The learning mapwhat to read, and what it unlocks

The map as a list

Every chapter, by phase, with the threads it declares. This is the same data the diagram draws — readable without JavaScript.

1. Phase 0 · Foundations

   • 0.0Your First Robot Policy in Twenty Minutes
   • 0.1The Simulation Loop
   • 0.2Bodies, Joints, and MJCF
   • 0.3Spatial Reasoning Without Tears
   • 0.4Teleoperation & Your First Datasetunblocks 5.8 The Real Loop
   • 0.5Seeing Like a Robot (rerun)

2. Phase 1 · Imitation

   • 1.1Behavior Cloning: The Dumbest Thing That Worksunblocks 3.6 Full Circle, 5.3 Control From Pixels, 5.7 Quantize a Policy by Hand, 5.8 The Real Loop
   • 1.2Data Is the Policy
   • 1.3ACT: Commit to the Chunkunblocks 5.5 FAST
   • 1.4Generative Policies I: Diffusionunblocks 3.1 World Models I, 3.2 World Models II
   • 1.5Generative Policies II: Flow Matchingunblocks 5.4 The Production VLA Shape
   • 1.6Evaluation Is Hardunblocks 4.2 Corrections, 4.3 RL Post-Training
   • 1.7Tokens Meet Torques: The Tiny VLA, Part I (the data)unblocks 5.1 Patches & Attention, 5.2 Why Aligned, 5.5 FAST
   • 1.8The Tiny VLA II: Train Itunblocks 4.2 Corrections, 4.3 RL Post-Training, 5.1 Patches & Attention, 5.3 Control From Pixels, 5.4 The Production VLA Shape, 5.6 LoRA From Scratch
   • 1.9Graduation Bridge I: LeRobot for Real

3. Phase 2 · Reinforcement

   • 2.1PPO: The Policy That Acts and Sees the Consequencesunblocks 2.8 Concepts of ROS, Without ROS, 4.2 Corrections, 4.3 RL Post-Training
   • 2.2SAC and the Off-Policy Bargainunblocks 4.2 Corrections, 4.3 RL Post-Training
   • 2.34096 Robots at Once: PPO on MJX
   • 2.4Reward Design Is Programming
   • 2.5Locomotion: The Quadruped Walks
   • 2.6Sim-to-Real Intuition Lab I: Latency & Noise
   • 2.7Sim-to-Real Intuition Lab II: Randomize to Generalize
   • 2.8Concepts of ROS, Without ROS: a Pub-Sub Control Runtimeneeds 2.1 PPOunblocks 5.7 Quantize a Policy by Hand

4. Phase 3 · Advancedoptional · Depth

   Off the main line (0 → 1 → 2 → 4 → 5) — self-contained electives; the capstone requires none of them.

   • 3.1World Models I: Learning the Simulatorneeds 1.4 Generative Policies Iunblocks 3.2 World Models II
   • 3.2World Models II: Acting in Imaginationneeds 1.4 Generative Policies I, 3.1 World Models I
   • 3.3Build a Physics Engine I: Unconstrained Dynamicsunblocks 3.9 Plan Through Your Engine
   • 3.4Build a Physics Engine II: Joints & Constraints
   • 3.5Build a Physics Engine III: Contactunblocks 3.9 Plan Through Your Engine
   • 3.6Full Circle: Run Your ch1.1 Policy in the Engine You Builtneeds 1.1 Behavior Cloningunblocks 3.9 Plan Through Your Engine
   • 3.7Datasets at Scale
   • 3.8Reading the Frontierunblocks 5.6 LoRA From Scratch
   • 3.9Plan Through Your Engine: Sampling-Based MPC (CEM / MPPI)needs 3.3 Build a Physics Engine I, 3.5 Build a Physics Engine III, 3.6 Full Circle

5. Phase 4 · Capstone

   • 4Offline RL Primer: Beat the Data With Its Own Reward
   • 4.2Corrections: Human-in-the-Loop Dataneeds 1.8 The Tiny VLA II, 2.1 PPO, 2.2 SAC and the Off-Policy Bargain, 1.6 Evaluation Is Hard
   • 4.3RL Post-Training: HIL-SERL in Simneeds 1.8 The Tiny VLA II, 2.1 PPO, 2.2 SAC and the Off-Policy Bargain, 1.6 Evaluation Is Hard

6. Phase 5 · Practitioner

   • 5.1Patches & Attention: A ViT From Scratchneeds 1.7 Tokens Meet Torques, 1.8 The Tiny VLA IIunblocks 5.2 Why Aligned
   • 5.2Why Aligned: Contrastive Vision-Language Pretrainingneeds 5.1 Patches & Attention, 1.7 Tokens Meet Torquesunblocks 5.3 Control From Pixels
   • 5.3Control From Pixels: Visuomotor Behavior Cloningneeds 5.2 Why Aligned, 1.1 Behavior Cloning, 1.8 The Tiny VLA II
   • 5.4The Production VLA Shape: Prefix, Suffix, and the Action Expertneeds 1.5 Generative Policies II, 1.8 The Tiny VLA II
   • 5.5FAST: Turning Torques into Tokens (DCT -> Quantize -> BPE)needs 1.3 ACT, 1.7 Tokens Meet Torques
   • 5.6LoRA From Scratch: Adapt a Frozen Policyneeds 1.8 The Tiny VLA II, 3.8 Reading the Frontier
   • 5.7Quantize a Policy by Hand: INT8 Is a Scale, Not a Roundingneeds 1.1 Behavior Cloning, 2.8 Concepts of ROS, Without ROS
   • 5.8The Real Loop: Teleoperate, Record, Train, Deploy — on a Real Arm's Body (in sim)needs 0.4 Teleoperation & Your First Dataset, 1.1 Behavior Cloning

7. coming · gatedPhase 4's leaderboard capstone is graded against hidden seeds, so those chapters open only once the grading server ships. They aren't linkable yet, and we won't pretend they are.

Every thread

• 2.1 PPOreuses policy→2.8 Concepts of ROS, Without ROS
• 1.4 Generative Policies Irequires→3.1 World Models I
• 1.4 Generative Policies Irequires→3.2 World Models II
• 3.1 World Models Ibuilds on→3.2 World Models II
• 1.1 Behavior Cloningreuses policy→3.6 Full Circle
• 3.3 Build a Physics Engine Ibuilds on→3.9 Plan Through Your Engine
• 3.5 Build a Physics Engine IIIbuilds on→3.9 Plan Through Your Engine
• 3.6 Full Circlebuilds on→3.9 Plan Through Your Engine
• 1.8 The Tiny VLA IIphase gate→4.2 Corrections
• 2.1 PPOphase gate→4.2 Corrections
• 2.2 SAC and the Off-Policy Bargainphase gate→4.2 Corrections
• 1.6 Evaluation Is Hardphase gate→4.2 Corrections
• 1.8 The Tiny VLA IIphase gate→4.3 RL Post-Training
• 2.1 PPOphase gate→4.3 RL Post-Training
• 2.2 SAC and the Off-Policy Bargainphase gate→4.3 RL Post-Training
• 1.6 Evaluation Is Hardphase gate→4.3 RL Post-Training
• 1.7 Tokens Meet Torquesbuilds on→5.1 Patches & Attention
• 1.8 The Tiny VLA IIbuilds on→5.1 Patches & Attention
• 5.1 Patches & Attentionbuilds on→5.2 Why Aligned
• 1.7 Tokens Meet Torquesbuilds on→5.2 Why Aligned
• 5.2 Why Alignedbuilds on→5.3 Control From Pixels
• 1.1 Behavior Cloningbuilds on→5.3 Control From Pixels
• 1.8 The Tiny VLA IIbuilds on→5.3 Control From Pixels
• 1.5 Generative Policies IIbuilds on→5.4 The Production VLA Shape
• 1.8 The Tiny VLA IIbuilds on→5.4 The Production VLA Shape
• 1.3 ACTbuilds on→5.5 FAST
• 1.7 Tokens Meet Torquesbuilds on→5.5 FAST
• 1.8 The Tiny VLA IIbuilds on→5.6 LoRA From Scratch
• 3.8 Reading the Frontierbuilds on→5.6 LoRA From Scratch
• 1.1 Behavior Cloningbuilds on→5.7 Quantize a Policy by Hand
• 2.8 Concepts of ROS, Without ROSbuilds on→5.7 Quantize a Policy by Hand
• 0.4 Teleoperation & Your First Datasetbuilds on→5.8 The Real Loop
• 1.1 Behavior Cloningbuilds on→5.8 The Real Loop