[2605.05411] Creative Robot Tool Use by Counterfactual Reasoning
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Computer Science > Robotics
arXiv:2605.05411 (cs)
[Submitted on 6 May 2026]
Title:Creative Robot Tool Use by Counterfactual Reasoning
Authors:M. Tuluhan Akbulut, Varun Satheesh, Ahmed Jaafar, Alper Ahmetoglu, Shane Parr, Aditya Ganeshan, Shivam Vats, George Konidaris
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Abstract:We propose a causal reasoning framework for creative robot tool use where a suitable tool for a task is correctly identified for use beyond its primary objectives. The proposed framework first discovers the causal relationships between the tool and the task by conducting simulated experiments in a dynamics model. We decouple the causal discovery problem into two complementary components: VLM-based feature suggestion and counterfactual tool generation via targeted geometric and physical feature perturbations. Then, novel objects are classified based on identified causal features, and the tool use skill is transferred via keypoint matching conditioned on the identified causal features. By reconstructing the task in a dynamics model, our approach grounds tool use in the physics of the problem. We illustrate our approach in reaching a distant object with different sticks, scooping candies from a bowl using diverse items, and using different boxes or crates as stepping platforms to retrieve an object from a high shelf. Our baseline comparisons show that identifying causal features and grounding them in physical tool properties leads to more reliable tool selection and stronger skill keypoint transfer.
Comments: Under review
Subjects:
Robotics (cs.RO); Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI)
Cite as: arXiv:2605.05411 [cs.RO]
(or arXiv:2605.05411v1 [cs.RO] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2605.05411
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arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)
Submission history
From: Mete Tuluhan Akbulut [view email] [v1] Wed, 6 May 2026 20:10:28 UTC (22,952 KB)
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