{"id":"https://openalex.org/W7131433358","doi":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2602.19260","title":"The Price Is Not Right: Neuro-Symbolic Methods Outperform VLAs on Structured Long-Horizon Manipulation Tasks with Significantly Lower Energy Consumption","display_name":"The Price Is Not Right: Neuro-Symbolic Methods Outperform VLAs on Structured Long-Horizon Manipulation Tasks with Significantly Lower Energy Consumption","publication_year":2026,"publication_date":"2026-02-22","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W7131433358","doi":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2602.19260"},"language":null,"primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2602.19260","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2602.19260","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":null,"is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"article"},"type":"preprint","indexed_in":["datacite"],"open_access":{"is_oa":true,"oa_status":"green","oa_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2602.19260","any_repository_has_fulltext":true},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5085692066","display_name":"Timothy R. Duggan","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6955-2961"},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":true,"raw_author_name":"Duggan, Timothy","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5126784196","display_name":"Pierrick Lorang","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Lorang, Pierrick","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5126817265","display_name":"Hong Lu","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Lu, Hong","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":null,"display_name":"Scheutz, Matthias","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Scheutz, Matthias","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"affiliations":[]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":0,"institutions_distinct_count":4,"corresponding_author_ids":["https://openalex.org/A5085692066"],"corresponding_institution_ids":[],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":null,"has_fulltext":false,"cited_by_count":0,"citation_normalized_percentile":null,"cited_by_percentile_year":null,"biblio":{"volume":null,"issue":null,"first_page":null,"last_page":null},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11714","display_name":"Multimodal Machine Learning Applications","score":0.569100022315979,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1707","display_name":"Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},"topics":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11714","display_name":"Multimodal Machine Learning Applications","score":0.569100022315979,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1707","display_name":"Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10462","display_name":"Reinforcement Learning in Robotics","score":0.16940000653266907,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10653","display_name":"Robot Manipulation and Learning","score":0.13439999520778656,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/2207","display_name":"Control and Systems Engineering"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/22","display_name":"Engineering"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/task","display_name":"Task (project management)","score":0.7458999752998352},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/energy-consumption","display_name":"Energy consumption","score":0.6384000182151794},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/energy","display_name":"Energy (signal processing)","score":0.4952000081539154},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/visual-reasoning","display_name":"Visual reasoning","score":0.4796999990940094},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/code","display_name":"Code (set theory)","score":0.46459999680519104},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/scheme","display_name":"Scheme (mathematics)","score":0.3716999888420105},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/consumption","display_name":"Consumption (sociology)","score":0.36730000376701355}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780451532","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q759676","display_name":"Task (project management)","level":2,"score":0.7458999752998352},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.664900004863739},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780165032","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16869822","display_name":"Energy consumption","level":2,"score":0.6384000182151794},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C154945302","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11660","display_name":"Artificial intelligence","level":1,"score":0.5187000036239624},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C186370098","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q442787","display_name":"Energy (signal processing)","level":2,"score":0.4952000081539154},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2777508537","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7936620","display_name":"Visual reasoning","level":2,"score":0.4796999990940094},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2776760102","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5139990","display_name":"Code (set theory)","level":3,"score":0.46459999680519104},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C119857082","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2539","display_name":"Machine learning","level":1,"score":0.4120999872684479},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C77618280","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1155772","display_name":"Scheme (mathematics)","level":2,"score":0.3716999888420105},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C30772137","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5164762","display_name":"Consumption (sociology)","level":2,"score":0.36730000376701355},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2742236","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q924713","display_name":"Efficient energy use","level":2,"score":0.36390000581741333},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C22367795","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7625208","display_name":"Structured prediction","level":2,"score":0.3499999940395355},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C123657996","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12271","display_name":"Architecture","level":2,"score":0.3154999911785126},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C175154964","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q380077","display_name":"Task analysis","level":3,"score":0.3140000104904175},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C120936955","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2155640","display_name":"Empirical research","level":2,"score":0.27619999647140503},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C90509273","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11012","display_name":"Robot","level":2,"score":0.274399995803833},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C195324797","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q33742","display_name":"Natural language","level":2,"score":0.2651999890804291},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C45371612","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3058587","display_name":"Generalist and specialist species","level":3,"score":0.2574000060558319}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":1,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2602.19260","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2602.19260","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":null,"is_accepted":false,"is_published":null,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"article"}],"best_oa_location":{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2602.19260","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2602.19260","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":null,"is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"article"},"sustainable_development_goals":[{"score":0.9066126942634583,"id":"https://metadata.un.org/sdg/7","display_name":"Affordable and clean energy"}],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"grobid_xml":false,"pdf":false},"content_urls":null,"referenced_works_count":0,"referenced_works":[],"related_works":[],"abstract_inverted_index":{"Vision-Language-Action":[0],"(VLA)":[1],"models":[2,182],"have":[3],"recently":[4],"been":[5],"proposed":[6],"as":[7],"a":[8,43,48,55],"pathway":[9],"toward":[10],"generalist":[11],"robotic":[12,163],"policies":[13],"capable":[14],"of":[15,74,77,140,168],"interpreting":[16],"natural":[17],"language":[18],"and":[19,29,54,88,93,157,177,181],"visual":[20],"inputs":[21],"to":[22,106,117,128],"generate":[23],"manipulation":[24,34,79],"actions.":[25],"However,":[26],"their":[27],"effectiveness":[28],"efficiency":[30],"on":[31,71],"structured,":[32],"long-horizon":[33,162],"tasks":[35],"remain":[36],"unclear.":[37],"In":[38],"this":[39],"work,":[40],"we":[41],"present":[42],"head-to-head":[44],"empirical":[45],"comparison":[46],"between":[47,153],"fine-tuned":[49],"open-weight":[50],"VLA":[51,134],"model":[52,101,114],"\u03c00":[53],"neuro-symbolic":[56,100,113,146],"architecture":[57],"that":[58],"combines":[59],"PDDL-based":[60],"symbolic":[61,170],"planning":[62],"with":[63],"learned":[64],"low-level":[65],"control.":[66],"We":[67],"evaluate":[68],"both":[69,85,125],"approaches":[70,156],"structured":[72,158],"variants":[73],"the":[75,96,99,109,130,145,166],"Towers":[76],"Hanoi":[78],"task":[80,86],"in":[81,172],"simulation":[82],"while":[83],"measuring":[84],"performance":[87],"energy":[89,143,178],"consumption":[90],"during":[91],"training":[92],"execution.":[94],"On":[95],"3-block":[97],"task,":[98],"achieves":[102],"95%":[103],"success":[104],"compared":[105],"34%":[107],"for":[108,161],"best-performing":[110],"VLA.":[111],"The":[112],"also":[115],"generalizes":[116],"an":[118],"unseen":[119],"4-block":[120],"variant":[121],"(78%":[122],"success),":[123],"whereas":[124],"VLAs":[126],"fail":[127],"complete":[129],"task.":[131],"During":[132],"training,":[133],"fine-tuning":[135],"consumes":[136],"nearly":[137],"two":[138],"orders":[139],"magnitude":[141],"more":[142],"than":[144],"approach.":[147],"These":[148],"results":[149],"highlight":[150],"important":[151],"trade-offs":[152],"end-to-end":[154],"foundation-model":[155],"reasoning":[159],"architectures":[160],"manipulation,":[164],"emphasizing":[165],"role":[167],"explicit":[169],"structure":[171],"improving":[173],"reliability,":[174],"data":[175],"efficiency,":[176],"efficiency.":[179],"Code":[180],"are":[183],"available":[184],"at":[185],"https://price-is-not-right.github.io":[186]},"counts_by_year":[],"updated_date":"2026-03-25T23:56:10.502304","created_date":"2026-02-26T00:00:00"}