level_subtask:
+    weight: 0.25
+    messages:
+      - {role: user, content: "${task}", stream: high_level}
+      - {role: assistant, content: "${subtask}", stream: high_level, target: true, if_present: subtask}
+
+  low_level_execution:
+    weight: 0.60
+    messages:
+      # The low-level stream trains action flow on the generated or annotated subtask.
+      - {role: user, content: "${subtask}", stream: low_level, if_present: subtask}
+
+  memory_update:
+    # `active_at` densifies sparse boundaries while preserving the prior-memory/subtask mapping.
+    # Inference controls update timing through `subtask_change` events.
+    weight: 0.15
+    bindings:
+      prior_memory: "nth_prev(style=memory, offset=1)"
+      current_memory: "active_at(t, style=memory)"
+      completed_subtask: "nth_prev(style=subtask, offset=1)"
+    messages:
+      - {role: user, content: "${task}", stream: high_level}
+      - {role: assistant, content: "Previous memory: ${prior_memory}", stream: high_level, if_present: prior_memory}
+      - {role: user, content: "Completed subtask: ${completed_subtask}", stream: high_level, if_present: completed_subtask}
+      - {role: assistant, content: "${current_memory}", stream: high_level, target: true, if_present: current_memory}

src/lerobot/configs/recipes/subtask_mem_vqa_speech.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+# Adds memory, spoken interjection responses, and camera-grounded VQA to subtask/action training.
+# Missing optional annotations skip only their sub-recipe; `say` tool calls tokenize as `<say>...</say>`.
+
+blend:
+
+  high_level_subtask:
+    weight: 0.25
+    messages:
+      - {role: user, content: "${task}", stream: high_level}
+      - {role: assistant, content: "${subtask}", stream: high_level, target: true, if_present: subtask}
+
+  low_level_execution:
+    weight: 0.40
+    messages:
+      # The low-level stream trains action flow on the generated or annotated subtask.
+      - {role: user, content: "${subtask}", stream: low_level, if_present: subtask}
+
+  memory_update:
+    # `active_at` densifies sparse boundaries while preserving the prior-memory/subtask mapping.
+    # Inference controls update timing through `subtask_change` events.
+    weight: 0.10
+    bindings:
+      prior_memory: "nth_prev(style=memory, offset=1)"
+      current_memory: "active_at(t, style=memory)"
+      completed_subtask: "nth_prev(style=subtask, offset=1)"
+    messages:
+      - {role: user, content: "${task}", stream: high_level}
+      - {role: assistant, content: "Previous memory: ${prior_memory}", stream: high_level, if_present: prior_memory}
+      - {role: user, content: "Completed subtask: ${completed_subtask}", stream: high_level, if_present: completed_subtask}
+      - {role: assistant, content: "${current_memory}", stream: high_level, target: true, if_present: current_memory}
+
+  user_interjection_response:
+    weight: 0.10
+    bindings:
+      interjection: "emitted_at(t, style=interjection)"
+      speech: "emitted_at(t, role=assistant, tool_name=say)"
+    messages:
+      - {role: user, content: "${task}", stream: high_level}
+      - {role: user, content: "${interjection}", stream: high_level, if_present: interjection}
+      # The assistant target is a `say` tool call flattened to a `<say>...</say>` marker.
+      - {role: assistant, stream: high_level, target: true, if_present: speech, tool_calls_from: speech}
+
+  # Each camera uses a separate VQA sub-recipe for view-specific binding.
+  ask_vqa_top:
+    weight: 0.075
+    bindings:
+      vqa_query: "emitted_at(t, style=vqa, role=user, camera=observation.images.front)"
+      vqa: "emitted_at(t, style=vqa, role=assistant, camera=observation.images.front)"
+    messages:
+      - role: user
+        stream: high_level
+        if_present: vqa_query
+        content:
+          - {type: image, feature: observation.images.front}
+          - {type: text, text: "${vqa_query}"}
+      - {role: assistant, content: "${vqa}", stream: high_level, target: true, if_present: vqa}
+
+  ask_vqa_wrist:
+    weight: 0.075
+    bindings:
+      vqa_query: "emitted_at(t, style=vqa, role=user, camera=observation.images.wrist)"
+      vqa: "emitted_at(t, style=vqa, role=assistant, camera=observation.images.wrist)"
+    messages:
+      - role: user
+        stream: high_level
+        if_present: vqa_query
+        content:
+          - {type: image, feature: observation.images.wrist}
+          - {type: text, text: "${vqa_query}"}
+      - {role: assistant, content: "${vqa}", stream: high_level, target: true, if_present: vqa}

src/lerobot/configs/train.py

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 import builtins
 import datetime as dt
 import json
+import multiprocessing
 import os
 import tempfile
 from dataclasses import dataclass, field
@@ -101,6 +102,12 @@ class TrainPipelineConfig(HubMixin):
     batch_size: int = 8
     prefetch_factor: int = 4
     persistent_workers: bool = True
+    # DataLoader worker start method. "spawn" is safer than "fork" with
+    # non-fork-safe libs (PyAV / torchcodec / ffmpeg), but adds some
+    # worker-startup time per run since workers re-import modules instead
+    # of inheriting parent state. Override with `--dataloader_multiprocessing_context=fork`
+    # when appropriate, or set it to `null` to use Python's platform default.
+    dataloader_multiprocessing_context: str | None = "spawn"
     steps: int = 100_000
     # Run policy in the simulation environment every N steps to measure reward/success (0 = disabled).
     env_eval_freq: int = 20_000
@@ -212,6 +219,17 @@ class TrainPipelineConfig(HubMixin):
             self.reward_model.pretrained_path = str(policy_dir)
 
     def validate(self) -> None:
+        available_contexts = multiprocessing.get_all_start_methods()
+        if (
+            self.dataloader_multiprocessing_context is not None
+            and self.dataloader_multiprocessing_context not in available_contexts
+        ):
+            raise ValueError(
+                "`dataloader_multiprocessing_context` must be None or one of "
+                f"{available_contexts} on this platform, got "
+                f"{self.dataloader_multiprocessing_context!r}."
+            )
+
         self._resolve_pretrained_from_cli()
 
         if self.policy is None and self.reward_model is None:

src/lerobot/datasets/dataset_metadata.py

@@ -73,6 +73,8 @@ class LeRobotDatasetMetadata:
         revision: str | None = None,
         force_cache_sync: bool = False,
         metadata_buffer_size: int = 10,
+        *,
+        token: str | bool | None = None,
     ):
         """Load or download metadata for an existing LeRobot dataset.
 
@@ -94,6 +96,10 @@ class LeRobotDatasetMetadata:
                 even when local files exist.
             metadata_buffer_size: Number of episode metadata records to buffer
                 in memory before flushing to parquet.
+            token: Authentication token used for Hub requests. Pass a string
+                token, ``True`` to require the locally stored token, ``False``
+                to disable authentication, or ``None`` to use the Hugging Face
+                Hub default.
         """
         self.repo_id = repo_id
         self.revision = revision if revision else CODEBASE_VERSION
@@ -113,9 +119,12 @@ class LeRobotDatasetMetadata:
             self._load_metadata()
         except (FileNotFoundError, NotADirectoryError):
             if is_valid_version(self.revision):
-                self.revision = get_safe_version(self.repo_id, self.revision)
+                if token is None:
+                    self.revision = get_safe_version(self.repo_id, self.revision)
+                else:
+                    self.revision = get_safe_version(self.repo_id, self.revision, token=token)
 
-            self._pull_from_repo(allow_patterns="meta/")
+            self._pull_from_repo(allow_patterns="meta/", token=token)
             self._load_metadata()
 
     def _flush_metadata_buffer(self) -> None:
@@ -220,7 +229,10 @@ class LeRobotDatasetMetadata:
         self,
         allow_patterns: list[str] | str | None = None,
         ignore_patterns: list[str] | str | None = None,
+        *,
+        token: str | bool | None = None,
     ) -> None:
+        token_kwargs = {} if token is None else {"token": token}
         if self._requested_root is None:
             self.root = Path(
                 snapshot_download(
@@ -230,6 +242,7 @@ class LeRobotDatasetMetadata:
                     cache_dir=HF_LEROBOT_HUB_CACHE,
                     allow_patterns=allow_patterns,
                     ignore_patterns=ignore_patterns,
+                    **token_kwargs,
                 )
             )
             return
@@ -242,6 +255,7 @@ class LeRobotDatasetMetadata:
             local_dir=self._requested_root,
             allow_patterns=allow_patterns,
             ignore_patterns=ignore_patterns,
+            **token_kwargs,
         )
         self.root = self._requested_root
 

src/lerobot/datasets/dataset_reader.py

@@ -163,10 +163,40 @@ class DatasetReader:
     def _load_hf_dataset(self) -> datasets.Dataset:
         """hf_dataset contains all the observations, states, actions, rewards, etc."""
         features = get_hf_features_from_features(self._meta.features)
+        # Annotated datasets may have language columns absent from metadata.
+        # Extend the schema before the strict Parquet cast.
+        features = self._extend_features_with_language_columns(features)
         hf_dataset = load_nested_dataset(self.root / "data", features=features, episodes=self.episodes)
         hf_dataset.set_transform(hf_transform_to_torch)
         return hf_dataset
 
+    def _extend_features_with_language_columns(self, features: datasets.Features) -> datasets.Features:
+        """Register language columns found in Parquet but missing from metadata."""
+        # Leave empty datasets to fail through the normal loading path.
+        try:
+            sample = next((self.root / "data").glob("*/*.parquet"))
+        except StopIteration:
+            return features
+
+        from pyarrow import parquet as _pq  # noqa: PLC0415
+
+        schema_names = set(_pq.read_schema(sample).names)
+        from .language import (  # noqa: PLC0415
+            LANGUAGE_EVENTS,
+            LANGUAGE_PERSISTENT,
+            language_events_column_feature,
+            language_persistent_column_feature,
+        )
+
+        extra: dict[str, object] = {}
+        if LANGUAGE_PERSISTENT in schema_names and LANGUAGE_PERSISTENT not in features:
+            extra[LANGUAGE_PERSISTENT] = language_persistent_column_feature()
+        if LANGUAGE_EVENTS in schema_names and LANGUAGE_EVENTS not in features:
+            extra[LANGUAGE_EVENTS] = language_events_column_feature()
+        if not extra:
+            return features
+        return datasets.Features({**features, **extra})
+
     def _check_cached_episodes_sufficient(self) -> bool:
         """Check if the cached dataset contains all requested episodes and their video files."""
         if self.hf_dataset is None or len(self.hf_dataset) == 0:

src/lerobot/datasets/dataset_writer.py

@@ -172,6 +172,23 @@ class DatasetWriter:
     def _get_image_file_dir(self, episode_index: int, image_key: str) -> Path:
         return self._get_image_file_path(episode_index, image_key, frame_index=0).parent
 
+    def _get_episode_buffer_index(self) -> int:
+        episode_index = self.episode_buffer["episode_index"]
+        # episode_index is `int` when freshly created, but becomes `np.ndarray` after
+        # save_episode() mutates the buffer. Handle both types here.
+        if isinstance(episode_index, np.ndarray):
+            episode_index = episode_index.item() if episode_index.size == 1 else episode_index[0]
+        return int(episode_index)
+
+    def _delete_camera_frame_dirs(self, camera_keys: list[str]) -> None:
+        if self.image_writer is not None:
+            self._wait_image_writer()
+        episode_index = self._get_episode_buffer_index()
+        for camera_key in camera_keys:
+            img_dir = self._get_image_file_dir(episode_index, camera_key)
+            if img_dir.is_dir():
+                shutil.rmtree(img_dir)
+
     def _save_image(
         self, image: torch.Tensor | np.ndarray | PIL.Image.Image, fpath: Path, compress_level: int = 1
     ) -> None:
@@ -369,7 +386,9 @@ class DatasetWriter:
                 self._episodes_since_last_encoding = 0
 
         if episode_data is None:
-            self.clear_episode_buffer(delete_images=len(self._meta.image_keys) > 0)
+            if len(self._meta.image_keys) > 0:
+                self._delete_camera_frame_dirs(self._meta.image_keys)
+            self.episode_buffer = self._create_episode_buffer()
 
     def _batch_save_episode_video(self, start_episode: int, end_episode: int | None = None) -> None:
         """Batch save videos for multiple episodes."""
@@ -561,10 +580,10 @@ class DatasetWriter:
         return metadata
 
     def clear_episode_buffer(self, delete_images: bool = True) -> None:
-        """Discard the current episode buffer and optionally delete temp images.
+        """Discard the current episode buffer and optionally delete temp camera frames.
 
         Args:
-            delete_images: If ``True``, remove temporary image directories
+            delete_images: If ``True``, remove temporary camera frame directories
                 written for the current episode.
         """
         # Cancel streaming encoder if active
@@ -572,17 +591,7 @@ class DatasetWriter:
             self._streaming_encoder.cancel_episode()
 
         if delete_images:
-            if self.image_writer is not None:
-                self._wait_image_writer()
-            episode_index = self.episode_buffer["episode_index"]
-            # episode_index is `int` when freshly created, but becomes `np.ndarray` after
-            # save_episode() mutates the buffer. Handle both types here.
-            if isinstance(episode_index, np.ndarray):
-                episode_index = episode_index.item() if episode_index.size == 1 else episode_index[0]
-            for cam_key in self._meta.image_keys:
-                img_dir = self._get_image_file_dir(episode_index, cam_key)
-                if img_dir.is_dir():
-                    shutil.rmtree(img_dir)
+            self._delete_camera_frame_dirs(self._meta.camera_keys)
 
         self.episode_buffer = self._create_episode_buffer()
 

src/lerobot/datasets/factory.py

@@ -66,6 +66,17 @@ def resolve_delta_timestamps(
     return delta_timestamps
 
 
+def _resolve_episodes(
+    episodes: list[int] | None, exclude_episodes: list[int] | None, total_episodes: int
+) -> list[int] | None:
+    """Apply an episode exclusion list on top of an optional allowlist."""
+    if not exclude_episodes:
+        return episodes
+    base = episodes if episodes is not None else list(range(total_episodes))
+    excluded = set(exclude_episodes)
+    return [episode for episode in base if episode not in excluded]
+
+
 def make_dataset(cfg: TrainPipelineConfig) -> LeRobotDataset | MultiLeRobotDataset:
     """Handles the logic of setting up delta timestamps and image transforms before creating a dataset.
 
@@ -87,11 +98,14 @@ def make_dataset(cfg: TrainPipelineConfig) -> LeRobotDataset | MultiLeRobotDatas
             cfg.dataset.repo_id, root=cfg.dataset.root, revision=cfg.dataset.revision
         )
         delta_timestamps = resolve_delta_timestamps(cfg.trainable_config, ds_meta)
+        episodes = _resolve_episodes(
+            cfg.dataset.episodes, cfg.dataset.exclude_episodes, ds_meta.total_episodes
+        )
         if not cfg.dataset.streaming:
             dataset = LeRobotDataset(
                 cfg.dataset.repo_id,
                 root=cfg.dataset.root,
-                episodes=cfg.dataset.episodes,
+                episodes=episodes,
                 delta_timestamps=delta_timestamps,
                 image_transforms=image_transforms,
                 revision=cfg.dataset.revision,
@@ -104,7 +118,7 @@ def make_dataset(cfg: TrainPipelineConfig) -> LeRobotDataset | MultiLeRobotDatas
             dataset = StreamingLeRobotDataset(
                 cfg.dataset.repo_id,
                 root=cfg.dataset.root,
-                episodes=cfg.dataset.episodes,
+                episodes=episodes,
                 delta_timestamps=delta_timestamps,
                 image_transforms=image_transforms,
                 revision=cfg.dataset.revision,

src/lerobot/datasets/language_render.py

@@ -162,14 +162,28 @@ def render_sample(
     task: str | None = None,
     dataset_ctx: Any | None = None,
 ) -> RenderedMessages | None:
-    """Render the chat-style messages for a single dataset sample.
+    """Resolve one sample's bindings and render its message recipe.
 
-    Resolves the recipe's bindings against ``persistent`` and ``events`` rows
-    at frame timestamp ``t``, then expands the recipe's message templates.
-    Returns ``None`` if the resolved sample contains no target message.
+    Returns ``None`` when no text or low-level action supervision applies.
     """
     persistent_rows = _normalize_rows(persistent or [])
     event_rows = _normalize_rows(events or [])
+
+    # Route sparse VQA frames to a matching view-specific component before weighted selection.
+    # This avoids dropping annotated frames or selecting VQA without annotations.
+    if recipe.blend is not None:
+        vqa_rendered = _render_vqa_if_present(
+            recipe,
+            persistent=persistent_rows,
+            events=event_rows,
+            t=t,
+            sample_idx=sample_idx,
+            task=task,
+            dataset_ctx=dataset_ctx,
+        )
+        if vqa_rendered is not None:
+            return vqa_rendered
+
     selected_recipe = _select_recipe(recipe, sample_idx)
     bindings = _resolve_bindings(
         selected_recipe,
@@ -183,6 +197,55 @@ def render_sample(
     return _render_message_recipe(selected_recipe, bindings)
 
 
+def _render_vqa_if_present(
+    recipe: TrainingRecipe,
+    *,
+    persistent: Sequence[LanguageRow],
+    events: Sequence[LanguageRow],
+    t: float,
+    sample_idx: int,
+    task: str | None,
+    dataset_ctx: Any | None,
+) -> RenderedMessages | None:
+    """Render a matching VQA component, or return ``None`` for normal selection.
+
+    Multiple matching views are selected deterministically by relative weight.
+    """
+    assert recipe.blend is not None
+    renderable: list[tuple[float, RenderedMessages]] = []
+    for name, component in recipe.blend.items():
+        if not name.startswith("ask_vqa"):
+            continue
+        bindings = _resolve_bindings(
+            component,
+            persistent=persistent,
+            events=events,
+            t=t,
+            sample_idx=sample_idx,
+            task=task,
+            dataset_ctx=dataset_ctx,
+        )
+        rendered = _render_message_recipe(component, bindings)
+        if rendered is not None:
+            renderable.append((float(component.weight or 0.0), rendered))
+
+    if not renderable:
+        return None
+    if len(renderable) == 1:
+        return renderable[0][1]
+
+    # Choose among matching cameras by relative weight, or uniformly when all weights are zero.
+    total = sum(w for w, _ in renderable) or float(len(renderable))
+    digest = hashlib.blake2b(f"vqa:{sample_idx}".encode(), digest_size=8).digest()
+    draw = int.from_bytes(digest, "big") / 2**64 * total
+    cumulative = 0.0
+    for w, rendered in renderable:
+        cumulative += w or (total / len(renderable))
+        if draw < cumulative:
+            return rendered
+    return renderable[-1][1]
+
+
 def _select_recipe(recipe: TrainingRecipe, sample_idx: int) -> TrainingRecipe:
     """Pick a deterministic blend component for ``sample_idx`` (or return ``recipe``)."""
     if recipe.blend is None:
@@ -346,7 +409,9 @@ def _render_message_recipe(
         if turn.target:
             target_indices.append(message_idx)
 
-    if not target_indices:
+    # Keep samples with either text targets or low-level action supervision.
+    has_low_level = any(stream == "low_level" for stream in streams)
+    if not target_indices and not has_low_level:
         return None
 
     rendered = {
@@ -403,14 +468,12 @@ def _validate_rendered(rendered: RenderedMessages) -> None:
 
     if len(streams) != len(messages):
         raise ValueError("message_streams must be aligned with messages.")
-    if not target_indices:
-        raise ValueError("Rendered samples must contain at least one target message.")
+    # Require text or low-level action supervision.
+    if not target_indices and not any(s == "low_level" for s in streams):
+        raise ValueError("Rendered samples must contain a target message or a low_level-stream message.")
     for idx in target_indices:
         if idx < 0 or idx >= len(messages):
             raise ValueError(f"Target message index {idx} is out of bounds.")
-    # ``stream`` is enforced non-None at MessageTurn construction time
-    # (see ``MessageTurn.__post_init__``), so a missing stream here would
-    # mean the dataclass invariant was bypassed; no need to re-check.
 
 
 def _nth_relative(

src/lerobot/datasets/lerobot_dataset.py

@@ -65,6 +65,8 @@ class LeRobotDataset(torch.utils.data.Dataset):
         encoder_threads: int | None = None,
         streaming_encoding: bool = False,
         encoder_queue_maxsize: int = 30,
+        *,
+        token: str | bool | None = None,
     ):
         """
         2 modes are available for instantiating this class, depending on 2 different use cases:
@@ -197,6 +199,11 @@ class LeRobotDataset(torch.utils.data.Dataset):
                 instead of writing PNG images first. This makes save_episode() near-instant. Defaults to False.
             encoder_queue_maxsize (int, optional): Maximum number of frames to buffer per camera when using
                 streaming encoding. Defaults to 30 (~1s at 30fps).
+            token: Authentication token used while downloading this dataset
+                from the Hub. Pass a string token, ``True`` to require the
+                locally stored token, ``False`` to disable authentication, or
+                ``None`` to use the Hugging Face Hub default. The token is not
+                retained on the dataset instance after initialization.
 
         Note:
             Write-mode parameters (``streaming_encoding``, ``batch_encoding_size``) passed to
@@ -220,7 +227,11 @@ class LeRobotDataset(torch.utils.data.Dataset):
 
         # Load metadata (sets self.root once from the resolved metadata root)
         self.meta = LeRobotDatasetMetadata(
-            self.repo_id, self._requested_root, self.revision, force_cache_sync=force_cache_sync
+            self.repo_id,
+            self._requested_root,
+            self.revision,
+            force_cache_sync=force_cache_sync,
+            token=token,
         )
         self.root = self.meta.root
         self.revision = self.meta.revision
@@ -260,8 +271,11 @@ class LeRobotDataset(torch.utils.data.Dataset):
         # Load actual data
         if force_cache_sync or not self.reader.try_load():
             if is_valid_version(self.revision):
-                self.revision = get_safe_version(self.repo_id, self.revision)
-            self._download(download_videos)
+                if token is None:
+                    self.revision = get_safe_version(self.repo_id, self.revision)
+                else:
+                    self.revision = get_safe_version(self.repo_id, self.revision, token=token)
+            self._download(download_videos, token=token)
             self.reader.load_and_activate()
 
         # Detect write-mode params for backward compatibility
@@ -478,18 +492,19 @@ class LeRobotDataset(torch.utils.data.Dataset):
         """Return the number of frames in the selected episodes."""
         return self.num_frames
 
-    def __getitem__(self, idx) -> dict:
-        """Return a single frame by index, with all transforms applied.
+    def __getitem__(self, idx: int | slice) -> dict | list[dict]:
+        """Return one frame or a slice of frames, with all transforms applied.
 
         Loads the frame from the underlying HF dataset, expands delta-timestamp
         windows, decodes video frames, and applies image transforms. Delegates
-        the core logic to :meth:`DatasetReader.get_item`.
+        the core logic to :class:`DatasetReader`.
 
         Args:
-            idx: Index into the (possibly episode-filtered) dataset.
+            idx: Integer index or slice into the possibly episode-filtered dataset.
 
         Returns:
-            Dict mapping feature names to their tensor values for this frame.
+            A frame dictionary for an integer index, or a list of frame
+            dictionaries for a slice.
 
         Raises:
             RuntimeError: If the dataset is currently being recorded and
@@ -499,6 +514,9 @@ class LeRobotDataset(torch.utils.data.Dataset):
             raise RuntimeError(
                 "Cannot read from a dataset that is being recorded. Call finalize() first, then access items."
             )
+        if isinstance(idx, slice):
+            return [self[item_idx] for item_idx in range(*idx.indices(len(self)))]
+
         reader = self._ensure_reader()
         if reader.hf_dataset is None:
             # One-shot load after finalize()
@@ -622,10 +640,11 @@ class LeRobotDataset(torch.utils.data.Dataset):
                 hub_api.delete_tag(self.repo_id, tag=CODEBASE_VERSION, repo_type="dataset")
             hub_api.create_tag(self.repo_id, tag=CODEBASE_VERSION, revision=branch, repo_type="dataset")
 
-    def _download(self, download_videos: bool = True) -> None:
+    def _download(self, download_videos: bool = True, *, token: str | bool | None = None) -> None:
         """Downloads the dataset from the given 'repo_id' at the provided version."""
         ignore_patterns = None if download_videos else "videos/"
         files = None
+        token_kwargs = {} if token is None else {"token": token}
         if self.episodes is not None:
             # Reader is guaranteed to exist here (created in __init__ before _download)
             files = self.reader.get_episodes_file_paths()
@@ -639,6 +658,7 @@ class LeRobotDataset(torch.utils.data.Dataset):
                     cache_dir=HF_LEROBOT_HUB_CACHE,
                     allow_patterns=files,
                     ignore_patterns=ignore_patterns,
+                    **token_kwargs,
                 )
             )
         else:
@@ -650,6 +670,7 @@ class LeRobotDataset(torch.utils.data.Dataset):
                 local_dir=self._requested_root,
                 allow_patterns=files,
                 ignore_patterns=ignore_patterns,
+                **token_kwargs,
             )
             self.meta.root = self._requested_root
 
@@ -789,6 +810,8 @@ class LeRobotDataset(torch.utils.data.Dataset):
         image_writer_threads: int = 0,
         streaming_encoding: bool = False,
         encoder_queue_maxsize: int = 30,
+        *,
+        token: str | bool | None = None,
     ) -> "LeRobotDataset":
         """Resume recording on an existing dataset.
 
@@ -822,6 +845,8 @@ class LeRobotDataset(torch.utils.data.Dataset):
             streaming_encoding: If ``True``, encode video in real-time during
                 capture.
             encoder_queue_maxsize: Max buffered frames per camera for streaming.
+            token: Authentication token used if metadata must be downloaded
+                from the Hub. The token is not retained on the dataset instance.
 
         Returns:
             A :class:`LeRobotDataset` in write mode, ready to append episodes.
@@ -850,7 +875,11 @@ class LeRobotDataset(torch.utils.data.Dataset):
 
         # Load metadata (revision-safe when root is not provided)
         obj.meta = LeRobotDatasetMetadata(
-            obj.repo_id, obj._requested_root, obj.revision, force_cache_sync=force_cache_sync
+            obj.repo_id,
+            obj._requested_root,
+            obj.revision,
+            force_cache_sync=force_cache_sync,
+            token=token,
         )
 
         obj._encoder_threads = encoder_threads

src/lerobot/datasets/multi_dataset.py

@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ class MultiLeRobotDataset(torch.utils.data.Dataset):
         tolerances_s: dict | None = None,
         download_videos: bool = True,
         video_backend: str | None = None,
+        *,
+        token: str | bool | None = None,
     ):
         super().__init__()
         self.repo_ids = repo_ids
@@ -65,6 +67,7 @@ class MultiLeRobotDataset(torch.utils.data.Dataset):
                 tolerance_s=self.tolerances_s[repo_id],
                 download_videos=download_videos,
                 video_backend=video_backend,
+                token=token,
             )
             for repo_id in repo_ids
         ]

src/lerobot/datasets/streaming_dataset.py

@@ -256,6 +256,8 @@ class StreamingLeRobotDataset(torch.utils.data.IterableDataset):
         shuffle: bool = True,
         return_uint8: bool = False,
         depth_output_unit: str = DEFAULT_DEPTH_UNIT,
+        *,
+        token: str | bool | None = None,
     ):
         """Initialize a StreamingLeRobotDataset.
 
@@ -278,6 +280,11 @@ class StreamingLeRobotDataset(torch.utils.data.IterableDataset):
             shuffle (bool, optional): Whether to shuffle the dataset across exhaustions. Defaults to True.
             depth_output_unit (str, optional): Physical unit depth maps are dequantized to ("m" or "mm").
                 Defaults to "mm".
+            token: Authentication token used while streaming this dataset from
+                the Hub. Pass a string token, ``True`` to require the locally
+                stored token, ``False`` to disable authentication, or ``None``
+                to use the Hugging Face Hub default. The token is not retained
+                on the dataset instance after initialization.
         """
         super().__init__()
         self.repo_id = repo_id
@@ -306,7 +313,11 @@ class StreamingLeRobotDataset(torch.utils.data.IterableDataset):
 
         # Load metadata
         self.meta = LeRobotDatasetMetadata(
-            self.repo_id, self._requested_root, self.revision, force_cache_sync=force_cache_sync
+            self.repo_id,
+            self._requested_root,
+            self.revision,
+            force_cache_sync=force_cache_sync,
+            token=token,
         )
         self.root = self.meta.root
         self.revision = self.meta.revision
@@ -334,12 +345,14 @@ class StreamingLeRobotDataset(torch.utils.data.IterableDataset):
             self.delta_timestamps = delta_timestamps
             self.delta_indices = get_delta_indices(self.delta_timestamps, self.fps)
 
+        token_kwargs = {} if token is None or self.streaming_from_local else {"token": token}
         self.hf_dataset: datasets.IterableDataset = load_dataset(
             self.repo_id if not self.streaming_from_local else str(self.root),
             split="train",
             streaming=self.streaming,
             data_files="data/*/*.parquet",
             revision=self.revision,
+            **token_kwargs,
         )
 
         self.num_shards = min(self.hf_dataset.num_shards, max_num_shards)

src/lerobot/datasets/utils.py

@@ -325,16 +325,19 @@ def check_version_compatibility(
         logging.warning(FUTURE_MESSAGE.format(repo_id=repo_id, version=v_check))
 
 
-def get_repo_versions(repo_id: str) -> list[packaging.version.Version]:
+def get_repo_versions(repo_id: str, *, token: str | bool | None = None) -> list[packaging.version.Version]:
     """Return available valid versions (branches and tags) on a given Hub repo.
 
     Args:
         repo_id (str): The repository ID on the Hugging Face Hub.
+        token: Authentication token used for Hub requests. Pass a string token,
+            ``True`` to require the locally stored token, ``False`` to disable
+            authentication, or ``None`` to use the Hugging Face Hub default.
 
     Returns:
         list[packaging.version.Version]: A list of valid versions found.
     """
-    api = HfApi()
+    api = HfApi() if token is None else HfApi(token=token)
     repo_refs = api.list_repo_refs(repo_id, repo_type="dataset")
     repo_refs = [b.name for b in repo_refs.branches + repo_refs.tags]
     repo_versions = []
@@ -345,7 +348,12 @@ def get_repo_versions(repo_id: str) -> list[packaging.version.Version]:
     return repo_versions
 
 
-def get_safe_version(repo_id: str, version: str | packaging.version.Version) -> str:
+def get_safe_version(
+    repo_id: str,
+    version: str | packaging.version.Version,
+    *,
+    token: str | bool | None = None,
+) -> str:
     """Return the specified version if available on repo, or the latest compatible one.
 
     If the exact version is not found, it looks for the latest version with the
@@ -354,6 +362,7 @@ def get_safe_version(repo_id: str, version: str | packaging.version.Version) ->
     Args:
         repo_id (str): The repository ID on the Hugging Face Hub.
         version (str | packaging.version.Version): The target version.
+        token: Authentication token forwarded to the Hub version lookup.
 
     Returns:
         str: The safe version string (e.g., "v1.2.3") to use as a revision.
@@ -366,7 +375,7 @@ def get_safe_version(repo_id: str, version: str | packaging.version.Version) ->
     target_version = (
         packaging.version.parse(version) if not isinstance(version, packaging.version.Version) else version
     )
-    hub_versions = get_repo_versions(repo_id)
+    hub_versions = get_repo_versions(repo_id) if token is None else get_repo_versions(repo_id, token=token)
 
     if not hub_versions:
         raise RevisionNotFoundError(

src/lerobot/envs/configs.py

@@ -322,7 +322,7 @@ class HILSerlRobotEnvConfig(EnvConfig):
 class LiberoEnv(EnvConfig):
     task: str = "libero_10"  # can also choose libero_spatial, libero_object, etc.
     task_ids: list[int] | None = None
-    fps: int = 30
+    fps: int = 20  # Must match robosuite's default control_freq (20 Hz)
     episode_length: int | None = None
     obs_type: str = "pixels_agent_pos"
     render_mode: str = "rgb_array"
@@ -354,6 +354,9 @@ class LiberoEnv(EnvConfig):
     control_mode: str = "relative"  # or "absolute"
 
     def __post_init__(self):
+        if self.fps <= 0:
+            raise ValueError(f"fps must be positive, got {self.fps}")
+
         if self.obs_type == "pixels":
             self.features[LIBERO_KEY_PIXELS_AGENTVIEW] = PolicyFeature(
                 type=FeatureType.VISUAL, shape=(self.observation_height, self.observation_width, 3)
@@ -412,6 +415,7 @@ class LiberoEnv(EnvConfig):
             "render_mode": self.render_mode,
             "observation_height": self.observation_height,
             "observation_width": self.observation_width,
+            "control_freq": self.fps,
         }
         if self.task_ids is not None:
             kwargs["task_ids"] = self.task_ids

src/lerobot/envs/libero.py

@@ -125,10 +125,13 @@ class LiberoEnv(gym.Env):
         n_envs: int = 1,
         camera_name_mapping: dict[str, str] | None = None,
         num_steps_wait: int = 10,
+        control_freq: int = 20,
         control_mode: str = "relative",
         is_libero_plus: bool = False,
     ):
         super().__init__()
+        if control_freq <= 0:
+            raise ValueError(f"control_freq must be positive, got {control_freq}")
         self.task_id = task_id
         self.is_libero_plus = is_libero_plus
         self.obs_type = obs_type
@@ -154,6 +157,7 @@ class LiberoEnv(gym.Env):
             }
         self.camera_name_mapping = camera_name_mapping
         self.num_steps_wait = num_steps_wait
+        self.control_freq = control_freq
         self.episode_index = episode_index
         self.episode_length = episode_length
         # Load once and keep
@@ -260,6 +264,7 @@ class LiberoEnv(gym.Env):
             bddl_file_name=self._task_bddl_file,
             camera_heights=self.observation_height,
             camera_widths=self.observation_width,
+            control_freq=self.control_freq,
         )
         env.reset()
         self._env = env

src/lerobot/envs/metaworld.py

@@ -155,6 +155,7 @@ class MetaworldEnv(gym.Env):
             env.model.cam_pos[2] = [0.75, 0.075, 0.7]
         env.reset()
         env._freeze_rand_vec = False  # otherwise no randomization
+        env.seeded_rand_vec = True  # use seeded RNG so reset(seed=X) controls object positions
         self._env = env
 
     def render(self) -> np.ndarray:
@@ -220,6 +221,8 @@ class MetaworldEnv(gym.Env):
         self._ensure_env()
         super().reset(seed=seed)
 
+        if seed is not None:
+            self._env.seed(seed)
         raw_obs, info = self._env.reset(seed=seed)
 
         observation = self._format_raw_obs(raw_obs)

src/lerobot/jobs/__init__.py

@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ from lerobot.utils.import_utils import require_package
 # guard the optional dependency here so importing this package fails loudly if it's missing.
 require_package("datasets", extra="dataset")
 
+from .annotate import submit_annotate_to_hf
 from .hf import submit_to_hf
 
-__all__ = ["submit_to_hf"]
+__all__ = ["submit_annotate_to_hf", "submit_to_hf"]

src/lerobot/jobs/annotate.py

@@ -0,0 +1,176 @@
+# Copyright 2026 The HuggingFace Inc. team. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+"""Run ``lerobot-annotate`` on HF Jobs (HuggingFace GPUs).
+
+Same shape as the training submitter in ``hf.py``, with one difference: the
+annotation pipeline serves its own VLM, so the pod starts from the official
+``vllm/vllm-openai`` image (which has no lerobot) instead of the prebuilt
+``lerobot-gpu`` image, and installs lerobot on top before running.
+
+Because there is no config repo to stage, the pod replays the user's own CLI
+flags — everything except the client-only ``--job.*`` and the host-local
+``--root``, which is replaced by ``--repo_id`` so the pod pulls the dataset
+from the Hub.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import shlex
+import sys
+from dataclasses import is_dataclass
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
+
+from huggingface_hub import HfApi, get_token, run_job
+
+from .dataset import ensure_dataset_available
+
+# Package-internal reuse of the training submitter's job plumbing: following a
+# submitted job and forwarding argv are identical for annotation runs.
+from .hf import _pod_forwarded_args, follow_job, resolve_job_tags
+
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from lerobot.annotations.steerable_pipeline.config import AnnotationPipelineConfig
+
+LEROBOT_GIT_URL = "https://github.com/huggingface/lerobot.git"
+
+# Mirrors the pins in pyproject.toml. The vLLM image resolves dependencies on its
+# own otherwise, and pulls av 18 / datasets 5 / draccus 0.11 — each of which breaks
+# lerobot at import time. `--upgrade-strategy only-if-needed` keeps vLLM's own
+# (torch, transformers, ...) pins intact.
+_RUNTIME_REQUIREMENTS = (
+    "'datasets>=4.7.0,<5.0.0' 'pyarrow>=21.0.0,<30.0.0' 'av>=15.0.0,<16.0.0' 'draccus==0.10.0' "
+    "'pandas>=2.0.0,<3.0.0' jsonlines gymnasium torchcodec mergedeep pyyaml-include toml typing-inspect "
+    "openai"
+)
+
+# Flags the submitter resolves itself instead of forwarding verbatim: `--root`
+# names a directory only this machine has, `--repo_id` is re-emitted from the
+# config, and the config-file args name local files (rejected up front by
+# `submit_annotate_to_hf`). `--job.*` is dropped separately, by prefix; bare
+# `--job` is not, hence its entry here — it is the one arg that could smuggle a
+# remote `target` onto the pod and have the job recursively submit itself.
+_SUBMITTER_OWNED_ARGS = ("--root", "--repo_id", "--config_path", "--job")
+
+
+def _local_config_file_args(cfg: AnnotationPipelineConfig) -> list[str]:
+    """The CLI args that name a config file on the client's disk.
+
+    draccus exposes ``--config_path`` for the whole config plus a ``--<field>``
+    for every nested dataclass (``--vlm``, ``--plan``, ``--job``, ...). The pod has
+    none of those files, so a remote run has to reject them rather than silently
+    drop the settings they carry.
+    """
+    return ["--config_path", *(f"--{name}" for name in vars(cfg) if is_dataclass(getattr(cfg, name)))]
+
+
+def build_pod_setup(lerobot_ref: str) -> str:
+    """Shell prelude that turns the vLLM image into a ``lerobot-annotate`` runtime."""
+    spec = f"lerobot @ git+{LEROBOT_GIT_URL}@{lerobot_ref}"
+    return (
+        # git to install from the repo, ffmpeg to decode the dataset's videos.
+        "apt-get update -qq && apt-get install -y -qq git ffmpeg && "
+        f"pip install --no-deps {shlex.quote(spec)} && "
+        f"pip install --upgrade-strategy only-if-needed {_RUNTIME_REQUIREMENTS} && "
+        # vLLM's cudagraph memory estimate over-reserves and starves the KV cache;
+        # PyAV is the video backend the server can decode our frames with.
+        "export VLLM_MEMORY_PROFILER_ESTIMATE_CUDAGRAPHS=0 && "
+        "export VLLM_VIDEO_BACKEND=pyav"
+    )
+
+
+def build_pod_command(repo_id: str, lerobot_ref: str, argv: list[str]) -> list[str]:
+    """Build the ``bash -c`` command the pod runs: setup prelude, then annotation.
+
+    ``argv`` is the user's CLI (``sys.argv[1:]``) minus the flags in
+    ``_SUBMITTER_OWNED_ARGS``; ``--repo_id`` is re-added from the config so the pod
+    always annotates the dataset we just made sure is reachable on the Hub.
+    ``--job.target=local`` stops the pod from re-dispatching to itself.
+    """
+    forwarded = _pod_forwarded_args(argv, drop_names=_SUBMITTER_OWNED_ARGS, drop_prefixes=("--job.",))
+    annotate = shlex.join(["lerobot-annotate", f"--repo_id={repo_id}", *forwarded, "--job.target=local"])
+    return ["bash", "-c", f"{build_pod_setup(lerobot_ref)} && {annotate}"]
+
+
+def submit_annotate_to_hf(cfg: AnnotationPipelineConfig) -> None:
+    """Submit an annotation run to HF Jobs infrastructure.
+
+    Resolves credentials, makes sure the source dataset is reachable from the pod,
+    submits the job, then tails its logs until the job reaches a terminal stage —
+    or returns immediately with ``--job.detach``. Ctrl-C detaches without
+    cancelling the remote job.
+    """
+    token = get_token()
+    if not token:
+        raise RuntimeError("Not logged in to Hugging Face. Run `hf auth login` first.")
+
+    if cfg.repo_id is None:
+        raise ValueError(
+            "Remote annotation requires --repo_id: the pod downloads the dataset from the Hub, "
+            "and --root only names a directory on this machine."
+        )
+
+    argv = sys.argv[1:]
+    passed = {tok.split("=", 1)[0] for tok in argv}
+    used_config_files = sorted(passed.intersection(_local_config_file_args(cfg)))
+    if used_config_files:
+        raise ValueError(
+            f"{', '.join(used_config_files)} cannot be used with a remote --job.target: the pod "
+            "cannot read config files from this machine. Pass the settings as CLI flags instead."
+        )
+
+    if not cfg.push_to_hub:
+        # The pod's filesystem is discarded when the job ends, so without a push the
+        # run produces nothing. Warn rather than fail: a smoke test over
+        # --only_episodes that only inspects the logs is a legitimate use.
+        print(
+            "WARNING: --push_to_hub is off. The annotated dataset lives only on the pod and is "
+            "discarded when the job ends. Pass --push_to_hub=true to keep the result."
+        )
+
+    api = HfApi(token=token)
+    tags = resolve_job_tags(cfg.job.tags)
+    ensure_dataset_available(cfg.repo_id, api=api, tags=tags)
+
+    command = build_pod_command(cfg.repo_id, cfg.job.lerobot_ref, argv)
+
+    print(f"Submitting job to HF Jobs (flavor={cfg.job.target}, image={cfg.job.image}) ...")
+    job_info = run_job(
+        image=cfg.job.image,
+        command=command,
+        flavor=cfg.job.target,
+        secrets={"HF_TOKEN": token},
+        timeout=cfg.job.timeout,
+        # HF Jobs labels are key/value; expose each tag as a queryable label.
+        labels=dict.fromkeys(tags, "true"),
+    )
+    job_id = job_info.id
+    job_url = getattr(job_info, "url", None)
+    print(f"Job submitted: {job_id}")
+    if job_url:
+        print(f"  Job page:     {job_url}")
+    target_repo_id = cfg.new_repo_id or cfg.repo_id
+    if cfg.push_to_hub:
+        print(f"  Dataset repo: https://huggingface.co/datasets/{target_repo_id}")
+    print(f"  Monitor:      hf jobs logs {job_id}")
+    print(f"  Cancel:       hf jobs cancel {job_id}")
+
+    # No success marker: `lerobot-annotate` keeps working after the upload log line
+    # (dataset card, version tag), so completion has to be stage-based.
+    if not follow_job(job_id, detach=cfg.job.detach):
+        return
+
+    if cfg.push_to_hub:
+        print(f"\nAnnotation complete — dataset pushed to https://huggingface.co/datasets/{target_repo_id}")
+    else:
+        print("\nAnnotation complete. Note: --push_to_hub was off, so the result stayed on the pod.")

src/lerobot/jobs/hf.py

@@ -223,6 +223,74 @@ def _poll_until_done(
     return None
 
 
+def follow_job(job_id: str, *, detach: bool = False, success_marker: str | None = None) -> bool:
+    """Watch a submitted job to the end, streaming its logs to stdout.
+
+    Returns True when the job finished successfully and False when we stopped watching
+    without a verdict — `detach`, or the user pressing Ctrl-C, which detaches rather than
+    cancelling the remote job. Raises RuntimeError when the job reaches a terminal stage
+    other than COMPLETED.
+
+    `success_marker` finishes as soon as that string appears in the logs instead of waiting
+    out the platform's post-run finalization (~30s). Callers that have a log line meaning
+    "the artifact is on the Hub" should pass it; without one, completion is stage-based.
+    """
+    if detach:
+        return False
+
+    done = threading.Event()
+    detached = threading.Event()
+    marker_seen = threading.Event()
+    stage_holder: dict[str, str | None] = {}
+
+    def _poll() -> None:
+        stage_holder["stage"] = _poll_until_done(job_id, done, status_holder=stage_holder)
+
+    poll_thread = threading.Thread(target=_poll, daemon=True)
+    poll_thread.start()
+    log_thread = threading.Thread(
+        target=_tail_logs, args=(job_id, done, success_marker, marker_seen), daemon=True
+    )
+    log_thread.start()
+
+    def _detach(sig, frame):
+        detached.set()
+        done.set()
+        print("\nDetached. Job is still running.")
+        print(f"  Monitor: hf jobs logs {job_id}")
+        print(f"  Cancel:  hf jobs cancel {job_id}")
+
+    # signal.signal only works on the main thread; when called from a worker thread
+    # (e.g. an orchestration framework) skip the Ctrl-C-detaches-instead-of-cancels
+    # handler rather than crashing with ValueError.
+    install_sigint = threading.current_thread() is threading.main_thread()
+    original_sigint = signal.getsignal(signal.SIGINT) if install_sigint else None
+    if install_sigint:
+        signal.signal(signal.SIGINT, _detach)
+    try:
+        # Timeout-based join so SIGINT is delivered to the main thread promptly.
+        while poll_thread.is_alive():
+            poll_thread.join(timeout=0.5)
+        log_thread.join(timeout=5)
+    finally:
+        if install_sigint:
+            signal.signal(signal.SIGINT, original_sigint)
+
+    if detached.is_set():
+        return False
+    if marker_seen.is_set():
+        return True
+
+    stage = stage_holder.get("stage")
+    if stage != "COMPLETED":
+        message = stage_holder.get("message")
+        detail = f" ({message})" if message else ""
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            f"Job {job_id} ended with stage={stage}{detail}. Check logs: hf jobs logs {job_id}"
+        )
+    return True
+
+
 def _pod_forwarded_args(
     argv: list[str], drop_names: tuple[str, ...] = (), drop_prefixes: tuple[str, ...] = ()
 ) -> list[str]:
@@ -362,64 +430,11 @@ def submit_to_hf(cfg: TrainPipelineConfig) -> None:
     print(f"  Monitor:    hf jobs logs {job_id}")
     print(f"  Cancel:     hf jobs cancel {job_id}")
 
-    if cfg.job.detach:
-        return
-
-    done = threading.Event()
-    detached = threading.Event()
-    pushed_ok = threading.Event()
-    stage_holder: dict[str, str | None] = {}
-
-    def _poll() -> None:
-        stage_holder["stage"] = _poll_until_done(job_id, done, status_holder=stage_holder)
-
-    poll_thread = threading.Thread(target=_poll, daemon=True)
-    poll_thread.start()
     # Finish as soon as the model is pushed, rather than waiting out the platform's
     # post-run finalization before the job stage flips to COMPLETED. This matches the
     # exact log line emitted by PreTrainedPolicy.push_model_to_hub — the two must stay
     # in sync. If it ever stops matching we just fall back to stage-based completion
     # (~30s slower), so the contract is an optimization, not a correctness requirement.
     success_marker = f"Model pushed to https://huggingface.co/{repo_id}"
-    log_thread = threading.Thread(
-        target=_tail_logs, args=(job_id, done, success_marker, pushed_ok), daemon=True
-    )
-    log_thread.start()
-
-    def _detach(sig, frame):
-        detached.set()
-        done.set()
-        print("\nDetached. Job is still running.")
-        print(f"  Monitor: hf jobs logs {job_id}")
-        print(f"  Cancel:  hf jobs cancel {job_id}")
-
-    # signal.signal only works on the main thread; when called from a worker thread
-    # (e.g. an orchestration framework) skip the Ctrl-C-detaches-instead-of-cancels
-    # handler rather than crashing with ValueError.
-    install_sigint = threading.current_thread() is threading.main_thread()
-    original_sigint = signal.getsignal(signal.SIGINT) if install_sigint else None
-    if install_sigint:
-        signal.signal(signal.SIGINT, _detach)
-    try:
-        # Timeout-based join so SIGINT is delivered to the main thread promptly.
-        while poll_thread.is_alive():
-            poll_thread.join(timeout=0.5)
-        log_thread.join(timeout=5)
-    finally:
-        if install_sigint:
-            signal.signal(signal.SIGINT, original_sigint)
-
-    if detached.is_set():
-        return
-
-    if pushed_ok.is_set():
+    if follow_job(job_id, detach=cfg.job.detach, success_marker=success_marker):
         print(f"\nTraining complete — model pushed to https://huggingface.co/{repo_id}")
-        return
-
-    stage = stage_holder.get("stage")
-    if stage != "COMPLETED":
-        message = stage_holder.get("message")
-        detail = f" ({message})" if message else ""
-        raise RuntimeError(
-            f"Job {job_id} ended with stage={stage}{detail}. Check logs: hf jobs logs {job_id}"
-        )

src/lerobot/motors/damiao/damiao.py

@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ import logging
 import time
 from contextlib import contextmanager
 from copy import deepcopy
-from functools import cached_property
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, TypedDict
 
 from lerobot.utils.decorators import check_if_already_connected, check_if_not_connected
@@ -854,7 +853,7 @@ class DamiaoMotorsBus(MotorsBusBase):
         else:
             raise ValueError(f"Motor {motor_obj} doesn't have a valid recv_id (None).")
 
-    @cached_property
+    @property
     def is_calibrated(self) -> bool:
         """Check if motors are calibrated."""
         return bool(self.calibration)

src/lerobot/motors/motors_bus.py

@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ from __future__ import annotations
 
 import abc
 import logging
+import time
 from collections.abc import Sequence
 from contextlib import contextmanager
 from dataclasses import dataclass
@@ -818,13 +819,13 @@ class SerialMotorsBus(MotorsBusBase):
         """
         motor_names = self._get_motors_list(motors)
 
-        start_positions = self.sync_read("Present_Position", motor_names, normalize=False)
+        start_positions = self.sync_read("Present_Position", motor_names, normalize=False, num_retry=5)
         mins = start_positions.copy()
         maxes = start_positions.copy()
 
         user_pressed_enter = False
         while not user_pressed_enter:
-            positions = self.sync_read("Present_Position", motor_names, normalize=False)
+            positions = self.sync_read("Present_Position", motor_names, normalize=False, num_retry=5)
             mins = {motor: min(positions[motor], min_) for motor, min_ in mins.items()}
             maxes = {motor: max(positions[motor], max_) for motor, max_ in maxes.items()}
 
@@ -837,9 +838,12 @@ class SerialMotorsBus(MotorsBusBase):
             if enter_pressed():
                 user_pressed_enter = True
 
-            if display_values and not user_pressed_enter:
-                # Move cursor up to overwrite the previous output
-                move_cursor_up(len(motor_names) + 3)
+            if not user_pressed_enter:
+                if display_values:
+                    # Move cursor up to overwrite the previous output
+                    move_cursor_up(len(motor_names) + 3)
+                # Throttle reads even when the live table is disabled.
+                time.sleep(0.02)
 
         same_min_max = [motor for motor in motor_names if mins[motor] == maxes[motor]]
         if same_min_max:

src/lerobot/policies/diffusion/configuration_diffusion.py

@@ -79,6 +79,8 @@ class DiffusionConfig(PreTrainedConfig):
         use_film_scale_modulation: FiLM (https://huggingface.co/papers/1709.07871) is used for the Unet conditioning.
             Bias modulation is used be default, while this parameter indicates whether to also use scale
             modulation.
+        gradient_checkpointing: Whether to checkpoint the Unet residual blocks during training. This reduces
+            activation memory at the cost of recomputing those blocks during the backward pass.
         noise_scheduler_type: Name of the noise scheduler to use. Supported options: ["DDPM", "DDIM"].
         num_train_timesteps: Number of diffusion steps for the forward diffusion schedule.
         beta_schedule: Name of the diffusion beta schedule as per DDPMScheduler from Hugging Face diffusers.
@@ -132,6 +134,7 @@ class DiffusionConfig(PreTrainedConfig):
     n_groups: int = 8
     diffusion_step_embed_dim: int = 128
     use_film_scale_modulation: bool = True
+    gradient_checkpointing: bool = False
     # Noise scheduler.
     noise_scheduler_type: str = "DDPM"
     num_train_timesteps: int = 100

src/lerobot/policies/diffusion/modeling_diffusion.py

@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ import torch
 import torch.nn.functional as F  # noqa: N812
 import torchvision
 from torch import Tensor, nn
+from torch.utils.checkpoint import checkpoint
 
 from lerobot.utils.constants import ACTION, OBS_ENV_STATE, OBS_IMAGES, OBS_STATE
 from lerobot.utils.import_utils import _diffusers_available, require_package
@@ -727,22 +728,35 @@ class DiffusionConditionalUnet1d(nn.Module):
         else:
             global_feature = timesteps_embed
 
+        use_gc = self.config.gradient_checkpointing and self.training
+
         # Run encoder, keeping track of skip features to pass to the decoder.
         encoder_skip_features: list[Tensor] = []
         for resnet, resnet2, downsample in self.down_modules:
-            x = resnet(x, global_feature)
-            x = resnet2(x, global_feature)
+            if use_gc:
+                x = checkpoint(resnet, x, global_feature, use_reentrant=False)
+                x = checkpoint(resnet2, x, global_feature, use_reentrant=False)
+            else:
+                x = resnet(x, global_feature)
+                x = resnet2(x, global_feature)
             encoder_skip_features.append(x)
             x = downsample(x)
 
         for mid_module in self.mid_modules:
-            x = mid_module(x, global_feature)
+            if use_gc:
+                x = checkpoint(mid_module, x, global_feature, use_reentrant=False)
+            else:
+                x = mid_module(x, global_feature)
 
         # Run decoder, using the skip features from the encoder.
         for resnet, resnet2, upsample in self.up_modules:
             x = torch.cat((x, encoder_skip_features.pop()), dim=1)
-            x = resnet(x, global_feature)
-            x = resnet2(x, global_feature)
+            if use_gc:
+                x = checkpoint(resnet, x, global_feature, use_reentrant=False)
+                x = checkpoint(resnet2, x, global_feature, use_reentrant=False)
+            else:
+                x = resnet(x, global_feature)
+                x = resnet2(x, global_feature)
             x = upsample(x)
 
         x = self.final_conv(x)

src/lerobot/policies/factory.py

@@ -177,6 +177,7 @@ def make_pre_post_processors(
             return make_groot_pre_post_processors_from_pretrained(
                 config=policy_cfg,
                 pretrained_path=pretrained_path,
+                revision=pretrained_revision,
                 dataset_stats=kwargs.get("dataset_stats"),
                 dataset_meta=kwargs.get("dataset_meta"),
                 preprocessor_overrides=kwargs.get("preprocessor_overrides"),

src/lerobot/policies/gaussian_actor/configuration_gaussian_actor.py

@@ -37,13 +37,19 @@ def is_image_feature(key: str) -> bool:
 @dataclass
 class ConcurrencyConfig:
     """Configuration for the concurrency of the actor and learner.
+
     Possible values are:
     - "threads": Use threads for the actor and learner.
     - "processes": Use processes for the actor and learner.
+
+    ``multiprocessing_context`` selects the process-wide start method when
+    processes are used. Set it to ``None`` to preserve Python's default or a
+    method already selected by the embedding application.
     """
 
     actor: str = "threads"
     learner: str = "threads"
+    multiprocessing_context: str | None = "spawn"
 
 
 @dataclass

src/lerobot/policies/groot/processor_groot.py

@@ -475,6 +475,7 @@ def make_groot_pre_post_processors_from_pretrained(
     config: GrootConfig,
     pretrained_path: str,
     *,
+    revision: str | None = None,
     dataset_stats: dict[str, dict[str, torch.Tensor]] | None = None,
     dataset_meta: Any | None = None,
     preprocessor_overrides: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
@@ -511,6 +512,7 @@ def make_groot_pre_post_processors_from_pretrained(
 
     preprocessor, postprocessor = _load_groot_processor_pipelines(
         pretrained_path,
+        revision=revision,
         preprocessor_overrides=preprocessor_overrides,
         postprocessor_overrides=postprocessor_overrides,
         preprocessor_config_filename=preprocessor_config_filename,
@@ -526,6 +528,7 @@ def make_groot_pre_post_processors_from_pretrained(
 def _load_groot_processor_pipelines(
     pretrained_path: str,
     *,
+    revision: str | None,
     preprocessor_overrides: dict[str, Any],
     postprocessor_overrides: dict[str, Any],
     preprocessor_config_filename: str,
@@ -540,6 +543,7 @@ def _load_groot_processor_pipelines(
     preprocessor = PolicyProcessorPipeline.from_pretrained(
         pretrained_model_name_or_path=pretrained_path,
         config_filename=preprocessor_config_filename,
+        revision=revision,
         overrides=preprocessor_overrides,
         to_transition=batch_to_transition,
         to_output=transition_to_batch,
@@ -547,6 +551,7 @@ def _load_groot_processor_pipelines(
     postprocessor = PolicyProcessorPipeline.from_pretrained(
         pretrained_model_name_or_path=pretrained_path,
         config_filename=postprocessor_config_filename,
+        revision=revision,
         overrides=postprocessor_overrides,
         to_transition=policy_action_to_transition,
         to_output=transition_to_policy_action,

src/lerobot/policies/pi05/modeling_pi05.py

@@ -524,8 +524,6 @@ class PI05Pytorch(nn.Module):  # see openpi `PI0Pytorch`
 
     def embed_suffix(self, noisy_actions, timestep):
         """Embed noisy_actions, timestep to prepare for Expert Gemma processing."""
-        embs = []
-        pad_masks = []
         att_masks = []
 
         # Embed timestep using sine-cosine positional encoding
@@ -551,23 +549,17 @@ class PI05Pytorch(nn.Module):  # see openpi `PI0Pytorch`
             return F.silu(x)
 
         time_emb = self._apply_checkpoint(time_mlp_func, time_emb)
-        action_time_emb = action_emb
         adarms_cond = time_emb
 
-        embs.append(action_time_emb)
-        bsize, action_time_dim = action_time_emb.shape[:2]
-        action_time_mask = torch.ones(bsize, action_time_dim, dtype=torch.bool, device=timestep.device)
-        pad_masks.append(action_time_mask)
+        bsize, action_time_dim = action_emb.shape[:2]
+        pad_masks = torch.ones(bsize, action_time_dim, dtype=torch.bool, device=timestep.device)
 
         # Set attention masks so that image, language and state inputs do not attend to action tokens
         att_masks += [1] + ([0] * (self.config.chunk_size - 1))
-
-        embs = torch.cat(embs, dim=1)
-        pad_masks = torch.cat(pad_masks, dim=1)
-        att_masks = torch.tensor(att_masks, dtype=embs.dtype, device=embs.device)
+        att_masks = torch.tensor(att_masks, dtype=action_emb.dtype, device=action_emb.device)
         att_masks = att_masks[None, :].expand(bsize, len(att_masks))
 
-        return embs, pad_masks, att_masks, adarms_cond
+        return action_emb, pad_masks, att_masks, adarms_cond
 
     def forward(self, images, img_masks, tokens, masks, actions, noise, time) -> Tensor:
         """Do a full training forward pass and compute the loss."""

src/lerobot/policies/smolvla/modeling_smolvla.py

@@ -61,9 +61,15 @@ import torch.nn.functional as F  # noqa: N812
 from torch import Tensor, nn
 
 from lerobot.utils.constants import ACTION, OBS_LANGUAGE_ATTENTION_MASK, OBS_LANGUAGE_TOKENS, OBS_STATE
-from lerobot.utils.device_utils import get_safe_dtype
 from lerobot.utils.import_utils import require_package
 
+from ..common.flow_matching import euler_integrate, sample_noise, sample_time_beta
+from ..common.vla_utils import (
+    create_sinusoidal_pos_embedding,
+    make_att_2d_masks,
+    pad_vector,
+    resize_with_pad,
+)
 from ..pretrained import PreTrainedPolicy
 from ..rtc.modeling_rtc import RTCProcessor
 from ..utils import (
@@ -79,96 +85,6 @@ class ActionSelectKwargs(TypedDict, total=False):
     execution_horizon: int | None
 
 
-def create_sinusoidal_pos_embedding(
-    time: torch.tensor, dimension: int, min_period: float, max_period: float, device="cpu"
-) -> Tensor:
-    """Computes sine-cosine positional embedding vectors for scalar positions."""
-    if dimension % 2 != 0:
-        raise ValueError(f"dimension ({dimension}) must be divisible by 2")
-
-    if time.ndim != 1:
-        raise ValueError("The time tensor is expected to be of shape `(batch_size, )`.")
-
-    dtype = get_safe_dtype(torch.float64, device.type)
-    fraction = torch.linspace(0.0, 1.0, dimension // 2, dtype=dtype, device=device)
-    period = min_period * (max_period / min_period) ** fraction
-
-    # Compute the outer product
-    scaling_factor = 1.0 / period * 2 * math.pi
-    sin_input = scaling_factor[None, :] * time[:, None]
-    pos_emb = torch.cat([torch.sin(sin_input), torch.cos(sin_input)], dim=1)
-    return pos_emb
-
-
-def make_att_2d_masks(pad_masks, att_masks):
-    """Copied from big_vision.
-
-    Tokens can attend to valid inputs tokens which have a cumulative mask_ar
-    smaller or equal to theirs. This way `mask_ar` int[B, N] can be used to
-    setup several types of attention, for example:
-
-      [[1 1 1 1 1 1]]: pure causal attention.
-
-      [[0 0 0 1 1 1]]: prefix-lm attention. The first 3 tokens can attend between
-          themselves and the last 3 tokens have a causal attention. The first
-          entry could also be a 1 without changing behaviour.
-
-      [[1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0]]: causal attention between 4 blocks. Tokens of a
-          block can attend all previous blocks and all tokens on the same block.
-
-    Args:
-      input_mask: bool[B, N] true if its part of the input, false if padding.
-      mask_ar: int32[B, N] mask that's 1 where previous tokens cannot depend on
-        it and 0 where it shares the same attention mask as the previous token.
-    """
-    if att_masks.ndim != 2:
-        raise ValueError(att_masks.ndim)
-    if pad_masks.ndim != 2:
-        raise ValueError(pad_masks.ndim)
-
-    cumsum = torch.cumsum(att_masks, dim=1)
-    att_2d_masks = cumsum[:, None, :] <= cumsum[:, :, None]
-    pad_2d_masks = pad_masks[:, None, :] * pad_masks[:, :, None]
-    att_2d_masks = att_2d_masks & pad_2d_masks
-    return att_2d_masks
-
-
-def resize_with_pad(img, width, height, pad_value=-1):
-    # assume no-op when width height fits already
-    if img.ndim != 4:
-        raise ValueError(f"(b,c,h,w) expected, but {img.shape}")
-
-    cur_height, cur_width = img.shape[2:]
-
-    ratio = max(cur_width / width, cur_height / height)
-    resized_height = int(cur_height / ratio)
-    resized_width = int(cur_width / ratio)
-    resized_img = F.interpolate(
-        img, size=(resized_height, resized_width), mode="bilinear", align_corners=False
-    )
-
-    pad_height = max(0, int(height - resized_height))
-    pad_width = max(0, int(width - resized_width))
-
-    # pad on left and top of image
-    padded_img = F.pad(resized_img, (pad_width, 0, pad_height, 0), value=pad_value)
-    return padded_img
-
-
-def pad_vector(vector, new_dim):
-    """Can be (batch_size x sequence_length x features_dimension)
-    or (batch_size x features_dimension)
-    """
-    if vector.shape[-1] == new_dim:
-        return vector
-    shape = list(vector.shape)
-    current_dim = shape[-1]
-    shape[-1] = new_dim
-    new_vector = torch.zeros(*shape, dtype=vector.dtype, device=vector.device)
-    new_vector[..., :current_dim] = vector
-    return new_vector
-
-
 def normalize(x, min_val, max_val):
     return (x - min_val) / (max_val - min_val)
 
@@ -429,7 +345,13 @@ class SmolVLAPolicy(PreTrainedPolicy):
         for key in present_img_keys:
             img = batch[key][:, -1, :, :, :] if batch[key].ndim == 5 else batch[key]
             if self.config.resize_imgs_with_padding is not None:
-                img = resize_with_pad(img, *self.config.resize_imgs_with_padding, pad_value=0)
+                # SmolVLA stores the target as (width, height); the shared helper expects (height, width).
+                img = resize_with_pad(
+                    img,
+                    self.config.resize_imgs_with_padding[1],
+                    self.config.resize_imgs_with_padding[0],
+                    pad_value=0,
+                )
 
             # Normalize from range [0,1] to [-1,1] as expacted by siglip
             img = img * 2.0 - 1.0
@@ -619,20 +541,10 @@ class VLAFlowMatching(nn.Module):
             params.requires_grad = self.config.train_state_proj
 
     def sample_noise(self, shape, device):
-        noise = torch.normal(
-            mean=0.0,
-            std=1.0,
-            size=shape,
-            dtype=torch.float32,
-            device=device,
-        )
-        return noise
+        return sample_noise(shape, device)
 
     def sample_time(self, bsize, device):
-        beta_dist = torch.distributions.Beta(concentration1=1.5, concentration0=1.0)
-        time_beta = beta_dist.sample((bsize,)).to(device=device, dtype=torch.float32)
-        time = time_beta * 0.999 + 0.001
-        return time
+        return sample_time_beta(bsize, device, alpha=1.5, beta=1.0, scale=0.999, offset=0.001)
 
     def embed_prefix(
         self, images, img_masks, lang_tokens, lang_masks, state: torch.Tensor = None
@@ -800,7 +712,6 @@ class VLAFlowMatching(nn.Module):
             past_key_values=None,
             inputs_embeds=[prefix_embs, suffix_embs],
             use_cache=False,
-            fill_kv_cache=False,
         )
         suffix_out = suffix_out[:, -self.config.chunk_size :]
         # Original openpi code, upcast attention output
@@ -839,46 +750,24 @@ class VLAFlowMatching(nn.Module):
             past_key_values=None,
             inputs_embeds=[prefix_embs, None],
             use_cache=self.config.use_cache,
-            fill_kv_cache=True,
         )
         num_steps = self.config.num_steps
-        dt = -1.0 / num_steps
 
-        x_t = noise
-        for step in range(num_steps):
-            time = 1.0 + step * dt
-            time_tensor = torch.tensor(time, dtype=torch.float32, device=device).expand(bsize)
-
-            def denoise_step_partial_call(input_x_t, current_timestep=time_tensor):
-                return self.denoise_step(
-                    x_t=input_x_t,
-                    prefix_pad_masks=prefix_pad_masks,
-                    past_key_values=past_key_values,
-                    timestep=current_timestep,
-                )
-
-            if self._rtc_enabled():
-                inference_delay = kwargs.get("inference_delay")
-                prev_chunk_left_over = kwargs.get("prev_chunk_left_over")
-                execution_horizon = kwargs.get("execution_horizon")
-
-                v_t = self.rtc_processor.denoise_step(
-                    x_t=x_t,
-                    prev_chunk_left_over=prev_chunk_left_over,
-                    inference_delay=inference_delay,
-                    time=time,
-                    original_denoise_step_partial=denoise_step_partial_call,
-                    execution_horizon=execution_horizon,
-                )
-            else:
-                v_t = denoise_step_partial_call(x_t)
-
-            x_t = x_t + dt * v_t
-
-            if self.rtc_processor is not None and self.rtc_processor.is_debug_enabled():
-                self.rtc_processor.track(time=time, x_t=x_t, v_t=v_t)
-
-        return x_t
+        return euler_integrate(
+            lambda input_x_t, current_timestep: self.denoise_step(
+                x_t=input_x_t,
+                prefix_pad_masks=prefix_pad_masks,
+                past_key_values=past_key_values,
+                timestep=current_timestep,
+            ),
+            noise,
+            num_steps,
+            rtc_processor=self.rtc_processor,
+            rtc_enabled=self._rtc_enabled(),
+            inference_delay=kwargs.get("inference_delay"),
+            prev_chunk_left_over=kwargs.get("prev_chunk_left_over"),
+            execution_horizon=kwargs.get("execution_horizon"),
+        )
 
     def denoise_step(
         self,
@@ -907,8 +796,10 @@ class VLAFlowMatching(nn.Module):
             past_key_values=past_key_values,
             inputs_embeds=[None, suffix_embs],
             use_cache=self.config.use_cache,
-            fill_kv_cache=False,
         )
+        if past_key_values is not None:
+            # Self-attention layers append suffix K/V in place; restore the prefix for the next step.
+            past_key_values.crop(prefix_len)
         suffix_out = outputs_embeds[1]
         suffix_out = suffix_out[:, -self.config.chunk_size :]
         suffix_out = suffix_out.to(dtype=torch.float32)

src/lerobot/policies/smolvla/smolvlm_with_expert.py

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ if TYPE_CHECKING or _transformers_available:
         AutoModel,
         AutoModelForImageTextToText,
         AutoProcessor,
+        DynamicCache,
         SmolVLMForConditionalGeneration,
     )
 else:
@@ -33,6 +34,7 @@ else:
     AutoModel = None
     AutoModelForImageTextToText = None
     AutoProcessor = None
+    DynamicCache = None
     SmolVLMForConditionalGeneration = None
 
 
@@ -216,9 +218,8 @@ class SmolVLMWithExpertModel(nn.Module):
         batch_size,
         head_dim,
         use_cache: bool = True,
-        fill_kv_cache: bool = True,
-        past_key_values=None,
-    ) -> list[torch.Tensor]:
+        past_key_values: "DynamicCache | None" = None,
+    ) -> "tuple[list[torch.Tensor], DynamicCache | None]":
         query_states = []
         key_states = []
         value_states = []
@@ -259,22 +260,16 @@ class SmolVLMWithExpertModel(nn.Module):
         query_states = apply_rope(query_states, position_ids_)
         key_states = apply_rope(key_states, position_ids_)
 
-        if use_cache and past_key_values is None:
-            past_key_values = {}
-
         if use_cache:
-            if fill_kv_cache:
-                past_key_values[layer_idx] = {
-                    "key_states": key_states,
-                    "value_states": value_states,
-                }
-            else:
-                # TODO here, some optimization can be done - similar to a `StaticCache` we can declare the `max_len` before.
-                # so we create an empty cache, with just one cuda malloc, and if (in autoregressive case) we reach
-                # the max len, then we (for instance) double the cache size. This implementation already exists
-                # in `transformers`. (molbap)
-                key_states = torch.cat([past_key_values[layer_idx]["key_states"], key_states], dim=1)
-                value_states = torch.cat([past_key_values[layer_idx]["value_states"], value_states], dim=1)
+            # `DynamicCache` stores tensors as [batch, heads, seq, head_dim]; this module works with
+            # [batch, seq, heads, head_dim]. During prefix prefill this stores the (post-RoPE) K/V and
+            # returns them unchanged; during denoising it appends the suffix K/V and returns
+            # [prefix; suffix], exactly like the previous hand-rolled dict cache.
+            key_states, value_states = past_key_values.update(
+                key_states.transpose(1, 2), value_states.transpose(1, 2), layer_idx
+            )
+            key_states = key_states.transpose(1, 2)
+            value_states = value_states.transpose(1, 2)
 
         attention_interface = self.get_attention_interface()
 
@@ -293,13 +288,12 @@ class SmolVLMWithExpertModel(nn.Module):
         batch_size,
         head_dim,
         use_cache: bool = True,
-        fill_kv_cache: bool = True,
-        past_key_values=None,
-    ) -> list[torch.Tensor]:
+        past_key_values: "DynamicCache | None" = None,
+    ) -> "tuple[list[torch.Tensor], DynamicCache | None]":
         attention_interface = self.get_attention_interface()
 
         att_outputs = []
-        assert len(inputs_embeds) == 2 or (use_cache and past_key_values is not None and not fill_kv_cache), (
+        assert len(inputs_embeds) == 2 or (use_cache and past_key_values is not None), (
             f"Both len(inputs_embeds) == {len(inputs_embeds)} and past_key_values is {past_key_values}"
         )
 
@@ -332,22 +326,13 @@ class SmolVLMWithExpertModel(nn.Module):
         else:
             expert_position_id = position_ids
 
-        if use_cache and past_key_values is None:
-            past_key_values = {}
-
-        if use_cache:
-            if fill_kv_cache:
-                past_key_values[layer_idx] = {
-                    "key_states": key_states,
-                    "value_states": value_states,
-                }
-            else:
-                # TODO here, some optimization can be done - similar to a `StaticCache` we can declare the `max_len` before.
-                # so we create an empty cache, with just one cuda malloc, and if (in autoregressive case) we reach
-                # the max len, then we (for instance) double the cache size. This implementation already exists
-                # in `transformers`. (molbap)
-                key_states = past_key_values[layer_idx]["key_states"]
-                value_states = past_key_values[layer_idx]["value_states"]
+        if use_cache and past_key_values is not None:
+            # Cross-attention layers never fill the cache themselves: during the prefix prefill every
+            # layer goes through `forward_attn_layer`, which stores the (post-RoPE) VLM K/V for this
+            # layer index. Here we only read them back (no concatenation: the expert cross-attends to
+            # the fixed prefix). `DynamicCache` stores [batch, heads, seq, head_dim]; transpose back.
+            key_states = past_key_values.layers[layer_idx].keys.transpose(1, 2)
+            value_states = past_key_values.layers[layer_idx].values.transpose(1, 2)
 
         # Expert
         expert_layer = model_layers[1][layer_idx]
@@ -360,14 +345,15 @@ class SmolVLMWithExpertModel(nn.Module):
             expert_hidden_states = expert_hidden_states.to(dtype=expert_layer.self_attn.q_proj.weight.dtype)
             expert_query_state = expert_layer.self_attn.q_proj(expert_hidden_states).view(expert_hidden_shape)
 
-            _key_states = key_states.to(dtype=expert_layer.self_attn.k_proj.weight.dtype).view(
+            # reshape (not view): K/V read back from the cache are transposed, hence non-contiguous
+            _key_states = key_states.to(dtype=expert_layer.self_attn.k_proj.weight.dtype).reshape(
                 *key_states.shape[:2], -1
             )
             expert_key_states = expert_layer.self_attn.k_proj(_key_states).view(
                 *_key_states.shape[:-1], -1, expert_layer.self_attn.head_dim
             )  # k_proj should have same dim as kv
 
-            _value_states = value_states.to(dtype=expert_layer.self_attn.v_proj.weight.dtype).view(
+            _value_states = value_states.to(dtype=expert_layer.self_attn.v_proj.weight.dtype).reshape(
                 *value_states.shape[:2], -1
             )
             expert_value_states = expert_layer.self_attn.v_proj(_value_states).view(
@@ -416,10 +402,9 @@ class SmolVLMWithExpertModel(nn.Module):
         self,
         attention_mask: torch.Tensor | None = None,
         position_ids: torch.LongTensor | None = None,
-        past_key_values: list[torch.FloatTensor] | None = None,
+        past_key_values: "DynamicCache | None" = None,
         inputs_embeds: list[torch.FloatTensor] = None,
         use_cache: bool | None = None,
-        fill_kv_cache: bool | None = None,
     ):
         models = [self.get_vlm_model().text_model, self.lm_expert]
         model_layers = self.get_model_layers(models)
@@ -431,6 +416,13 @@ class SmolVLMWithExpertModel(nn.Module):
                 continue
             batch_size = hidden_states.shape[0]
 
+        # Prefix prefill: no cache was passed, so create one and fill it (every layer runs
+        # self-attention over the prefix). When a filled cache is passed (denoising), layers
+        # read from it instead.
+        fill_kv_cache = use_cache and past_key_values is None
+        if fill_kv_cache:
+            past_key_values = DynamicCache()
+
         # RMSNorm
         num_layers = self.num_vlm_layers
         head_dim = self.vlm.config.text_config.head_dim
@@ -449,7 +441,6 @@ class SmolVLMWithExpertModel(nn.Module):
                     batch_size,
                     head_dim,
                     use_cache=use_cache,
-                    fill_kv_cache=fill_kv_cache,
                     past_key_values=past_key_values,
                 )
             else:
@@ -462,7 +453,6 @@ class SmolVLMWithExpertModel(nn.Module):
                     batch_size,
                     head_dim,
                     use_cache=use_cache,
-                    fill_kv_cache=fill_kv_cache,
                     past_key_values=past_key_values,
                 )
             outputs_embeds = []

src/lerobot/processor/batch_processor.py

@@ -175,9 +175,6 @@ class AddBatchDimensionComplementaryDataStep(ComplementaryDataProcessorStep):
             if isinstance(task_index_value, Tensor) and task_index_value.dim() == 0:
                 complementary_data["task_index"] = task_index_value.unsqueeze(0)
 
-        complementary_data.pop("language_persistent", None)
-        complementary_data.pop("language_events", None)
-
         if "messages" in complementary_data:
             messages = complementary_data["messages"]
             if isinstance(messages, list) and (not messages or isinstance(messages[0], dict)):

src/lerobot/processor/delta_action_processor.py

@@ -132,10 +132,20 @@ class MapDeltaActionToRobotActionStep(RobotActionProcessorStep):
     def transform_features(
         self, features: dict[PipelineFeatureType, dict[str, PolicyFeature]]
     ) -> dict[PipelineFeatureType, dict[str, PolicyFeature]]:
-        for axis in ["x", "y", "z", "gripper"]:
+        for axis in ["x", "y", "z"]:
             features[PipelineFeatureType.ACTION].pop(f"delta_{axis}", None)
+        features[PipelineFeatureType.ACTION].pop("gripper", None)
 
-        for feat in ["enabled", "target_x", "target_y", "target_z", "target_wx", "target_wy", "target_wz"]:
+        for feat in [
+            "enabled",
+            "target_x",
+            "target_y",
+            "target_z",
+            "target_wx",
+            "target_wy",
+            "target_wz",
+            "gripper_vel",
+        ]:
             features[PipelineFeatureType.ACTION][f"{feat}"] = PolicyFeature(
                 type=FeatureType.ACTION, shape=(1,)
             )

src/lerobot/processor/pipeline.py

@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any, TypedDict, TypeVar, cast
 
 import torch
-from huggingface_hub import hf_hub_download
+from huggingface_hub import hf_hub_download, snapshot_download
 from safetensors.torch import load_file, save_file
 
 from lerobot.configs import PipelineFeatureType, PolicyFeature
@@ -205,6 +205,10 @@ class ProcessorStep(ABC):
         """
         return None
 
+    def save_artifacts(self, save_directory: Path) -> dict[str, str]:
+        """Save non-tensor assets and map constructor arguments to relative paths."""
+        return {}
+
     def reset(self) -> None:
         """Resets the internal state of the processor step, if any."""
         return None
@@ -549,6 +553,22 @@ class DataProcessorPipeline[TInput, TOutput](HubMixin):
         pipeline_config = self.get_config()
         pipeline_state_dict = self.state_dict()
 
+        for processor_step, step_entry in zip(self.steps, pipeline_config["steps"], strict=True):
+            artifacts = processor_step.save_artifacts(save_directory)
+            if artifacts:
+                for config_key, relative_path in artifacts.items():
+                    artifact_path = Path(relative_path)
+                    if artifact_path.is_absolute() or ".." in artifact_path.parts:
+                        raise ValueError(
+                            f"Processor artifact path must be relative to the checkpoint: {relative_path!r}"
+                        )
+                    if not (save_directory / artifact_path).exists():
+                        raise FileNotFoundError(
+                            f"Processor step did not save declared artifact '{relative_path}'"
+                        )
+                    step_entry["config"][config_key] = artifact_path.as_posix()
+                step_entry["artifacts"] = artifacts
+
         for state_key, step_state_dict in pipeline_state_dict.items():
             state_filename = f"{state_key}.safetensors"
             save_file(step_state_dict, save_directory / state_filename)
@@ -713,6 +733,8 @@ class DataProcessorPipeline[TInput, TOutput](HubMixin):
             ProcessorMigrationError: If the model requires migration to processor format.
         """
         model_id = str(pretrained_model_name_or_path)
+        model_path = Path(model_id)
+        is_local_source = model_path.is_dir() or model_path.is_file()
         hub_download_kwargs = {
             "force_download": force_download,
             "resume_download": resume_download,
@@ -731,7 +753,13 @@ class DataProcessorPipeline[TInput, TOutput](HubMixin):
 
         # 3. Build steps with overrides
         steps, validated_overrides = cls._build_steps_with_overrides(
-            loaded_config, overrides or {}, model_id, base_path, hub_download_kwargs
+            loaded_config,
+            overrides or {},
+            model_id,
+            base_path,
+            config_filename,
+            hub_download_kwargs,
+            is_local_source,
         )
 
         # 4. Validate that all overrides were used
@@ -920,7 +948,9 @@ class DataProcessorPipeline[TInput, TOutput](HubMixin):
         overrides: dict[str, Any],
         model_id: str,
         base_path: Path | None,
+        config_filename: str,
         hub_download_kwargs: dict[str, Any],
+        is_local_source: bool = False,
     ) -> tuple[list[ProcessorStep], set[str]]:
         """Build all processor steps with overrides and state loading.
 
@@ -944,7 +974,7 @@ class DataProcessorPipeline[TInput, TOutput](HubMixin):
         3. **State Loading** (via _load_step_state):
            - **If step has "state_file"**: Load tensor state from .safetensors
            - **Local first**: Check base_path/state_file.safetensors
-           - **Hub fallback**: Download state file if not found locally
+           - **Hub fallback**: Download state file if the pipeline was loaded from the Hub
            - **Optional**: Only load if step has load_state_dict method
 
         4. **Override Tracking**:
@@ -962,6 +992,7 @@ class DataProcessorPipeline[TInput, TOutput](HubMixin):
             model_id: The model identifier (needed for Hub state file downloads)
             base_path: Local directory path for finding state files
             hub_download_kwargs: Parameters for hf_hub_download (tokens, cache, etc.)
+            is_local_source: Whether model_id resolved to a local directory or config file.
 
         Returns:
             Tuple of (instantiated_steps_list, unused_override_keys)
@@ -972,13 +1003,68 @@ class DataProcessorPipeline[TInput, TOutput](HubMixin):
             ImportError: If a step class cannot be imported or found in registry
             ValueError: If a step cannot be instantiated with its configuration
         """
+        loaded_config = deepcopy(loaded_config)
+        cls._resolve_artifact_paths(
+            loaded_config,
+            model_id,
+            base_path,
+            config_filename,
+            hub_download_kwargs,
+        )
         steps, remaining_override_keys = cls._build_steps_from_config(loaded_config, overrides)
 
         for step_instance, step_entry in zip(steps, loaded_config["steps"], strict=True):
-            cls._load_step_state(step_instance, step_entry, model_id, base_path, hub_download_kwargs)
+            cls._load_step_state(
+                step_instance,
+                step_entry,
+                model_id,
+                base_path,
+                config_filename,
+                hub_download_kwargs,
+                is_local_source,
+            )
 
         return steps, remaining_override_keys
 
+    @classmethod
+    def _resolve_artifact_paths(
+        cls,
+        loaded_config: dict[str, Any],
+        model_id: str,
+        base_path: Path | None,
+        config_filename: str,
+        hub_download_kwargs: dict[str, Any],
+    ) -> None:
+        """Resolve declared relative processor artifacts before step construction."""
+        is_local = Path(model_id).is_dir() or Path(model_id).is_file()
+
+        for step_entry in loaded_config["steps"]:
+            artifacts = step_entry.get("artifacts", {})
+            for config_key, relative_path in artifacts.items():
+                artifact_path = Path(relative_path)
+                if artifact_path.is_absolute() or ".." in artifact_path.parts:
+                    raise ValueError(
+                        f"Processor artifact path must be relative to the checkpoint: {relative_path!r}"
+                    )
+
+                resolved_path = base_path / artifact_path if base_path is not None else artifact_path
+                if not resolved_path.exists() and not is_local:
+                    repository_path = Path(config_filename).parent / artifact_path
+                    snapshot_download(
+                        repo_id=model_id,
+                        repo_type="model",
+                        allow_patterns=f"{repository_path.as_posix()}/**",
+                        **hub_download_kwargs,
+                    )
+
+                if not resolved_path.exists():
+                    step_name = step_entry.get("registry_name", step_entry.get("class", "unknown"))
+                    raise FileNotFoundError(
+                        f"Missing processor artifact '{relative_path}' for step '{step_name}' "
+                        f"next to '{config_filename}'. Checkpoint artifacts are incomplete."
+                    )
+                step_entry["config"][config_key] = str(resolved_path)
+
     @classmethod
     def _build_steps_from_config(
         cls,
@@ -1138,7 +1224,9 @@ class DataProcessorPipeline[TInput, TOutput](HubMixin):
         step_entry: dict[str, Any],
         model_id: str,
         base_path: Path | None,
+        config_filename: str,
         hub_download_kwargs: dict[str, Any],
+        is_local_source: bool = False,
     ) -> None:
         """Load state dictionary for a processor step if available.
 
@@ -1157,7 +1245,7 @@ class DataProcessorPipeline[TInput, TOutput](HubMixin):
            - **Use case**: Loading from local saved model directory
 
         2. **Hub download fallback**: Download state file from repository
-           - **When triggered**: Local file not found or base_path is None
+           - **When triggered**: Local file not found and the pipeline source is a Hub repo
            - **Process**: Use hf_hub_download with same parameters as config
            - **Example**: Download "normalize_step_0.safetensors" from "user/repo"
            - **Result**: Downloaded to local cache, path returned
@@ -1178,6 +1266,7 @@ class DataProcessorPipeline[TInput, TOutput](HubMixin):
             model_id: The model identifier (used for Hub downloads if needed)
             base_path: Local directory path for finding state files (None for Hub-only)
             hub_download_kwargs: Parameters for hf_hub_download (tokens, cache, etc.)
+            is_local_source: Whether model_id resolved to a local directory or config file.
 
         Note:
             This method modifies step_instance in-place and returns None.
@@ -1191,11 +1280,17 @@ class DataProcessorPipeline[TInput, TOutput](HubMixin):
         # Try local file first
         if base_path and (base_path / state_filename).exists():
             state_path = str(base_path / state_filename)
+        elif is_local_source:
+            state_path = base_path / state_filename if base_path else Path(state_filename)
+            raise FileNotFoundError(
+                f"State file '{state_filename}' was not found for local processor pipeline "
+                f"'{model_id}' at '{state_path}'."
+            )
         else:
             # Download from Hub
             state_path = hf_hub_download(
                 repo_id=model_id,
-                filename=state_filename,
+                filename=(Path(config_filename).parent / state_filename).as_posix(),
                 repo_type="model",
                 **hub_download_kwargs,
             )

src/lerobot/processor/render_messages_processor.py

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
-from dataclasses import dataclass
+from dataclasses import asdict, dataclass
 from typing import Any
 
 from lerobot.configs import PipelineFeatureType, PolicyFeature
@@ -32,17 +32,18 @@ from .pipeline import ProcessorStep, ProcessorStepRegistry
 @dataclass
 @ProcessorStepRegistry.register(name="render_messages_processor")
 class RenderMessagesStep(ProcessorStep):
-    """Processor step that turns raw language columns into rendered chat messages.
-
-    Reads ``language_persistent`` and ``language_events`` from the transition's
-    complementary data, renders them through ``recipe`` at the sample timestamp,
-    and replaces the raw columns with the resulting ``messages`` /
-    ``message_streams`` / ``target_message_indices`` keys.
-    """
+    """Render language columns into recipe-defined messages and supervision metadata."""
 
     recipe: TrainingRecipe
     dataset_ctx: Any | None = None
 
+    def __post_init__(self) -> None:
+        if isinstance(self.recipe, dict):
+            self.recipe = TrainingRecipe.from_dict(self.recipe)
+
+    def get_config(self) -> dict[str, Any]:
+        return {"recipe": asdict(self.recipe)}
+
     def __call__(self, transition: EnvTransition) -> EnvTransition | None:
         """Render messages for a single transition; return ``None`` to drop it."""
         complementary_data = transition.get(TransitionKey.COMPLEMENTARY_DATA) or {}
@@ -50,7 +51,17 @@ class RenderMessagesStep(ProcessorStep):
         events = complementary_data.get(LANGUAGE_EVENTS) or []
 
         if not persistent and not events:
-            return transition
+            rendered = _fallback_low_level_render(complementary_data.get("task"))
+            if rendered is None:
+                return transition
+            new_transition = transition.copy()
+            new_complementary_data = dict(new_transition.get(TransitionKey.COMPLEMENTARY_DATA) or {})
+            new_complementary_data.update(rendered)
+            new_transition[TransitionKey.COMPLEMENTARY_DATA] = new_complementary_data
+            return new_transition
+
+        if _is_batched_language(persistent) or _is_batched_language(events):
+            return self._call_batch(transition, complementary_data, persistent, events)
 
         timestamp = complementary_data.get("timestamp")
         if timestamp is None:
@@ -67,18 +78,147 @@ class RenderMessagesStep(ProcessorStep):
             dataset_ctx=self.dataset_ctx,
         )
         if rendered is None:
-            return None
+            rendered = _fallback_low_level_render(complementary_data.get("task"))
+            if rendered is None:
+                return None
 
         new_transition = transition.copy()
-        new_complementary_data = dict(complementary_data)
+        new_complementary_data = dict(new_transition.get(TransitionKey.COMPLEMENTARY_DATA) or {})
         new_complementary_data.pop(LANGUAGE_PERSISTENT, None)
         new_complementary_data.pop(LANGUAGE_EVENTS, None)
         new_complementary_data.update(rendered)
         new_transition[TransitionKey.COMPLEMENTARY_DATA] = new_complementary_data
         return new_transition
 
+    def _call_batch(
+        self,
+        transition: EnvTransition,
+        complementary_data: dict[str, Any],
+        persistent_batch: list,
+        events_batch: list,
+    ) -> EnvTransition | None:
+        timestamp = complementary_data.get("timestamp")
+        if timestamp is None:
+            raise KeyError("RenderMessagesStep requires sample timestamp in complementary data.")
+
+        batch_size = max(len(persistent_batch), len(events_batch))
+        messages: list[list[dict[str, Any]]] = []
+        message_streams: list[list[str | None]] = []
+        target_message_indices: list[list[int]] = []
+        keep_indices: list[int] = []
+
+        for i in range(batch_size):
+            rendered = render_sample(
+                recipe=self.recipe,
+                persistent=persistent_batch[i] if i < len(persistent_batch) else [],
+                events=events_batch[i] if i < len(events_batch) else [],
+                t=_batch_value(timestamp, i),
+                sample_idx=int(_batch_value(complementary_data.get("index", 0), i)),
+                task=_batch_value(complementary_data.get("task"), i),
+                dataset_ctx=self.dataset_ctx,
+            )
+            if rendered is None:
+                rendered = _fallback_low_level_render(_batch_value(complementary_data.get("task"), i))
+                if rendered is None:
+                    continue
+            keep_indices.append(i)
+            messages.append(rendered["messages"])
+            message_streams.append(rendered["message_streams"])
+            target_message_indices.append(rendered["target_message_indices"])
+
+        if not messages:
+            return None
+
+        new_transition = (
+            _select_batch_indices(transition, keep_indices)
+            if len(keep_indices) != batch_size
+            else transition.copy()
+        )
+        new_complementary_data = dict(new_transition.get(TransitionKey.COMPLEMENTARY_DATA) or {})
+        new_complementary_data.pop(LANGUAGE_PERSISTENT, None)
+        new_complementary_data.pop(LANGUAGE_EVENTS, None)
+        new_complementary_data["messages"] = messages
+        new_complementary_data["message_streams"] = message_streams
+        new_complementary_data["target_message_indices"] = target_message_indices
+        new_transition[TransitionKey.COMPLEMENTARY_DATA] = new_complementary_data
+        return new_transition
+
     def transform_features(
         self, features: dict[PipelineFeatureType, dict[str, PolicyFeature]]
     ) -> dict[PipelineFeatureType, dict[str, PolicyFeature]]:
         """Pass features through unchanged; rendering only touches complementary data."""
         return features
+
+
+def _scalar(value: Any) -> float | int:
+    """Unwrap a tensor/array/single-element list into a Python scalar."""
+    if hasattr(value, "item"):
+        return value.item()
+    if isinstance(value, list):
+        if len(value) != 1:
+            raise ValueError(f"Expected a scalar, got list of length {len(value)}: {value!r}")
+        return _scalar(value[0])
+    return value
+
+
+def _is_batched_language(value: Any) -> bool:
+    return isinstance(value, list) and bool(value) and isinstance(value[0], list)
+
+
+def _batch_value(value: Any, index: int) -> Any:
+    if value is None:
+        return None
+    if isinstance(value, list):
+        return value[index]
+    if hasattr(value, "ndim") and value.ndim > 0:
+        return _scalar(value[index])
+    return _scalar(value)
+
+
+def _select_batch_indices(transition: EnvTransition, indices: list[int]) -> EnvTransition:
+    selected = transition.copy()
+    for key in (TransitionKey.OBSERVATION, TransitionKey.COMPLEMENTARY_DATA):
+        data = selected.get(key)
+        if isinstance(data, dict):
+            selected[key] = {k: _select_value(v, indices) for k, v in data.items()}
+    action = selected.get(TransitionKey.ACTION)
+    if action is not None:
+        selected[TransitionKey.ACTION] = _select_value(action, indices)
+    return selected
+
+
+def _select_value(value: Any, indices: list[int]) -> Any:
+    if isinstance(value, list) and len(value) >= len(indices):
+        return [value[i] for i in indices]
+    if hasattr(value, "index_select") and hasattr(value, "new_tensor") and getattr(value, "ndim", 0) > 0:
+        return value.index_select(0, value.new_tensor(indices).long())
+    return value
+
+
+def _fallback_low_level_render(task: Any) -> dict[str, Any] | None:
+    """Keep action-only samples trainable when no recipe branch matches."""
+    if hasattr(task, "item"):
+        task = task.item()
+    if isinstance(task, list):
+        messages = []
+        message_streams = []
+        target_message_indices = []
+        for t in task:
+            rendered = _fallback_low_level_render(t)
+            if rendered is None:
+                return None
+            messages.append(rendered["messages"])
+            message_streams.append(rendered["message_streams"])
+            target_message_indices.append(rendered["target_message_indices"])
+        return {
+            "messages": messages,
+            "message_streams": message_streams,
+            "target_message_indices": target_message_indices,
+        }
+    if not isinstance(task, str) or not task:
+        return None
+    return {
+        "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": task}],
+        "message_streams": ["low_level"],
+        "target_message_indices": [],
+    }

src/lerobot/processor/tokenizer_processor.py

@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ from __future__ import annotations
 
 import logging
 from dataclasses import dataclass, field
+from pathlib import Path
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any
 
 import torch
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@ import torch
 from lerobot.configs import FeatureType, PipelineFeatureType, PolicyFeature
 from lerobot.types import EnvTransition, RobotObservation, TransitionKey
 from lerobot.utils.constants import (
+    ACTION_CODE_TOKEN_MASK,
     ACTION_TOKEN_MASK,
     ACTION_TOKENS,
     OBS_LANGUAGE_ATTENTION_MASK,
@@ -136,7 +138,7 @@ class TokenizerProcessorStep(ObservationProcessorStep):
         # Standardize to a list of strings for the tokenizer
         if isinstance(task, str):
             return [task]
-        elif isinstance(task, (list, tuple)) and all(isinstance(t, str) for t in task):
+        elif isinstance(task, list | tuple) and all(isinstance(t, str) for t in task):
             return list(task)
 
         return None
@@ -349,6 +351,7 @@ class ActionTokenizerProcessorStep(ActionProcessorStep):
     max_action_tokens: int = 256
     fast_skip_tokens: int = 128
     paligemma_tokenizer_name: str = "google/paligemma-3b-pt-224"
+    allow_truncation: bool = True
     # Internal tokenizer instance (not part of the config)
     action_tokenizer: Any = field(default=None, init=False, repr=False)
     _paligemma_tokenizer: Any = field(default=None, init=False, repr=False)
@@ -412,14 +415,15 @@ class ActionTokenizerProcessorStep(ActionProcessorStep):
             # During inference, no action is available, skip tokenization
             return new_transition
 
-        # Tokenize and get both tokens and mask
-        tokens, mask = self._tokenize_action(action)
+        # Tokenize and get masks for the full formatted sequence and the discrete action codes.
+        tokens, mask, code_mask = self._tokenize_action(action)
 
         # Store mask in complementary data
         complementary_data = new_transition.get(TransitionKey.COMPLEMENTARY_DATA, {})
         if complementary_data is None:
             complementary_data = {}
         complementary_data[ACTION_TOKEN_MASK] = mask
+        complementary_data[ACTION_CODE_TOKEN_MASK] = code_mask
         complementary_data[ACTION_TOKENS] = tokens
         new_transition[TransitionKey.COMPLEMENTARY_DATA] = complementary_data
         return new_transition
@@ -430,7 +434,7 @@ class ActionTokenizerProcessorStep(ActionProcessorStep):
         """
         return self._paligemma_tokenizer.vocab_size - 1 - self.fast_skip_tokens - tokens
 
-    def _tokenize_action(self, action: torch.Tensor) -> tuple[torch.Tensor, torch.Tensor]:
+    def _tokenize_action(self, action: torch.Tensor) -> tuple[torch.Tensor, torch.Tensor, torch.Tensor]:
         """
         Tokenizes the action tensor and creates a mask.
 
@@ -459,6 +463,7 @@ class ActionTokenizerProcessorStep(ActionProcessorStep):
         # The fast tokenizer expects action data and returns token IDs
         tokens_list = []
         masks_list = []
+        code_masks_list = []
 
         for i in range(batch_size):
             # Tokenize single action (move to CPU first as tokenizer uses scipy which requires numpy)
@@ -476,65 +481,82 @@ class ActionTokenizerProcessorStep(ActionProcessorStep):
             if tokens.dim() > 1:
                 tokens = tokens.flatten()
 
+            action_code_tokens = self._act_tokens_to_paligemma_tokens(tokens)
             bos_id = self._paligemma_tokenizer.bos_token_id
-            # add bos
+            prompt_tokens = torch.tensor(
+                self._paligemma_tokenizer.encode("Action: ", add_special_tokens=False),
+                device=action.device,
+            )
+            end_tokens = torch.tensor(self._paligemma_tokenizer.encode("|"), device=action.device)
+
+            code_start = 1 + len(prompt_tokens)
+            code_end = code_start + len(action_code_tokens)
             tokens = torch.cat(
                 [
                     torch.tensor([bos_id], device=action.device),
-                    torch.tensor(
-                        self._paligemma_tokenizer.encode("Action: ", add_special_tokens=False),
-                        device=action.device,
-                    ),
-                    self._act_tokens_to_paligemma_tokens(tokens),
-                    torch.tensor(self._paligemma_tokenizer.encode("|"), device=action.device),
+                    prompt_tokens,
+                    action_code_tokens,
+                    end_tokens,
                 ]
             )
+            code_mask = torch.zeros(len(tokens), dtype=torch.bool, device=action.device)
+            code_mask[code_start:code_end] = True
 
             # Truncate or pad to max_action_tokens
             if len(tokens) > self.max_action_tokens:
+                if not self.allow_truncation:
+                    raise ValueError(
+                        f"FAST action sequence has {len(tokens)} tokens, exceeding "
+                        f"max_action_tokens={self.max_action_tokens}."
+                    )
                 logging.warning(
                     f"Token length ({len(tokens)}) exceeds max length ({self.max_action_tokens}), truncating. "
                     "Consider increasing the `max_action_tokens` in your model config if this happens frequently."
                 )
                 tokens = tokens[: self.max_action_tokens]
+                code_mask = code_mask[: self.max_action_tokens]
                 mask = torch.ones(self.max_action_tokens, dtype=torch.bool, device=action.device)
             else:
+                pad_len = self.max_action_tokens - len(tokens)
                 mask = torch.cat(
                     [
                         torch.ones(len(tokens), dtype=torch.bool, device=action.device),
-                        torch.zeros(
-                            self.max_action_tokens - len(tokens), dtype=torch.bool, device=action.device
-                        ),
+                        torch.zeros(pad_len, dtype=torch.bool, device=action.device),
                     ]
                 )
+                code_mask = torch.nn.functional.pad(code_mask, (0, pad_len), value=False)
                 # Pad tokens with zeros
-                tokens = torch.nn.functional.pad(tokens, (0, self.max_action_tokens - len(tokens)), value=0)
+                tokens = torch.nn.functional.pad(tokens, (0, pad_len), value=0)
 
             tokens_list.append(tokens)
             masks_list.append(mask)
+            code_masks_list.append(code_mask)
 
         # Stack into batched tensors
         tokens_batch = torch.stack(tokens_list, dim=0)  # (B, max_action_tokens)
         masks_batch = torch.stack(masks_list, dim=0)  # (B, max_action_tokens)
+        code_masks_batch = torch.stack(code_masks_list, dim=0)  # (B, max_action_tokens)
 
         # Remove batch dimension if input was single sample
         if single_sample:
             tokens_batch = tokens_batch.squeeze(0)
             masks_batch = masks_batch.squeeze(0)
+            code_masks_batch = code_masks_batch.squeeze(0)
 
         # Move to the same device as the input
         if device is not None:
             tokens_batch = tokens_batch.to(device)
             masks_batch = masks_batch.to(device)
+            code_masks_batch = code_masks_batch.to(device)
 
-        return tokens_batch, masks_batch
+        return tokens_batch, masks_batch, code_masks_batch
 
     def action(self, action: torch.Tensor) -> torch.Tensor:
         """
         This method is not used since we override __call__.
         Required by ActionProcessorStep ABC.
         """
-        tokens, _ = self._tokenize_action(action)
+        tokens, _, _ = self._tokenize_action(action)
         return tokens
 
     def get_config(self) -> dict[str, Any]:
@@ -550,6 +572,9 @@ class ActionTokenizerProcessorStep(ActionProcessorStep):
         config = {
             "trust_remote_code": self.trust_remote_code,
             "max_action_tokens": self.max_action_tokens,
+            "fast_skip_tokens": self.fast_skip_tokens,
+            "paligemma_tokenizer_name": self.paligemma_tokenizer_name,
+            "allow_truncation": self.allow_truncation,
         }
 
         # Only save tokenizer_name if it was used to create the tokenizer
@@ -558,6 +583,14 @@ class ActionTokenizerProcessorStep(ActionProcessorStep):
 
         return config
 
+    def save_artifacts(self, save_directory: Path) -> dict[str, str]:
+        artifact_path = Path("action_tokenizer")
+        save_pretrained = getattr(self.action_tokenizer, "save_pretrained", None)
+        if save_pretrained is None:
+            raise TypeError("Action tokenizer must implement save_pretrained() to save a portable pipeline.")
+        save_pretrained(save_directory / artifact_path)
+        return {"action_tokenizer_name": artifact_path.as_posix()}
+
     def transform_features(
         self, features: dict[PipelineFeatureType, dict[str, PolicyFeature]]
     ) -> dict[PipelineFeatureType, dict[str, PolicyFeature]]:

src/lerobot/rl/actor.py

@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ from lerobot.robots import so_follower  # noqa: F401
 from lerobot.teleoperators import gamepad, so_leader  # noqa: F401
 from lerobot.teleoperators.utils import TeleopEvents
 from lerobot.utils.device_utils import get_safe_torch_device
-from lerobot.utils.process import ProcessSignalHandler
+from lerobot.utils.process import ProcessSignalHandler, ensure_multiprocessing_start_method
 from lerobot.utils.random_utils import set_seed
 from lerobot.utils.robot_utils import precise_sleep
 from lerobot.utils.transition import (
@@ -124,9 +124,7 @@ def actor_cli(cfg: TrainRLServerPipelineConfig):
     cfg.validate()
     display_pid = False
     if not use_threads(cfg):
-        import torch.multiprocessing as mp
-
-        mp.set_start_method("spawn")
+        ensure_multiprocessing_start_method(cfg.policy.concurrency.multiprocessing_context)
         display_pid = True
 
     # Create logs directory to ensure it exists

src/lerobot/rl/learner.py

@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ from lerobot.utils.constants import (
 )
 from lerobot.utils.device_utils import get_safe_torch_device
 from lerobot.utils.io_utils import load_json, write_json
-from lerobot.utils.process import ProcessSignalHandler
+from lerobot.utils.process import ProcessSignalHandler, ensure_multiprocessing_start_method
 from lerobot.utils.random_utils import set_seed
 from lerobot.utils.utils import (
     format_big_number,
@@ -123,9 +123,7 @@ def train_cli(cfg: TrainRLServerPipelineConfig):
     # Fail fast with a friendly error if the optional ``hilserl`` extra is missing.
     require_package("grpcio", extra="hilserl", import_name="grpc")
     if not use_threads(cfg):
-        import torch.multiprocessing as mp
-
-        mp.set_start_method("spawn")
+        ensure_multiprocessing_start_method(cfg.policy.concurrency.multiprocessing_context)
 
     # Use the job_name from the config
     train(

src/lerobot/robots/bi_so_follower/bi_so_follower.py

@@ -58,6 +58,9 @@ class BiSOFollower(BimanualMixin, Robot):
             port=config.left_arm_config.port,
             disable_torque_on_disconnect=config.left_arm_config.disable_torque_on_disconnect,
             max_relative_target=config.left_arm_config.max_relative_target,
+            position_p_coefficient=config.left_arm_config.position_p_coefficient,
+            position_i_coefficient=config.left_arm_config.position_i_coefficient,
+            position_d_coefficient=config.left_arm_config.position_d_coefficient,
             use_degrees=config.left_arm_config.use_degrees,
             cameras=left_arm_cameras,
         )
@@ -68,6 +71,9 @@ class BiSOFollower(BimanualMixin, Robot):
             port=config.right_arm_config.port,
             disable_torque_on_disconnect=config.right_arm_config.disable_torque_on_disconnect,
             max_relative_target=config.right_arm_config.max_relative_target,
+            position_p_coefficient=config.right_arm_config.position_p_coefficient,
+            position_i_coefficient=config.right_arm_config.position_i_coefficient,
+            position_d_coefficient=config.right_arm_config.position_d_coefficient,
             use_degrees=config.right_arm_config.use_degrees,
             cameras=config.right_arm_config.cameras,
         )

src/lerobot/robots/lekiwi/lekiwi_client.py

@@ -323,6 +323,10 @@ class LeKiwiClient(Robot):
             np.ndarray: the action sent to the motors, potentially clipped.
         """
 
+        # Action values may be torch tensors (e.g. replayed from a dataset) or numpy
+        # scalars; json.dumps only serializes Python primitives, so coerce each value to a
+        # plain float before sending.
+        action = {key: float(value) for key, value in action.items()}
         self.zmq_cmd_socket.send_string(json.dumps(action))  # action is in motor space
 
         # TODO(Steven): Remove the np conversion when it is possible to record a non-numpy array value

src/lerobot/robots/openarm_follower/openarm_follower.py

@@ -150,9 +150,6 @@ class OpenArmFollower(Robot):
 
         self.configure()
 
-        if self.is_calibrated:
-            self.bus.set_zero_position()
-
         self.bus.enable_torque()
 
         logger.info(f"{self} connected.")

src/lerobot/robots/so_follower/config_so_follower.py

@@ -41,6 +41,11 @@ class SOFollowerConfig:
     # Set to `True` for backward compatibility with previous policies/dataset
     use_degrees: bool = True
 
+    # Position-mode PID gains written to Feetech STS3215 motors at connect time.
+    position_p_coefficient: int = 16
+    position_i_coefficient: int = 0
+    position_d_coefficient: int = 32
+
 
 @RobotConfig.register_subclass("so101_follower")
 @RobotConfig.register_subclass("so100_follower")

src/lerobot/robots/so_follower/so_follower.py

@@ -161,11 +161,9 @@ class SOFollower(Robot):
             self.bus.configure_motors()
             for motor in self.bus.motors:
                 self.bus.write("Operating_Mode", motor, OperatingMode.POSITION.value)
-                # Set P_Coefficient to lower value to avoid shakiness (Default is 32)
-                self.bus.write("P_Coefficient", motor, 16)
-                # Set I_Coefficient and D_Coefficient to default value 0 and 32
-                self.bus.write("I_Coefficient", motor, 0)
-                self.bus.write("D_Coefficient", motor, 32)
+                self.bus.write("P_Coefficient", motor, self.config.position_p_coefficient)
+                self.bus.write("I_Coefficient", motor, self.config.position_i_coefficient)
+                self.bus.write("D_Coefficient", motor, self.config.position_d_coefficient)
 
                 if motor == "gripper":
                     self.bus.write("Max_Torque_Limit", motor, 500)  # 50% of max torque to avoid burnout

src/lerobot/rollout/configs.py

@@ -326,8 +326,17 @@ class RolloutConfig:
 
         policy_path = parser.get_path_arg("policy")
         if policy_path:
-            cli_overrides = parser.get_cli_overrides("policy")
-            self.policy = PreTrainedConfig.from_pretrained(policy_path, cli_overrides=cli_overrides)
+            yaml_overrides = parser.get_yaml_overrides("policy")
+            cli_overrides = parser.get_cli_overrides("policy") or []
+            policy_overrides = yaml_overrides + cli_overrides
+            pretrained_revision = parser.parse_arg("pretrained_revision", cli_overrides)
+            if pretrained_revision is None:
+                pretrained_revision = parser.parse_arg("pretrained_revision", yaml_overrides)
+            self.policy = PreTrainedConfig.from_pretrained(
+                policy_path,
+                revision=pretrained_revision,
+                cli_overrides=policy_overrides,
+            )
             self.policy.pretrained_path = policy_path
         if self.policy is None:
             raise ValueError("--policy.path is required for rollout")

src/lerobot/rollout/context.py

@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ from threading import Event
 
 import torch
 
-from lerobot.configs import FeatureType
+from lerobot.configs import FeatureType, PreTrainedConfig
 from lerobot.datasets import (
     LeRobotDataset,
     aggregate_pipeline_dataset_features,
@@ -159,6 +159,35 @@ class RolloutContext:
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
+def _load_pretrained_policy(policy_config: PreTrainedConfig) -> PreTrainedPolicy:
+    """Load policy weights, keeping adapter and base-model revisions independent."""
+    pretrained_revision = policy_config.pretrained_revision
+    policy_class = get_policy_class(policy_config.type)
+
+    if not policy_config.use_peft:
+        return policy_class.from_pretrained(
+            policy_config.pretrained_path,
+            config=policy_config,
+            revision=pretrained_revision,
+        )
+
+    from peft import PeftConfig, PeftModel
+
+    peft_path = policy_config.pretrained_path
+    peft_config = PeftConfig.from_pretrained(peft_path, revision=pretrained_revision)
+    policy = policy_class.from_pretrained(
+        pretrained_name_or_path=peft_config.base_model_name_or_path,
+        config=policy_config,
+        revision=peft_config.revision,
+    )
+    return PeftModel.from_pretrained(
+        policy,
+        peft_path,
+        config=peft_config,
+        revision=pretrained_revision,
+    )
+
+
 def build_rollout_context(
     cfg: RolloutConfig,
     shutdown_event: Event,
@@ -176,7 +205,6 @@ def build_rollout_context(
     # --- 1. Policy (heavy I/O, but no hardware yet) -------------------
     logger.info("Loading policy from '%s'...", cfg.policy.pretrained_path)
     policy_config = cfg.policy
-    policy_class = get_policy_class(policy_config.type)
 
     if hasattr(policy_config, "compile_model"):
         policy_config.compile_model = cfg.use_torch_compile
@@ -187,17 +215,7 @@ def build_rollout_context(
             "Please use `cpu` or `cuda` backend."
         )
 
-    if policy_config.use_peft:
-        from peft import PeftConfig, PeftModel
-
-        peft_path = policy_config.pretrained_path
-        peft_config = PeftConfig.from_pretrained(peft_path)
-        policy = policy_class.from_pretrained(
-            pretrained_name_or_path=peft_config.base_model_name_or_path, config=policy_config
-        )
-        policy = PeftModel.from_pretrained(policy, peft_path, config=peft_config)
-    else:
-        policy = policy_class.from_pretrained(policy_config.pretrained_path, config=policy_config)
+    policy = _load_pretrained_policy(policy_config)
 
     if is_rtc:
         policy.config.rtc_config = cfg.inference.rtc
@@ -392,6 +410,7 @@ def build_rollout_context(
     preprocessor, postprocessor = make_pre_post_processors(
         policy_cfg=policy_config,
         pretrained_path=cfg.policy.pretrained_path,
+        pretrained_revision=policy_config.pretrained_revision,
         dataset_stats=dataset_stats,
         preprocessor_overrides={
             "device_processor": {"device": cfg.device},

src/lerobot/scripts/convert_dataset_v21_to_v30.py

@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ import pyarrow as pa
 import tqdm
 from datasets import Dataset, Features, Image
 from huggingface_hub import HfApi, snapshot_download
+from huggingface_hub.errors import RevisionNotFoundError
 from requests import HTTPError
 
 from lerobot.datasets import CODEBASE_VERSION, LeRobotDataset, aggregate_stats
@@ -521,7 +522,7 @@ def convert_dataset(
         hub_api = HfApi()
         try:
             hub_api.delete_tag(repo_id, tag=CODEBASE_VERSION, repo_type="dataset")
-        except HTTPError as e:
+        except (HTTPError, RevisionNotFoundError) as e:
             print(f"tag={CODEBASE_VERSION} probably doesn't exist. Skipping exception ({e})")
             pass
         hub_api.delete_files(

src/lerobot/scripts/lerobot_annotate.py

@@ -24,7 +24,14 @@ Example:
       --root=/path/to/dataset \\
       --vlm.model_id=Qwen/Qwen2.5-VL-7B-Instruct
 
-For distributed runs, see ``examples/annotations/run_hf_job.py``.
+Pass ``--job.target=<flavor>`` to run the same command on a Hugging Face
+Jobs GPU instead of this machine (see ``lerobot.jobs.annotate``):
+
+  uv run lerobot-annotate \\
+      --repo_id=user/dataset \\
+      --new_repo_id=user/dataset_annotated \\
+      --push_to_hub=true \\
+      --job.target=h200
 """
 
 import logging
@@ -69,6 +76,14 @@ def _resolve_root(cfg: AnnotationPipelineConfig) -> Path:
 def annotate(cfg: AnnotationPipelineConfig) -> None:
     """Run the steerable annotation pipeline against a dataset."""
     logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO, format="%(asctime)s %(levelname)s %(message)s")
+
+    if cfg.job.is_remote:
+        # Imported lazily: the submitter pulls in LeRobotDataset (the `dataset`
+        # extra), which a local annotation run over --root doesn't need.
+        from lerobot.jobs.annotate import submit_annotate_to_hf
+
+        return submit_annotate_to_hf(cfg)
+
     root = _resolve_root(cfg)
     logger.info("annotate: root=%s", root)
 

src/lerobot/scripts/lerobot_eval.py

@@ -453,6 +453,9 @@ def eval_policy(
             raise exc from None
 
     start = time.time()
+    # Preserve the mode for direct callers. eval_policy_all scopes the mode
+    # around all tasks so parallel evaluations cannot race with each other.
+    was_training = policy.training
     policy.eval()
 
     # Determine how many batched rollouts we need to get n_episodes. Note that if n_episodes is not evenly
@@ -674,6 +677,8 @@ def eval_policy(
     if save_predicted_video:
         info["predicted_video_paths"] = predicted_video_paths
 
+    policy.train(was_training)
+
     return info
 
 
@@ -1010,40 +1015,48 @@ def eval_policy_all(
         recording_private=recording_private,
     )
 
-    if max_parallel_tasks <= 1:
-        prefetch_thread: threading.Thread | None = None
-        for i, (task_group, task_id, env) in enumerate(tasks):
-            if prefetch_thread is not None:
-                prefetch_thread.join()
-                prefetch_thread = None
+    # Set the shared policy's mode before launching any workers. Restoring it
+    # inside individual tasks would let one task enable training mode while
+    # another task is still evaluating.
+    was_training = policy.training
+    policy.eval()
+    try:
+        if max_parallel_tasks <= 1:
+            prefetch_thread: threading.Thread | None = None
+            for i, (task_group, task_id, env) in enumerate(tasks):
+                if prefetch_thread is not None:
+                    prefetch_thread.join()
+                    prefetch_thread = None
 
-            try:
-                tg, tid, metrics = task_runner(task_group, task_id, env)
-                _accumulate_to(tg, metrics)
-                per_task_infos.append({"task_group": tg, "task_id": tid, "metrics": metrics})
-            finally:
-                env.close()
-                # Prefetch next task's workers *after* closing current env to prevent
-                # GPU memory overlap between consecutive tasks.
-                if i + 1 < len(tasks):
-                    next_env = tasks[i + 1][2]
-                    if hasattr(next_env, "_ensure"):
-                        prefetch_thread = threading.Thread(target=next_env._ensure, daemon=True)
-                        prefetch_thread.start()
-    else:
-        with cf.ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=max_parallel_tasks) as executor:
-            fut2meta = {}
-            for task_group, task_id, env in tasks:
-                fut = executor.submit(task_runner, task_group, task_id, env)
-                fut2meta[fut] = (task_group, task_id, env)
-            for fut in cf.as_completed(fut2meta):
-                tg, tid, env = fut2meta[fut]
                 try:
-                    tg, tid, metrics = fut.result()
+                    tg, tid, metrics = task_runner(task_group, task_id, env)
                     _accumulate_to(tg, metrics)
                     per_task_infos.append({"task_group": tg, "task_id": tid, "metrics": metrics})
                 finally:
                     env.close()
+                    # Prefetch next task's workers *after* closing current env to prevent
+                    # GPU memory overlap between consecutive tasks.
+                    if i + 1 < len(tasks):
+                        next_env = tasks[i + 1][2]
+                        if hasattr(next_env, "_ensure"):
+                            prefetch_thread = threading.Thread(target=next_env._ensure, daemon=True)
+                            prefetch_thread.start()
+        else:
+            with cf.ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=max_parallel_tasks) as executor:
+                fut2meta = {}
+                for task_group, task_id, env in tasks:
+                    fut = executor.submit(task_runner, task_group, task_id, env)
+                    fut2meta[fut] = (task_group, task_id, env)
+                for fut in cf.as_completed(fut2meta):
+                    tg, tid, env = fut2meta[fut]
+                    try:
+                        tg, tid, metrics = fut.result()
+                        _accumulate_to(tg, metrics)
+                        per_task_infos.append({"task_group": tg, "task_id": tid, "metrics": metrics})
+                    finally:
+                        env.close()
+    finally:
+        policy.train(was_training)
 
     # compute aggregated metrics helper (robust to lists/scalars)
     def _agg_from_list(xs):

src/lerobot/scripts/lerobot_record.py

@@ -453,9 +453,11 @@ def record(
                 encoder_queue_maxsize=cfg.dataset.encoder_queue_maxsize,
             )
 
-        robot.connect()
+        # Connect the teleoperator before the robot so the robot isn't left idle (and possibly
+        # tripping a firmware watchdog) during teleop init. Matches lerobot_teleoperate.py.
         if teleop is not None:
             teleop.connect()
+        robot.connect()
 
         listener, events = init_keyboard_listener()
 

src/lerobot/scripts/lerobot_replay.py

@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ from lerobot.robots import (  # noqa: F401
     earthrover_mini_plus,
     hope_jr,
     koch_follower,
+    lekiwi,
     make_robot_from_config,
     omx_follower,
     openarm_follower,

src/lerobot/scripts/lerobot_setup_motors.py

@@ -51,19 +51,7 @@ from lerobot.teleoperators import (  # noqa: F401
     rebot_102_leader,
     so_leader,
 )
-
-COMPATIBLE_DEVICES = [
-    "koch_follower",
-    "koch_leader",
-    "omx_follower",
-    "omx_leader",
-    "openarm_mini",
-    "so100_follower",
-    "so100_leader",
-    "so101_follower",
-    "so101_leader",
-    "lekiwi",
-]
+from lerobot.utils.import_utils import register_third_party_plugins
 
 
 @dataclass
@@ -80,18 +68,19 @@ class SetupConfig:
 
 @draccus.wrap()
 def setup_motors(cfg: SetupConfig):
-    if cfg.device.type not in COMPATIBLE_DEVICES:
-        raise NotImplementedError
-
     if isinstance(cfg.device, RobotConfig):
         device = make_robot_from_config(cfg.device)
     else:
         device = make_teleoperator_from_config(cfg.device)
 
-    device.setup_motors()
+    setup = getattr(device, "setup_motors", None)
+    if not callable(setup):
+        raise NotImplementedError(f"Device type '{cfg.device.type}' does not support motor setup.")
+    setup()
 
 
 def main():
+    register_third_party_plugins()
     setup_motors()
 
 

src/lerobot/scripts/lerobot_train.py

@@ -71,6 +71,16 @@ from lerobot.utils.utils import (
 from .lerobot_eval import eval_policy_all
 
 
+def _dataloader_worker_kwargs(cfg: TrainPipelineConfig) -> dict[str, Any]:
+    """Return worker-only DataLoader options, disabling them for single-process loading."""
+    workers_enabled = cfg.num_workers > 0
+    return {
+        "prefetch_factor": cfg.prefetch_factor if workers_enabled else None,
+        "persistent_workers": cfg.persistent_workers and workers_enabled,
+        "multiprocessing_context": cfg.dataloader_multiprocessing_context if workers_enabled else None,
+    }
+
+
 def update_policy(
     train_metrics: MetricsTracker,
     policy: PreTrainedPolicy,
@@ -473,8 +483,7 @@ def train(cfg: TrainPipelineConfig, accelerator: "Accelerator | None" = None):
         pin_memory=device.type == "cuda",
         drop_last=False,
         collate_fn=collate_fn,
-        prefetch_factor=cfg.prefetch_factor if cfg.num_workers > 0 else None,
-        persistent_workers=cfg.persistent_workers and cfg.num_workers > 0,
+        **_dataloader_worker_kwargs(cfg),
     )
 
     # Build eval dataloader if a held-out split exists
@@ -500,8 +509,7 @@ def train(cfg: TrainPipelineConfig, accelerator: "Accelerator | None" = None):
             pin_memory=device.type == "cuda",
             drop_last=False,
             collate_fn=eval_collate_fn,
-            prefetch_factor=cfg.prefetch_factor if cfg.num_workers > 0 else None,
-            persistent_workers=cfg.persistent_workers and cfg.num_workers > 0,
+            **_dataloader_worker_kwargs(cfg),
         )
 
     # Prepare everything with accelerator

src/lerobot/teleoperators/gamepad/configuration_gamepad.py

@@ -23,3 +23,5 @@ from ..config import TeleoperatorConfig
 @dataclass
 class GamepadTeleopConfig(TeleoperatorConfig):
     use_gripper: bool = True
+    # Use hidapi instead of pygame for controllers that pygame cannot detect reliably.
+    hidapi_fallback: bool = False

src/lerobot/teleoperators/gamepad/teleop_gamepad.py

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
+import logging
 import sys
 from enum import IntEnum
 from typing import Any
@@ -27,6 +28,8 @@ from ..teleoperator import Teleoperator
 from ..utils import TeleopEvents
 from .configuration_gamepad import GamepadTeleopConfig
 
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
 
 class GripperAction(IntEnum):
     CLOSE = 0
@@ -56,6 +59,13 @@ class GamepadTeleop(Teleoperator):
 
         self.gamepad = None
 
+        self.hidapi_fallback = config.hidapi_fallback
+        if sys.platform == "darwin" and not self.hidapi_fallback:
+            logger.warning(
+                "On macOS, pygame may not reliably detect input from some controllers. "
+                "If you experience issues, set `hidapi_fallback=true`."
+            )
+
     @property
     def action_features(self) -> dict:
         if self.config.use_gripper:
@@ -76,9 +86,7 @@ class GamepadTeleop(Teleoperator):
         return {}
 
     def connect(self) -> None:
-        # use HidApi for macos
-        if sys.platform == "darwin":
-            # NOTE: On macOS, pygame doesn’t reliably detect input from some controllers so we fall back to hidapi
+        if self.hidapi_fallback:
             from .gamepad_utils import GamepadControllerHID as Gamepad
         else:
             from .gamepad_utils import GamepadController as Gamepad

src/lerobot/utils/collate.py

@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ from torch.utils.data._utils.collate import default_collate
 
 from lerobot.datasets.language import LANGUAGE_COLUMNS
 
-_PYTHON_LIST_KEYS = {"messages", "message_streams", "target_message_indices"}
+_PYTHON_LIST_KEYS = {"messages", "message_streams", "target_message_indices", *LANGUAGE_COLUMNS}
 
 
 def lerobot_collate_fn(batch: list[dict[str, Any] | None]) -> dict[str, Any] | None:

src/lerobot/utils/constants.py

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ OBS_IMAGES = OBS_IMAGE + "s"
 OBS_LANGUAGE = OBS_STR + ".language"
 OBS_LANGUAGE_TOKENS = OBS_LANGUAGE + ".tokens"
 OBS_LANGUAGE_ATTENTION_MASK = OBS_LANGUAGE + ".attention_mask"
+OBS_LANGUAGE_CAUSAL_MARKS = OBS_LANGUAGE + ".causal_marks"
 OBS_LANGUAGE_SUBTASK = OBS_STR + ".subtask"
 OBS_LANGUAGE_SUBTASK_TOKENS = OBS_LANGUAGE_SUBTASK + ".tokens"
 OBS_LANGUAGE_SUBTASK_ATTENTION_MASK = OBS_LANGUAGE_SUBTASK + ".attention_mask"
@@ -34,6 +35,7 @@ ACTION = "action"
 ACTION_PREFIX = ACTION + "."
 ACTION_TOKENS = ACTION + ".tokens"
 ACTION_TOKEN_MASK = ACTION + ".token_mask"
+ACTION_CODE_TOKEN_MASK = ACTION + ".code_token_mask"
 REWARD = "next.reward"
 TRUNCATED = "next.truncated"
 DONE = "next.done"

src/lerobot/utils/process.py

@@ -16,11 +16,39 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 
 import logging
+import multiprocessing
 import os
 import signal
 import sys
 
 
+def ensure_multiprocessing_start_method(start_method: str | None) -> None:
+    """Set a multiprocessing start method once, or verify the existing method matches.
+
+    Passing ``None`` leaves Python's process-wide default untouched. This is useful
+    when LeRobot is embedded in an application that owns multiprocessing setup.
+    """
+    if start_method is None:
+        return
+
+    available_methods = multiprocessing.get_all_start_methods()
+    if start_method not in available_methods:
+        raise ValueError(
+            f"Multiprocessing start method must be one of {available_methods} on this platform, "
+            f"got {start_method!r}."
+        )
+
+    current_method = multiprocessing.get_start_method(allow_none=True)
+    if current_method is None:
+        multiprocessing.set_start_method(start_method)
+    elif current_method != start_method:
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            f"Multiprocessing start method is already {current_method!r}; cannot change it to "
+            f"{start_method!r}. Set the configured multiprocessing context to null to keep the "
+            "application's existing method, or launch LeRobot in a fresh process."
+        )
+
+
 class ProcessSignalHandler:
     """Utility class to attach graceful shutdown signal handlers.
 

tests/cameras/test_opencv.py

@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import cv2
 import numpy as np
 import pytest
 
-from lerobot.cameras.configs import Cv2Rotation
+from lerobot.cameras.configs import ColorMode, Cv2Rotation
 from lerobot.cameras.opencv import OpenCVCamera, OpenCVCameraConfig
 from lerobot.utils.errors import DeviceAlreadyConnectedError, DeviceNotConnectedError
 
@@ -132,6 +132,28 @@ def test_read(index_or_path):
         assert isinstance(img, np.ndarray)
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("index_or_path", TEST_IMAGE_PATHS, ids=TEST_IMAGE_SIZES)
+def test_color_mode_conversion(index_or_path):
+    """RGB and BGR reads of the same frame must differ only by a channel-axis reversal."""
+    rgb_config = OpenCVCameraConfig(index_or_path=index_or_path, color_mode=ColorMode.RGB, warmup_s=0)
+    bgr_config = OpenCVCameraConfig(index_or_path=index_or_path, color_mode=ColorMode.BGR, warmup_s=0)
+    with OpenCVCamera(rgb_config) as rgb_cam:
+        rgb = rgb_cam.read()
+    with OpenCVCamera(bgr_config) as bgr_cam:
+        bgr = bgr_cam.read()
+
+    assert rgb.shape == bgr.shape
+    np.testing.assert_array_equal(rgb, bgr[..., ::-1])
+
+
+def test_postprocess_invalid_color_mode():
+    config = OpenCVCameraConfig(index_or_path=DEFAULT_PNG_FILE_PATH)
+    camera = OpenCVCamera(config)
+    camera.color_mode = "invalid"
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+        camera._postprocess_image(np.zeros((120, 160, 3), dtype=np.uint8))
+
+
 def test_read_before_connect():
     config = OpenCVCameraConfig(index_or_path=DEFAULT_PNG_FILE_PATH)
 

tests/cameras/test_reachy2_camera.py

@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import pytest
 
 pytest.importorskip("reachy2_sdk")
 
+from lerobot.cameras.configs import ColorMode
 from lerobot.cameras.reachy2_camera import Reachy2Camera, Reachy2CameraConfig
 from lerobot.utils.errors import DeviceNotConnectedError
 
@@ -33,28 +34,19 @@ PARAMS = [
 ]
 
 
-def _make_cam_manager_mock():
+def _make_cam_manager_mock(color_frame, depth_frame=None):
     c = MagicMock(name="CameraManagerMock")
 
     teleop = MagicMock(name="TeleopCam")
     teleop.width = 640
     teleop.height = 480
-    teleop.get_frame = MagicMock(
-        side_effect=lambda *_, **__: (
-            np.zeros((480, 640, 3), dtype=np.uint8),
-            time.time(),
-        )
-    )
+    teleop.get_frame = MagicMock(side_effect=lambda *_, **__: (color_frame, time.time()))
 
     depth = MagicMock(name="DepthCam")
     depth.width = 640
     depth.height = 480
-    depth.get_frame = MagicMock(
-        side_effect=lambda *_, **__: (
-            np.zeros((480, 640, 3), dtype=np.uint8),
-            time.time(),
-        )
-    )
+    depth.get_frame = MagicMock(side_effect=lambda *_, **__: (color_frame, time.time()))
+    depth.get_depth_frame = MagicMock(side_effect=lambda *_, **__: (depth_frame, time.time()))
 
     c.is_connected.return_value = True
     c.teleop = teleop
@@ -84,12 +76,14 @@ def _make_cam_manager_mock():
     # ids=["teleop-left", "teleop-right", "torso-rgb", "torso-depth"],
     ids=["teleop-left", "teleop-right", "torso-rgb"],
 )
-def camera(request):
+def camera(request, img_array_factory):
     name, image_type = request.param
+    color_frame = img_array_factory(height=480, width=640)
+    depth_frame = img_array_factory(height=480, width=640, channels=1, dtype=np.uint16)[..., 0]
     with (
         patch(
             "lerobot.cameras.reachy2_camera.reachy2_camera.CameraManager",
-            side_effect=lambda *a, **k: _make_cam_manager_mock(),
+            side_effect=lambda *a, **k: _make_cam_manager_mock(color_frame, depth_frame),
         ),
     ):
         config = Reachy2CameraConfig(name=name, image_type=image_type)
@@ -188,6 +182,41 @@ def test_read_latest_too_old(camera):
         _ = camera.read_latest(max_age_ms=0)  # immediately too old
 
 
+def test_color_mode_conversion(img_array_factory):
+    """teleop frames are native BGR: RGB reverses the channel axis, BGR is passed through."""
+    frame = img_array_factory(height=8, width=8)
+
+    outputs = {}
+    for color_mode in (ColorMode.RGB, ColorMode.BGR):
+        with patch(
+            "lerobot.cameras.reachy2_camera.reachy2_camera.CameraManager",
+            side_effect=lambda *a, **k: _make_cam_manager_mock(frame),
+        ):
+            cam = Reachy2Camera(Reachy2CameraConfig(name="teleop", image_type="left", color_mode=color_mode))
+            cam.connect()
+            outputs[color_mode] = cam.read()
+            cam.disconnect()
+
+    np.testing.assert_array_equal(outputs[ColorMode.BGR], frame)
+    np.testing.assert_array_equal(outputs[ColorMode.RGB], frame[..., ::-1])
+
+
+def test_depth_frame_not_color_converted(img_array_factory):
+    """A depth/depth frame must be returned as-is, without BGR<->RGB conversion."""
+    color_frame = img_array_factory(height=8, width=8)
+    depth = img_array_factory(height=8, width=8, channels=1, dtype=np.uint16)[..., 0]
+    with patch(
+        "lerobot.cameras.reachy2_camera.reachy2_camera.CameraManager",
+        side_effect=lambda *a, **k: _make_cam_manager_mock(color_frame, depth_frame=depth),
+    ):
+        cam = Reachy2Camera(Reachy2CameraConfig(name="depth", image_type="depth"))
+        cam.connect()
+        out = cam.read()
+        cam.disconnect()
+
+    np.testing.assert_array_equal(out, depth)
+
+
 def test_wrong_camera_name():
     with pytest.raises(ValueError):
         _ = Reachy2CameraConfig(name="wrong-name", image_type="left")

tests/cameras/test_realsense.py

@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ from unittest.mock import patch
 import numpy as np
 import pytest
 
-from lerobot.cameras.configs import Cv2Rotation
+from lerobot.cameras.configs import ColorMode, Cv2Rotation
 from lerobot.utils.errors import DeviceAlreadyConnectedError, DeviceNotConnectedError
 
 pytest.importorskip("pyrealsense2")
@@ -109,6 +109,32 @@ def test_read_depth():
     assert isinstance(img, np.ndarray)
 
 
+# These exercise _postprocess_image directly rather than read(): the bag playback returns
+# non-deterministic frames we can't compare against, and the depth read() path is skipped
+# (see test_read_depth) with the current pyrealsense2 version.
+def test_color_mode_conversion(img_array_factory):
+    """RGB (native for RealSense) is passed through; BGR reverses the channel axis."""
+    color = img_array_factory(height=3, width=4)
+
+    outputs = {}
+    for color_mode in (ColorMode.RGB, ColorMode.BGR):
+        camera = RealSenseCamera(RealSenseCameraConfig(serial_number_or_name="042", color_mode=color_mode))
+        camera.capture_height, camera.capture_width = color.shape[:2]
+        outputs[color_mode] = camera._postprocess_image(color)
+
+    np.testing.assert_array_equal(outputs[ColorMode.RGB], color)
+    np.testing.assert_array_equal(outputs[ColorMode.BGR], color[..., ::-1])
+
+
+def test_depth_frame_not_color_converted(img_array_factory):
+    """Depth frames must bypass color conversion, even when a BGR color_mode is set."""
+    camera = RealSenseCamera(RealSenseCameraConfig(serial_number_or_name="042", color_mode=ColorMode.BGR))
+    depth = img_array_factory(height=3, width=4, channels=1, dtype=np.uint16)[..., 0]
+    camera.capture_height, camera.capture_width = depth.shape
+
+    np.testing.assert_array_equal(camera._postprocess_image(depth, depth_frame=True), depth)
+
+
 def test_read_before_connect():
     config = RealSenseCameraConfig(serial_number_or_name="042")
     camera = RealSenseCamera(config)

tests/configs/test_recipe.py

@@ -29,6 +29,13 @@ def test_message_recipe_validates_unknown_binding():
         )
 
 
+def test_canonical_recipe_loads():
+    """The canonical PI052 blend YAML loads + validates."""
+    recipe = TrainingRecipe.from_yaml(Path("src/lerobot/configs/recipes/subtask_mem_vqa_speech.yaml"))
+    assert recipe.blend is not None
+    assert sum(c.weight for c in recipe.blend.values()) == pytest.approx(1.0)
+
+
 def test_message_turn_requires_a_stream():
     """Every turn must declare a stream — None is rejected at construction.
 

tests/datasets/test_dataset_utils.py

@@ -14,16 +14,21 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
+from types import SimpleNamespace
+from unittest.mock import Mock
+
 import pytest
 import torch
+from packaging.version import Version
 
 pytest.importorskip("datasets", reason="datasets is required (install lerobot[dataset])")
 
 from datasets import Dataset  # noqa: E402
 from huggingface_hub import DatasetCard
 
+import lerobot.datasets.utils as dataset_utils
 from lerobot.datasets.io_utils import hf_transform_to_torch
-from lerobot.datasets.utils import create_lerobot_dataset_card
+from lerobot.datasets.utils import create_lerobot_dataset_card, get_repo_versions, get_safe_version
 from lerobot.utils.constants import ACTION, OBS_IMAGES
 from lerobot.utils.feature_utils import combine_feature_dicts
 
@@ -57,6 +62,30 @@ def test_default_parameters():
     ]
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("token", ["hf_test_token", True, False])
+def test_get_repo_versions_forwards_token(monkeypatch, token):
+    api = Mock()
+    api.list_repo_refs.return_value = SimpleNamespace(
+        branches=[SimpleNamespace(name="v3.0")],
+        tags=[],
+    )
+    hf_api = Mock(return_value=api)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(dataset_utils, "HfApi", hf_api)
+
+    assert get_repo_versions("private/repo", token=token) == [Version("3.0")]
+    hf_api.assert_called_once_with(token=token)
+    api.list_repo_refs.assert_called_once_with("private/repo", repo_type="dataset")
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("token", ["hf_test_token", True, False])
+def test_get_safe_version_forwards_token(monkeypatch, token):
+    get_versions = Mock(return_value=[Version("3.0")])
+    monkeypatch.setattr(dataset_utils, "get_repo_versions", get_versions)
+
+    assert get_safe_version("private/repo", "v3.0", token=token) == "v3.0"
+    get_versions.assert_called_once_with("private/repo", token=token)
+
+
 def test_with_tags():
     tags = ["tag1", "tag2"]
     card = create_lerobot_dataset_card(tags=tags)

tests/datasets/test_dataset_writer.py

@@ -204,6 +204,38 @@ def test_clear_resets_buffer(tmp_path):
     assert dataset.writer.episode_buffer["size"] == 0
 
 
+def test_clear_removes_video_frame_staging_dir(tmp_path):
+    """clear_episode_buffer() removes PNG staging dirs for video features."""
+    video_key = "observation.images.cam"
+    features = {
+        video_key: {
+            "dtype": "video",
+            "shape": (64, 96, 3),
+            "names": ["height", "width", "channels"],
+        },
+        "action": {"dtype": "float32", "shape": (2,), "names": None},
+    }
+    dataset = LeRobotDataset.create(
+        repo_id=DUMMY_REPO_ID,
+        fps=DEFAULT_FPS,
+        features=features,
+        root=tmp_path / "ds",
+        use_videos=True,
+    )
+
+    dataset.add_frame(_make_frame(features))
+    video_staging_dir = (
+        dataset.root
+        / Path(DEFAULT_IMAGE_PATH.format(image_key=video_key, episode_index=0, frame_index=0)).parent
+    )
+    assert video_staging_dir.is_dir()
+
+    dataset.clear_episode_buffer()
+
+    assert dataset.writer.episode_buffer["size"] == 0
+    assert not video_staging_dir.exists()
+
+
 def test_finalize_is_idempotent(tmp_path):
     """Calling finalize() twice does not raise."""
     dataset = LeRobotDataset.create(

tests/datasets/test_datasets.py

@@ -114,6 +114,20 @@ def test_dataset_initialization(tmp_path, lerobot_dataset_factory):
     assert dataset.num_frames == len(dataset)
 
 
+def test_dataset_slice(tmp_path, lerobot_dataset_factory):
+    dataset = lerobot_dataset_factory(
+        root=tmp_path / "test", total_episodes=3, total_frames=30, use_videos=False
+    )
+
+    assert len(dataset[:5]) == 5
+    assert len(dataset[::2]) == (len(dataset) + 1) // 2
+    assert [item["index"].item() for item in dataset[4::-1]] == [4, 3, 2, 1, 0]
+    assert [item["index"].item() for item in dataset[-3:]] == list(range(len(dataset) - 3, len(dataset)))
+    assert dataset[len(dataset) :] == []
+    assert isinstance(dataset[0], dict)
+    assert dataset[:1][0].keys() == dataset[0].keys()
+
+
 # TODO(rcadene, aliberts): do not run LeRobotDataset.create, instead refactor LeRobotDatasetMetadata.create
 # and test the small resulting function that validates the features
 def test_dataset_feature_with_forward_slash_raises_error():
@@ -1741,6 +1755,38 @@ def test_delta_timestamps_query_returns_correct_values(tmp_path, empty_lerobot_d
     assert is_pad == [True, False], f"Expected [True, False], got {is_pad}"
 
 
+def test_dataset_slice_with_delta_timestamps(tmp_path, empty_lerobot_dataset_factory):
+    features = {
+        "observation.state": {"dtype": "float32", "shape": (1,), "names": ["x"]},
+    }
+    dataset = empty_lerobot_dataset_factory(
+        root=tmp_path / "test_slice_delta", features=features, use_videos=False, fps=10
+    )
+
+    for frame_idx in range(5):
+        dataset.add_frame(
+            {
+                "observation.state": torch.tensor([frame_idx], dtype=torch.float32),
+                "task": "task_0",
+            }
+        )
+    dataset.save_episode()
+    dataset.finalize()
+
+    sliced_dataset = LeRobotDataset(
+        dataset.repo_id,
+        root=dataset.root,
+        delta_timestamps={"observation.state": [-0.1, 0.0]},
+        tolerance_s=0.04,
+    )
+
+    items = sliced_dataset[:2]
+
+    assert items[0]["observation.state"].tolist() == [0.0, 0.0]
+    assert items[0]["observation.state_is_pad"].tolist() == [True, False]
+    assert items[1]["observation.state"].tolist() == [0.0, 1.0]
+
+
 def test_episode_filter_filters_dataset(tmp_path, lerobot_dataset_factory):
     """episode_filter on LeRobotDataset narrows the loaded dataset to matching episodes."""
     dataset = lerobot_dataset_factory(root=tmp_path / "test", total_episodes=8, total_frames=200)

tests/datasets/test_language_render.py

@@ -343,6 +343,84 @@ def test_resolve_task_explicit_override_beats_rephrasings():
     assert rendered["messages"][0]["content"] == "explicit override wins"
 
 
+def test_flow_only_low_level_recipe_renders_without_target():
+    """Regression: a flow-only ``low_level`` recipe has no ``target`` turn —
+    its supervision is the action-expert flow loss, not text-CE. It must
+    still render (not ``None``), otherwise every blend draw of it is dropped
+    and the action expert never receives a flow loss."""
+    recipe = TrainingRecipe(
+        messages=[
+            MessageTurn(
+                role="user",
+                content="${subtask}",
+                stream="low_level",
+                if_present="subtask",
+            ),
+        ],
+        bindings={"subtask": "active_at(t, style=subtask)"},
+    )
+
+    rendered = render_sample(
+        recipe=recipe,
+        persistent=PERSISTENT,
+        events=[],
+        t=0.5,
+        sample_idx=0,
+        task="clean kitchen",
+    )
+
+    assert rendered is not None
+    assert rendered["messages"] == [{"role": "user", "content": "subtask 0"}]
+    assert rendered["message_streams"] == ["low_level"]
+    assert rendered["target_message_indices"] == []
+
+
+def test_vqa_frame_is_consumed_over_the_weighted_blend():
+    """A frame carrying a VQA annotation renders the ``ask_vqa*`` sub-recipe
+    even when its blend weight is tiny — VQA annotations are sparse and must
+    never be wasted on a subtask/action draw."""
+    recipe = TrainingRecipe(
+        blend={
+            "high_level_subtask": TrainingRecipe(
+                weight=0.99,
+                messages=[
+                    MessageTurn(role="user", content="${task}", stream="high_level"),
+                    MessageTurn(role="assistant", content="a subtask", stream="high_level", target=True),
+                ],
+            ),
+            "ask_vqa_top": TrainingRecipe(
+                weight=0.01,
+                bindings={
+                    "vqa_query": "emitted_at(t, style=vqa, role=user, camera=observation.images.top)",
+                    "vqa": "emitted_at(t, style=vqa, role=assistant, camera=observation.images.top)",
+                },
+                messages=[
+                    MessageTurn(
+                        role="user", content="${vqa_query}", stream="high_level", if_present="vqa_query"
+                    ),
+                    MessageTurn(
+                        role="assistant",
+                        content="${vqa}",
+                        stream="high_level",
+                        target=True,
+                        if_present="vqa",
+                    ),
+                ],
+            ),
+        }
+    )
+    # A frame WITH a vqa event renders VQA on every sample_idx, despite the
+    # ask_vqa weight being only 0.01.
+    for sample_idx in range(20):
+        rendered = render_sample(
+            recipe=recipe, persistent=PERSISTENT, events=EVENTS_AT_1, t=1.0, sample_idx=sample_idx, task="x"
+        )
+        assert rendered["messages"][-1]["content"] == '{"count": 2}', sample_idx
+    # A frame WITHOUT a vqa event falls back to the normal weighted blend.
+    rendered = render_sample(recipe=recipe, persistent=PERSISTENT, events=[], t=1.0, sample_idx=0, task="x")
+    assert rendered["messages"][-1]["content"] == "a subtask"
+
+
 def test_emitted_at_persistent_tolerates_small_timestamp_drift():
     """Persistent ``emitted_at`` should match within EMITTED_AT_TOLERANCE_S
     so callers that derive ``t`` arithmetically (``frame_idx / fps``) still

tests/datasets/test_lerobot_dataset.py

@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ property delegation, and the full create-record-finalize-read lifecycle.
 """
 
 from pathlib import Path
+from types import SimpleNamespace
 from unittest.mock import Mock
 
 import pytest
@@ -191,6 +192,48 @@ def test_metadata_without_root_uses_hub_cache_snapshot_download(
     }
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("token", ["hf_test_token", True, False])
+def test_metadata_download_forwards_token(tmp_path, monkeypatch, token):
+    snapshot_root = tmp_path / "snapshot"
+    snapshot_download = Mock(return_value=str(snapshot_root))
+    get_safe_version = Mock(return_value="v3.0")
+    load_metadata = Mock(side_effect=[FileNotFoundError, None])
+    monkeypatch.setattr(dataset_metadata_module, "snapshot_download", snapshot_download)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(dataset_metadata_module, "get_safe_version", get_safe_version)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(LeRobotDatasetMetadata, "_load_metadata", load_metadata)
+
+    meta = LeRobotDatasetMetadata(
+        repo_id=DUMMY_REPO_ID,
+        revision="v3.0",
+        token=token,
+    )
+
+    assert meta.root == snapshot_root
+    assert not hasattr(meta, "_token")
+    get_safe_version.assert_called_once_with(DUMMY_REPO_ID, "v3.0", token=token)
+    assert snapshot_download.call_args.kwargs["token"] is token
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("token", ["hf_test_token", True, False])
+def test_data_download_forwards_token(tmp_path, monkeypatch, token):
+    snapshot_root = tmp_path / "snapshot"
+    snapshot_download = Mock(return_value=str(snapshot_root))
+    monkeypatch.setattr(lerobot_dataset_module, "snapshot_download", snapshot_download)
+
+    dataset = LeRobotDataset.__new__(LeRobotDataset)
+    dataset.repo_id = DUMMY_REPO_ID
+    dataset.revision = "main"
+    dataset.episodes = None
+    dataset._requested_root = None
+    dataset.meta = SimpleNamespace(root=None)
+    dataset.reader = SimpleNamespace(root=None)
+
+    dataset._download(token=token)
+
+    assert dataset.root == snapshot_root
+    assert snapshot_download.call_args.kwargs["token"] is token
+
+
 def test_without_root_reads_different_revisions_from_distinct_snapshot_roots(
     tmp_path,
     info_factory,

tests/datasets/test_sampler.py

@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ from datasets import Dataset  # noqa: E402
 from lerobot.datasets.io_utils import (
     hf_transform_to_torch,
 )
-from lerobot.datasets.sampler import EpisodeAwareSampler
+from lerobot.datasets.sampler import EpisodeAwareSampler, compute_sampler_state
 
 
 def calculate_episode_data_index(hf_dataset: Dataset) -> dict[str, torch.Tensor]:
@@ -154,8 +154,6 @@ def test_partial_episode_drop_warns(caplog):
 
 # --- seeded (seed, epoch) shuffling, resume, and state ---
 
-from lerobot.datasets.sampler import compute_sampler_state  # noqa: E402
-
 EPISODE_BOUNDS = ([0, 2, 3], [2, 3, 6])  # episodes of 2, 1 and 3 frames
 
 

tests/datasets/test_streaming.py

@@ -13,12 +13,16 @@
 # WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
+from types import SimpleNamespace
+from unittest.mock import Mock
+
 import numpy as np
 import pytest
 import torch
 
 pytest.importorskip("datasets", reason="datasets is required (install lerobot[dataset])")
 
+import lerobot.datasets.streaming_dataset as streaming_dataset_module
 from lerobot.datasets.streaming_dataset import StreamingLeRobotDataset
 from lerobot.datasets.utils import safe_shard
 from lerobot.utils.constants import ACTION
@@ -71,6 +75,40 @@ def get_frames_expected_order(streaming_ds: StreamingLeRobotDataset) -> list[int
     return expected_indices
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("token", ["hf_test_token", True, False])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("from_local", [False, True])
+def test_streaming_dataset_forwards_hub_token_only_for_remote_data(tmp_path, monkeypatch, token, from_local):
+    requested_root = tmp_path / "local" if from_local else None
+    metadata = SimpleNamespace(
+        root=requested_root or tmp_path / "snapshot",
+        revision=streaming_dataset_module.CODEBASE_VERSION,
+        _version=streaming_dataset_module.CODEBASE_VERSION,
+        features={},
+        depth_keys=[],
+        image_keys=[],
+        rescale_depth_stats=Mock(),
+    )
+    metadata_cls = Mock(return_value=metadata)
+    load_dataset = Mock(return_value=SimpleNamespace(num_shards=1))
+    monkeypatch.setattr(streaming_dataset_module, "LeRobotDatasetMetadata", metadata_cls)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(streaming_dataset_module, "load_dataset", load_dataset)
+
+    dataset = StreamingLeRobotDataset(DUMMY_REPO_ID, root=requested_root, token=token)
+
+    metadata_cls.assert_called_once_with(
+        DUMMY_REPO_ID,
+        requested_root,
+        streaming_dataset_module.CODEBASE_VERSION,
+        force_cache_sync=False,
+        token=token,
+    )
+    if from_local:
+        assert "token" not in load_dataset.call_args.kwargs
+    else:
+        assert load_dataset.call_args.kwargs["token"] is token
+    assert not hasattr(dataset, "_token")
+
+
 def test_single_frame_consistency(tmp_path, lerobot_dataset_factory):
     """Test if are correctly accessed"""
     ds_num_frames = 400

tests/envs/test_dispatch.py

@@ -35,6 +35,17 @@ def test_unknown_type():
         make_env_config("nonexistent")
 
 
+def test_libero_fps_controls_simulator_frequency():
+    cfg = LiberoEnv(fps=17)
+
+    assert cfg.gym_kwargs["control_freq"] == 17
+
+
+def test_libero_rejects_nonpositive_fps():
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="fps must be positive"):
+        LiberoEnv(fps=0)
+
+
 def test_identity_processors():
     """Base class get_env_processors() returns identity pipelines."""
     cfg = make_env_config("aloha")

tests/jobs/test_annotate.py

@@ -0,0 +1,245 @@
+# Copyright 2026 The HuggingFace Inc. team. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+import shlex
+import sys
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock
+
+import draccus
+import pytest
+
+pytest.importorskip("datasets", reason="datasets is required (install lerobot[dataset])")
+
+from lerobot.annotations.steerable_pipeline.config import (
+    DEFAULT_ANNOTATE_JOB_IMAGE,
+    AnnotationJobConfig,
+    AnnotationPipelineConfig,
+)
+from lerobot.jobs.annotate import build_pod_command, build_pod_setup, submit_annotate_to_hf
+
+
+def _parse(*args):
+    return draccus.parse(AnnotationPipelineConfig, args=list(args))
+
+
+def _set_argv(monkeypatch, *args):
+    monkeypatch.setattr(sys, "argv", ["lerobot-annotate", *args])
+
+
+# --- config ----------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def test_annotation_job_defaults_are_local_with_vllm_image():
+    cfg = AnnotationJobConfig()
+    assert cfg.target is None
+    assert cfg.is_remote is False
+    assert cfg.image == DEFAULT_ANNOTATE_JOB_IMAGE
+    assert cfg.timeout == "2h"
+    assert cfg.lerobot_ref == "main"
+
+
+def test_annotation_config_parses_job_target():
+    cfg = _parse("--repo_id", "u/d", "--job.target", "h200")
+    assert cfg.job.target == "h200"
+    assert cfg.job.is_remote is True
+
+
+def test_annotation_config_defaults_to_local():
+    assert _parse("--repo_id", "u/d").job.is_remote is False
+
+
+# --- pod command -----------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def test_pod_setup_installs_requested_ref():
+    setup = build_pod_setup("my-branch")
+    assert "git+https://github.com/huggingface/lerobot.git@my-branch" in setup
+    # The vLLM image has neither ffmpeg (video decode) nor lerobot's pinned deps.
+    assert "ffmpeg" in setup
+    assert "'draccus==0.10.0'" in setup
+
+
+def _annotate_argv(command):
+    """Extract the `lerobot-annotate ...` argv from a `bash -c` pod command."""
+    assert command[:2] == ["bash", "-c"]
+    _setup, _, annotate = command[2].rpartition(" && ")
+    return shlex.split(annotate)
+
+
+def test_pod_command_forwards_user_flags_and_pins_local_target():
+    command = build_pod_command(
+        "u/d",
+        "main",
+        ["--repo_id=u/d", "--new_repo_id=u/d_annotated", "--push_to_hub=true", "--job.target=h200"],
+    )
+    argv = _annotate_argv(command)
+    assert argv[0] == "lerobot-annotate"
+    # --job.* is client-side orchestration; the pod must not re-dispatch itself.
+    assert not any(a.startswith("--job.") for a in argv[1:-1])
+    assert argv[-1] == "--job.target=local"
+    assert "--new_repo_id=u/d_annotated" in argv
+    assert "--push_to_hub=true" in argv
+
+
+def test_pod_command_replaces_host_local_root_with_repo_id():
+    """--root points at a directory only the client has; the pod resolves by repo_id."""
+    command = build_pod_command("u/d", "main", ["--root", "/home/me/datasets/d", "--seed=7"])
+    argv = _annotate_argv(command)
+    assert "--root" not in argv
+    assert "/home/me/datasets/d" not in argv
+    assert argv.count("--repo_id=u/d") == 1
+    assert "--seed=7" in argv
+
+
+def test_pod_command_does_not_duplicate_repo_id():
+    command = build_pod_command("u/d", "main", ["--repo_id", "u/d"])
+    assert _annotate_argv(command).count("--repo_id=u/d") == 1
+
+
+def test_pod_command_quotes_flags_containing_spaces_and_json():
+    """serve_command and chat_template_kwargs must survive the trip through `bash -c`."""
+    serve = "--vlm.serve_command=vllm serve Qwen/Qwen3.6-27B --max-model-len 32768 --port {port}"
+    kwargs = '--vlm.chat_template_kwargs={"enable_thinking": false}'
+    command = build_pod_command("u/d", "main", [serve, kwargs])
+    argv = _annotate_argv(command)
+    assert serve in argv
+    assert kwargs in argv
+
+
+# --- submission ------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def test_submit_requires_login(monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.jobs.annotate.get_token", lambda: None)
+    with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="hf auth login"):
+        submit_annotate_to_hf(_parse("--repo_id", "u/d", "--job.target", "h200"))
+
+
+def test_submit_requires_repo_id(monkeypatch):
+    """A remote run over --root alone can't work: the pod can't see the client's disk."""
+    monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.jobs.annotate.get_token", lambda: "tok")
+    cfg = _parse("--root", "/tmp/d", "--job.target", "h200")
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="--repo_id"):
+        submit_annotate_to_hf(cfg)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("arg", ["--config_path=annotate.yaml", "--vlm=vlm.yaml", "--job=job.yaml"])
+def test_submit_rejects_local_config_files(monkeypatch, arg):
+    """draccus takes a config file for the whole config and for each nested one; the
+    pod can read none of them, so a remote run must refuse rather than drop them."""
+    monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.jobs.annotate.get_token", lambda: "tok")
+    _set_argv(monkeypatch, arg, "--job.target=h200")
+    cfg = _parse("--repo_id", "u/d", "--job.target", "h200")
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="cannot read config files"):
+        submit_annotate_to_hf(cfg)
+
+
+def test_pod_command_drops_bare_job_config_file_arg():
+    """`--job` isn't caught by the `--job.` prefix, and could carry a remote target
+    that would make the pod submit a job of its own — recursively."""
+    argv = _annotate_argv(build_pod_command("u/d", "main", ["--job", "job.yaml", "--seed=7"]))
+    assert "--job" not in argv
+    assert "job.yaml" not in argv
+    assert argv[-1] == "--job.target=local"
+
+
+def test_submit_dispatches_job(monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.jobs.annotate.get_token", lambda: "tok")
+    monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.jobs.annotate.HfApi", lambda token=None: MagicMock())
+    monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.jobs.annotate.ensure_dataset_available", lambda *a, **kw: None)
+
+    run_job_calls = []
+
+    def fake_run_job(**kwargs):
+        run_job_calls.append(kwargs)
+        return MagicMock(id="job-123")
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.jobs.annotate.run_job", fake_run_job)
+    _set_argv(monkeypatch, "--repo_id=u/d", "--push_to_hub=true", "--job.target=h200", "--job.detach=true")
+
+    cfg = _parse("--repo_id", "u/d", "--push_to_hub", "true", "--job.target", "h200", "--job.detach", "true")
+    submit_annotate_to_hf(cfg)
+
+    assert len(run_job_calls) == 1
+    call = run_job_calls[0]
+    assert call["flavor"] == "h200"
+    assert call["image"] == DEFAULT_ANNOTATE_JOB_IMAGE
+    assert call["timeout"] == "2h"
+    # The Hub token is forwarded so the pod can pull a private dataset and push the result.
+    assert call["secrets"]["HF_TOKEN"] == "tok"
+    assert call["labels"].get("lerobot") == "true"
+    argv = _annotate_argv(call["command"])
+    assert argv[0] == "lerobot-annotate"
+    assert "--push_to_hub=true" in argv
+
+
+@pytest.mark.timeout(15)
+def test_submit_follows_job_to_completion(monkeypatch, capsys):
+    """Non-detach path must stream logs and RETURN (not hang) once the job is terminal.
+
+    Exercises the `follow_job` helper shared with the training submitter from the
+    annotation side, which is why the job-state patches target `lerobot.jobs.hf`.
+    Asserting on the completion message and not merely on "didn't hang" is what makes
+    this fail if `follow_job` ever reports detached-without-a-verdict instead.
+    """
+    monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.jobs.annotate.get_token", lambda: "tok")
+    monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.jobs.annotate.HfApi", lambda token=None: MagicMock())
+    monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.jobs.annotate.ensure_dataset_available", lambda *a, **kw: None)
+    monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.jobs.annotate.run_job", lambda **kw: MagicMock(id="job-1", url="http://x"))
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        "lerobot.jobs.hf.inspect_job",
+        lambda job_id: MagicMock(status=MagicMock(stage=MagicMock(value="COMPLETED"), message=None)),
+    )
+    monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.jobs.hf.fetch_job_logs", lambda job_id, follow=True: iter(()))
+    _set_argv(monkeypatch, "--repo_id=u/d", "--job.target=h200")
+
+    submit_annotate_to_hf(_parse("--repo_id", "u/d", "--push_to_hub", "true", "--job.target", "h200"))
+    assert "Annotation complete" in capsys.readouterr().out
+
+
+@pytest.mark.timeout(15)
+def test_submit_raises_when_job_fails(monkeypatch):
+    """A job that ends in a non-COMPLETED stage must surface as an error, not a silent return."""
+    monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.jobs.annotate.get_token", lambda: "tok")
+    monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.jobs.annotate.HfApi", lambda token=None: MagicMock())
+    monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.jobs.annotate.ensure_dataset_available", lambda *a, **kw: None)
+    monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.jobs.annotate.run_job", lambda **kw: MagicMock(id="job-1", url=None))
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        "lerobot.jobs.hf.inspect_job",
+        lambda job_id: MagicMock(status=MagicMock(stage=MagicMock(value="ERROR"), message="Job timeout")),
+    )
+    monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.jobs.hf.fetch_job_logs", lambda job_id, follow=True: iter(()))
+    _set_argv(monkeypatch, "--repo_id=u/d", "--job.target=h200")
+
+    with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="stage=ERROR .Job timeout."):
+        submit_annotate_to_hf(_parse("--repo_id", "u/d", "--job.target", "h200"))
+
+
+def test_submit_ensures_dataset_is_on_the_hub(monkeypatch):
+    """A local-only dataset is pushed (privately) before the job can reach it by repo_id."""
+    monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.jobs.annotate.get_token", lambda: "tok")
+    monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.jobs.annotate.HfApi", lambda token=None: MagicMock())
+    monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.jobs.annotate.run_job", lambda **kw: MagicMock(id="job-1"))
+
+    seen = []
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        "lerobot.jobs.annotate.ensure_dataset_available",
+        lambda repo_id, *, api, tags=None: seen.append((repo_id, tags)),
+    )
+    _set_argv(monkeypatch, "--repo_id=u/d", "--job.target=h200", "--job.detach=true")
+
+    submit_annotate_to_hf(
+        _parse("--repo_id", "u/d", "--job.target", "h200", "--job.detach", "true", "--job.tags", '["lelab"]')
+    )
+    assert seen == [("u/d", ["lerobot", "lelab"])]

tests/jobs/test_hf.py

@@ -29,12 +29,26 @@ from lerobot.jobs.hf import (
     _poll_until_done,
     build_remote_config_file,
     build_repo_id,
+    follow_job,
     resolve_job_tags,
     resolve_wandb_api_key,
     submit_to_hf,
 )
 
 
+def test_follow_job_detach_returns_without_watching(monkeypatch):
+    """`detach` must short-circuit before any polling or log streaming starts."""
+
+    def _boom(*a, **kw):
+        raise AssertionError("detach must not touch the job")
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.jobs.hf.inspect_job", _boom)
+    monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.jobs.hf.fetch_job_logs", _boom)
+    # False = "stopped watching without a verdict", so callers stay quiet rather than
+    # claiming success for a job that is still running.
+    assert follow_job("job-1", detach=True) is False
+
+
 def test_resolve_job_tags_always_includes_lerobot_and_dedups():
     assert resolve_job_tags(None) == ["lerobot"]
     assert resolve_job_tags([]) == ["lerobot"]

tests/motors/test_dynamixel.py

@@ -405,12 +405,18 @@ def test_record_ranges_of_motion(mock_motors, dummy_motors):
     read_pos_stub = mock_motors.build_sequential_sync_read_stub(
         *X_SERIES_CONTROL_TABLE["Present_Position"], positions
     )
-    with patch("lerobot.motors.motors_bus.enter_pressed", side_effect=[False, True]):
-        bus = DynamixelMotorsBus(port=mock_motors.port, motors=dummy_motors)
-        bus.connect(handshake=False)
+    bus = DynamixelMotorsBus(port=mock_motors.port, motors=dummy_motors)
+    bus.connect(handshake=False)
 
+    with (
+        patch("lerobot.motors.motors_bus.enter_pressed", side_effect=[False, True]),
+        patch("lerobot.motors.motors_bus.time.sleep") as mock_sleep,
+        patch.object(bus, "sync_read", wraps=bus.sync_read) as mock_sync_read,
+    ):
         mins, maxes = bus.record_ranges_of_motion(display_values=False)
 
     assert mock_motors.stubs[read_pos_stub].calls == 3
+    assert all(call.kwargs["num_retry"] == 5 for call in mock_sync_read.call_args_list)
+    mock_sleep.assert_called_once_with(0.02)
     assert mins == expected_mins
     assert maxes == expected_maxes

tests/motors/test_feetech.py

@@ -509,12 +509,18 @@ def test_record_ranges_of_motion(mock_motors, dummy_motors):
     stub = mock_motors.build_sequential_sync_read_stub(
         *STS_SMS_SERIES_CONTROL_TABLE["Present_Position"], positions
     )
-    with patch("lerobot.motors.motors_bus.enter_pressed", side_effect=[False, True]):
-        bus = FeetechMotorsBus(port=mock_motors.port, motors=dummy_motors)
-        bus.connect(handshake=False)
+    bus = FeetechMotorsBus(port=mock_motors.port, motors=dummy_motors)
+    bus.connect(handshake=False)
 
+    with (
+        patch("lerobot.motors.motors_bus.enter_pressed", side_effect=[False, True]),
+        patch("lerobot.motors.motors_bus.time.sleep") as mock_sleep,
+        patch.object(bus, "sync_read", wraps=bus.sync_read) as mock_sync_read,
+    ):
         mins, maxes = bus.record_ranges_of_motion(display_values=False)
 
     assert mock_motors.stubs[stub].calls == 3
+    assert all(call.kwargs["num_retry"] == 5 for call in mock_sync_read.call_args_list)
+    mock_sleep.assert_called_once_with(0.02)
     assert mins == expected_mins
     assert maxes == expected_maxes

tests/policies/test_gaussian_actor_config.py

@@ -113,6 +113,7 @@ def test_gaussian_actor_config_default_initialization():
     # Concurrency configuration
     assert config.concurrency.actor == "threads"
     assert config.concurrency.learner == "threads"
+    assert config.concurrency.multiprocessing_context == "spawn"
 
     assert isinstance(config.actor_network_kwargs, ActorNetworkConfig)
     assert isinstance(config.policy_kwargs, PolicyConfig)
@@ -152,6 +153,7 @@ def test_concurrency_config():
     config = ConcurrencyConfig()
     assert config.actor == "threads"
     assert config.learner == "threads"
+    assert config.multiprocessing_context == "spawn"
 
 
 def test_gaussian_actor_config_custom_initialization():

tests/processor/test_pipeline_from_pretrained_helpers.py

@@ -26,8 +26,17 @@ import tempfile
 from pathlib import Path
 
 import pytest
+import torch
+from safetensors.torch import save_file
 
-from lerobot.processor.pipeline import DataProcessorPipeline, ProcessorMigrationError
+from lerobot.configs import PipelineFeatureType, PolicyFeature
+from lerobot.processor.pipeline import (
+    DataProcessorPipeline,
+    ProcessorMigrationError,
+    ProcessorStep,
+    ProcessorStepRegistry,
+)
+from lerobot.types import EnvTransition
 
 # Simplified Config Loading Tests
 
@@ -98,6 +107,140 @@ def test_load_config_nonexistent_path_tries_hub():
         DataProcessorPipeline._load_config("nonexistent/path", "processor.json", {})
 
 
+def test_from_pretrained_local_directory_missing_state_does_not_call_hub(monkeypatch):
+    """Local processor dirs must fail locally when a state file is missing."""
+
+    @ProcessorStepRegistry.register("local_missing_state_step")
+    class LocalMissingStateStep(ProcessorStep):
+        def __call__(self, transition: EnvTransition) -> EnvTransition:
+            return transition
+
+        def transform_features(
+            self, features: dict[PipelineFeatureType, dict[str, PolicyFeature]]
+        ) -> dict[PipelineFeatureType, dict[str, PolicyFeature]]:
+            return features
+
+        def load_state_dict(self, state: dict[str, torch.Tensor]) -> None:
+            pass
+
+    try:
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmp_dir:
+            tmp_path = Path(tmp_dir)
+            config = {
+                "name": "LocalMissingStatePipeline",
+                "steps": [{"registry_name": "local_missing_state_step", "state_file": "missing.safetensors"}],
+            }
+            (tmp_path / "processor.json").write_text(json.dumps(config))
+
+            def fail_hub_download(*args, **kwargs):
+                pytest.fail("local missing processor state should not call hf_hub_download")
+
+            monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.processor.pipeline.hf_hub_download", fail_hub_download)
+
+            with pytest.raises(FileNotFoundError, match="missing.safetensors.*local processor pipeline"):
+                DataProcessorPipeline.from_pretrained(tmp_path, config_filename="processor.json")
+    finally:
+        ProcessorStepRegistry.unregister("local_missing_state_step")
+
+
+def test_from_pretrained_local_config_file_missing_state_does_not_call_hub(monkeypatch):
+    """Local single-file processor configs must also keep missing state resolution local."""
+
+    @ProcessorStepRegistry.register("local_file_missing_state_step")
+    class LocalFileMissingStateStep(ProcessorStep):
+        def __call__(self, transition: EnvTransition) -> EnvTransition:
+            return transition
+
+        def transform_features(
+            self, features: dict[PipelineFeatureType, dict[str, PolicyFeature]]
+        ) -> dict[PipelineFeatureType, dict[str, PolicyFeature]]:
+            return features
+
+        def load_state_dict(self, state: dict[str, torch.Tensor]) -> None:
+            pass
+
+    try:
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmp_dir:
+            tmp_path = Path(tmp_dir)
+            config_path = tmp_path / "processor.json"
+            config = {
+                "name": "LocalFileMissingStatePipeline",
+                "steps": [
+                    {"registry_name": "local_file_missing_state_step", "state_file": "missing.safetensors"}
+                ],
+            }
+            config_path.write_text(json.dumps(config))
+
+            def fail_hub_download(*args, **kwargs):
+                pytest.fail("local missing processor state should not call hf_hub_download")
+
+            monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.processor.pipeline.hf_hub_download", fail_hub_download)
+
+            with pytest.raises(FileNotFoundError, match="missing.safetensors.*local processor pipeline"):
+                DataProcessorPipeline.from_pretrained(config_path, config_filename="ignored.json")
+    finally:
+        ProcessorStepRegistry.unregister("local_file_missing_state_step")
+
+
+def test_from_pretrained_hub_source_missing_local_state_still_calls_hub(monkeypatch, tmp_path):
+    """Hub sources still fall back to hf_hub_download for state files."""
+
+    @ProcessorStepRegistry.register("hub_state_step")
+    class HubStateStep(ProcessorStep):
+        def __init__(self):
+            self.value = torch.tensor(0)
+
+        def __call__(self, transition: EnvTransition) -> EnvTransition:
+            return transition
+
+        def transform_features(
+            self, features: dict[PipelineFeatureType, dict[str, PolicyFeature]]
+        ) -> dict[PipelineFeatureType, dict[str, PolicyFeature]]:
+            return features
+
+        def load_state_dict(self, state: dict[str, torch.Tensor]) -> None:
+            self.value = state["value"]
+
+    try:
+        state_path = tmp_path / "downloaded.safetensors"
+        save_file({"value": torch.tensor(7)}, state_path)
+        loaded_config = {
+            "name": "HubStatePipeline",
+            "steps": [{"registry_name": "hub_state_step", "state_file": "hub_state.safetensors"}],
+        }
+        calls = []
+
+        def fake_load_config(cls, model_id, config_filename, hub_download_kwargs):
+            return loaded_config, tmp_path / "hub_cache"
+
+        def fake_hub_download(**kwargs):
+            calls.append(kwargs)
+            return str(state_path)
+
+        monkeypatch.setattr(DataProcessorPipeline, "_load_config", classmethod(fake_load_config))
+        monkeypatch.setattr("lerobot.processor.pipeline.hf_hub_download", fake_hub_download)
+
+        pipeline = DataProcessorPipeline.from_pretrained("user/repo", config_filename="processor.json")
+
+        assert calls == [
+            {
+                "repo_id": "user/repo",
+                "filename": "hub_state.safetensors",
+                "repo_type": "model",
+                "force_download": False,
+                "resume_download": None,
+                "proxies": None,
+                "token": None,
+                "cache_dir": None,
+                "local_files_only": False,
+                "revision": None,
+            }
+        ]
+        assert pipeline.steps[0].value.item() == 7
+    finally:
+        ProcessorStepRegistry.unregister("hub_state_step")
+
+
 # Config Validation Tests
 
 

tests/processor/test_render_messages_processor.py

@@ -12,7 +12,9 @@ from lerobot.processor.render_messages_processor import RenderMessagesStep  # no
 from lerobot.types import TransitionKey  # noqa: E402
 
 
-def test_render_messages_step_noops_without_language_columns():
+def test_render_messages_step_renders_task_fallback_without_language_columns():
+    """No language columns + a task string → low-level task fallback render,
+    matching what the policy sees at eval time on unannotated observations."""
     recipe = TrainingRecipe(
         messages=[
             MessageTurn(role="user", content="${task}", stream="high_level"),
@@ -21,6 +23,24 @@ def test_render_messages_step_noops_without_language_columns():
     )
     transition = create_transition(complementary_data={"task": "do it"})
 
+    out = RenderMessagesStep(recipe)(transition)
+    data = out[TransitionKey.COMPLEMENTARY_DATA]
+
+    assert data["messages"] == [{"role": "user", "content": "do it"}]
+    assert data["message_streams"] == ["low_level"]
+    assert data["target_message_indices"] == []
+    assert data["task"] == "do it"
+
+
+def test_render_messages_step_noops_without_language_columns_or_task():
+    recipe = TrainingRecipe(
+        messages=[
+            MessageTurn(role="user", content="${task}", stream="high_level"),
+            MessageTurn(role="assistant", content="${subtask}", stream="low_level", target=True),
+        ]
+    )
+    transition = create_transition(complementary_data={})
+
     assert RenderMessagesStep(recipe)(transition) == transition
 
 
@@ -58,3 +78,70 @@ def test_render_messages_step_renders_and_drops_raw_language():
     assert data["messages"][-1]["content"] == "reach carefully"
     assert data["message_streams"] == ["high_level", "low_level"]
     assert data["target_message_indices"] == [1]
+
+
+def test_render_messages_step_falls_back_to_low_level_task_when_recipe_misses():
+    recipe = TrainingRecipe(
+        messages=[
+            MessageTurn(
+                role="assistant",
+                content="${subtask}",
+                stream="high_level",
+                target=True,
+                if_present="subtask",
+            ),
+        ]
+    )
+    transition = create_transition(
+        complementary_data={
+            "task": "pick the cube",
+            "timestamp": torch.tensor(0.0),
+            "index": torch.tensor(7),
+            "language_persistent": [],
+            "language_events": [{"style": "unmatched", "timestamp": 0.0}],
+        }
+    )
+
+    out = RenderMessagesStep(recipe)(transition)
+    data = out[TransitionKey.COMPLEMENTARY_DATA]
+
+    assert data["messages"] == [{"role": "user", "content": "pick the cube"}]
+    assert data["message_streams"] == ["low_level"]
+    assert data["target_message_indices"] == []
+
+
+def test_render_messages_step_falls_back_per_sample_in_batched_language():
+    recipe = TrainingRecipe(
+        messages=[
+            MessageTurn(
+                role="assistant",
+                content="${subtask}",
+                stream="high_level",
+                target=True,
+                if_present="subtask",
+            ),
+        ]
+    )
+    transition = create_transition(
+        action=torch.arange(4).reshape(2, 2),
+        complementary_data={
+            "task": ["pick the cube", "open the drawer"],
+            "timestamp": torch.tensor([0.0, 1.0]),
+            "index": torch.tensor([7, 8]),
+            "language_persistent": [[], []],
+            "language_events": [
+                [{"style": "unmatched", "timestamp": 0.0}],
+                [{"style": "unmatched", "timestamp": 1.0}],
+            ],
+        },
+    )
+
+    out = RenderMessagesStep(recipe)(transition)
+    data = out[TransitionKey.COMPLEMENTARY_DATA]
+
+    assert data["messages"] == [
+        [{"role": "user", "content": "pick the cube"}],
+        [{"role": "user", "content": "open the drawer"}],
+    ]
+    assert data["message_streams"] == [["low_level"], ["low_level"]]
+    assert data["target_message_indices"] == [[], []]

tests/processor/test_tokenizer_processor.py

@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ import pytest
 import torch
 
 from lerobot.configs.types import FeatureType, PipelineFeatureType, PolicyFeature
-from lerobot.processor import DataProcessorPipeline, TokenizerProcessorStep
+from lerobot.processor import ActionTokenizerProcessorStep, DataProcessorPipeline, TokenizerProcessorStep
 from lerobot.processor.converters import create_transition, identity_transition
 from lerobot.types import TransitionKey
 from lerobot.utils.constants import (
@@ -88,6 +88,46 @@ class MockTokenizer:
         return result
 
 
+def test_action_tokenizer_config_preserves_token_mapping():
+    processor = object.__new__(ActionTokenizerProcessorStep)
+    processor.trust_remote_code = True
+    processor.max_action_tokens = 384
+    processor.fast_skip_tokens = 64
+    processor.paligemma_tokenizer_name = "custom/paligemma"
+    processor.allow_truncation = False
+    processor.action_tokenizer_name = "custom/fast"
+    processor.action_tokenizer_input_object = None
+
+    assert processor.get_config() == {
+        "trust_remote_code": True,
+        "max_action_tokens": 384,
+        "fast_skip_tokens": 64,
+        "paligemma_tokenizer_name": "custom/paligemma",
+        "allow_truncation": False,
+        "action_tokenizer_name": "custom/fast",
+    }
+
+
+def test_action_tokenizer_can_reject_truncated_sequences():
+    processor = object.__new__(ActionTokenizerProcessorStep)
+    processor.max_action_tokens = 4
+    processor.fast_skip_tokens = 128
+    processor.allow_truncation = False
+    processor.action_tokenizer = lambda _actions: [1, 2, 3]
+    processor._paligemma_tokenizer = type(
+        "Tokenizer",
+        (),
+        {
+            "vocab_size": 1000,
+            "bos_token_id": 2,
+            "encode": lambda _self, text, **_kwargs: [10, 11] if text == "Action: " else [12, 1],
+        },
+    )()
+
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="max_action_tokens=4"):
+        processor._tokenize_action(torch.zeros(1, 2, 1))
+
+
 @pytest.fixture
 def mock_tokenizer():
     """Provide a mock tokenizer for testing."""

tests/robots/test_so100_follower.py

@@ -109,3 +109,22 @@ def test_send_action(follower):
 
     goal_pos = {m: (i + 1) * 10 for i, m in enumerate(follower.bus.motors)}
     follower.bus.sync_write.assert_called_once_with("Goal_Position", goal_pos)
+
+
+def test_configure_writes_position_pid_coefficients():
+    bus_mock = _make_bus_mock()
+    bus_mock.motors = ["shoulder_pan"]
+    robot = MagicMock()
+    robot.bus = bus_mock
+    robot.config = SO100FollowerConfig(
+        port="/dev/null",
+        position_p_coefficient=32,
+        position_i_coefficient=1,
+        position_d_coefficient=16,
+    )
+
+    SO100Follower.configure(robot)
+
+    bus_mock.write.assert_any_call("P_Coefficient", "shoulder_pan", 32)
+    bus_mock.write.assert_any_call("I_Coefficient", "shoulder_pan", 1)
+    bus_mock.write.assert_any_call("D_Coefficient", "shoulder_pan", 16)

tests/scripts/test_setup_motors.py

@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+# Copyright 2026 The HuggingFace Inc. team. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+from types import SimpleNamespace
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock
+
+import pytest
+
+import lerobot.scripts.lerobot_setup_motors as motors_module
+
+
+def test_main_registers_plugins_before_parsing(monkeypatch):
+    calls = []
+    monkeypatch.setattr(motors_module, "register_third_party_plugins", lambda: calls.append("register"))
+    monkeypatch.setattr(motors_module, "setup_motors", lambda: calls.append("setup"))
+
+    motors_module.main()
+
+    assert calls == ["register", "setup"]
+
+
+def test_setup_motors_accepts_third_party_device(monkeypatch):
+    device = MagicMock()
+    monkeypatch.setattr(motors_module, "make_teleoperator_from_config", lambda _: device)
+    cfg = SimpleNamespace(device=SimpleNamespace(type="third_party"))
+
+    motors_module.setup_motors.__wrapped__(cfg)
+
+    device.setup_motors.assert_called_once_with()
+
+
+def test_setup_motors_reports_unsupported_device(monkeypatch):
+    device = object()
+    monkeypatch.setattr(motors_module, "make_teleoperator_from_config", lambda _: device)
+    cfg = SimpleNamespace(device=SimpleNamespace(type="third_party"))
+
+    with pytest.raises(NotImplementedError, match="third_party"):
+        motors_module.setup_motors.__wrapped__(cfg)

tests/test_rollout.py

@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import dataclasses
+import sys
+from types import SimpleNamespace
 from unittest.mock import MagicMock
 
 import pytest
@@ -106,6 +108,109 @@ def test_sentry_config_defaults():
     assert cfg.target_video_file_size_mb is None
 
 
+def test_rollout_config_passes_policy_pretrained_revision(monkeypatch):
+    from lerobot.configs import PreTrainedConfig, parser
+    from lerobot.rollout import RolloutConfig
+    from tests.mocks.mock_robot import MockRobotConfig
+
+    captured = {}
+
+    def fake_from_pretrained(cls, pretrained_name_or_path, **kwargs):
+        captured["pretrained_name_or_path"] = pretrained_name_or_path
+        captured.update(kwargs)
+        return SimpleNamespace(device="cpu", pretrained_revision=kwargs["revision"])
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(parser, "get_yaml_overrides", lambda _: ["--pretrained_revision=yaml-sha"])
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        sys,
+        "argv",
+        ["lerobot-rollout", "--policy.path=user/policy", "--policy.pretrained_revision=cli-sha"],
+    )
+    monkeypatch.setattr(PreTrainedConfig, "from_pretrained", classmethod(fake_from_pretrained))
+
+    cfg = RolloutConfig(robot=MockRobotConfig())
+
+    assert captured["pretrained_name_or_path"] == "user/policy"
+    assert captured["revision"] == "cli-sha"
+    assert captured["cli_overrides"] == [
+        "--pretrained_revision=yaml-sha",
+        "--pretrained_revision=cli-sha",
+    ]
+    assert cfg.policy.pretrained_path == "user/policy"
+    assert cfg.policy.pretrained_revision == "cli-sha"
+
+
+def test_load_pretrained_policy_passes_revision(monkeypatch):
+    import lerobot.rollout.context as rollout_context
+
+    policy_config = SimpleNamespace(
+        type="mock",
+        use_peft=False,
+        pretrained_path="user/policy",
+        pretrained_revision="policy-sha",
+    )
+    policy_class = MagicMock()
+    loaded_policy = MagicMock()
+    policy_class.from_pretrained.return_value = loaded_policy
+    monkeypatch.setattr(rollout_context, "get_policy_class", lambda _: policy_class)
+
+    policy = rollout_context._load_pretrained_policy(policy_config)
+
+    assert policy is loaded_policy
+    policy_class.from_pretrained.assert_called_once_with(
+        "user/policy",
+        config=policy_config,
+        revision="policy-sha",
+    )
+
+
+def test_load_pretrained_peft_policy_keeps_adapter_and_base_revisions_separate(monkeypatch):
+    import lerobot.rollout.context as rollout_context
+
+    policy_config = SimpleNamespace(
+        type="mock",
+        use_peft=True,
+        pretrained_path="user/adapter",
+        pretrained_revision="adapter-sha",
+    )
+    policy_class = MagicMock()
+    base_policy = MagicMock()
+    policy_class.from_pretrained.return_value = base_policy
+    monkeypatch.setattr(rollout_context, "get_policy_class", lambda _: policy_class)
+
+    peft_config = SimpleNamespace(
+        base_model_name_or_path="user/base-policy",
+        revision="base-sha",
+    )
+    peft_config_from_pretrained = MagicMock(return_value=peft_config)
+    adapted_policy = MagicMock()
+    peft_model_from_pretrained = MagicMock(return_value=adapted_policy)
+    monkeypatch.setitem(
+        sys.modules,
+        "peft",
+        SimpleNamespace(
+            PeftConfig=SimpleNamespace(from_pretrained=peft_config_from_pretrained),
+            PeftModel=SimpleNamespace(from_pretrained=peft_model_from_pretrained),
+        ),
+    )
+
+    policy = rollout_context._load_pretrained_policy(policy_config)
+
+    assert policy is adapted_policy
+    peft_config_from_pretrained.assert_called_once_with("user/adapter", revision="adapter-sha")
+    policy_class.from_pretrained.assert_called_once_with(
+        pretrained_name_or_path="user/base-policy",
+        config=policy_config,
+        revision="base-sha",
+    )
+    peft_model_from_pretrained.assert_called_once_with(
+        base_policy,
+        "user/adapter",
+        config=peft_config,
+        revision="adapter-sha",
+    )
+
+
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # RolloutRingBuffer
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

tests/utils/test_collate.py

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import torch  # noqa: E402
 from lerobot.utils.collate import lerobot_collate_fn  # noqa: E402
 
 
-def test_lerobot_collate_preserves_messages_and_drops_raw_language():
+def test_lerobot_collate_preserves_messages_and_raw_language():
     batch = [
         {
             "index": torch.tensor(0),
@@ -17,14 +17,14 @@ def test_lerobot_collate_preserves_messages_and_drops_raw_language():
             "message_streams": ["low_level"],
             "target_message_indices": [0],
             "language_persistent": [{"content": "raw"}],
-            "language_events": [],
+            "language_events": [{"content": "event a"}],
         },
         {
             "index": torch.tensor(1),
             "messages": [{"role": "assistant", "content": "b"}],
             "message_streams": ["low_level"],
             "target_message_indices": [0],
-            "language_persistent": [{"content": "raw"}],
+            "language_persistent": [{"content": "raw b"}],
             "language_events": [],
         },
     ]
@@ -36,8 +36,8 @@ def test_lerobot_collate_preserves_messages_and_drops_raw_language():
     assert out["messages"][1][0]["content"] == "b"
     assert out["message_streams"] == [["low_level"], ["low_level"]]
     assert out["target_message_indices"] == [[0], [0]]
-    assert "language_persistent" not in out
-    assert "language_events" not in out
+    assert out["language_persistent"] == [[{"content": "raw"}], [{"content": "raw b"}]]
+    assert out["language_events"] == [[{"content": "event a"}], []]
 
 
 def test_lerobot_collate_passes_through_standard_batch():