Papers › Geometry-aware Bayesian Optimization in Robotics using Riemannian Matérn Kernels

Geometry-aware Bayesian Optimization in Robotics using Riemannian Matérn Kernels

2 Nov 2021arXiv:2111.01460archive 2025-07-28

Noémie Jaquier, Viacheslav Borovitskiy, Andrei Smolensky, Alexander Terenin, Tamim Asfour, Leonel Rozo

Bayesian optimization is a data-efficient technique which can be used for control parameter tuning, parametric policy adaptation, and structure design in robotics. Many of these problems require optimization of functions defined on non-Euclidean domains like spheres, rotation groups, or spaces of positive-definite matrices. To do so, one must place a Gaussian process prior, or equivalently define a kernel, on the space of interest. Effective kernels typically reflect the geometry of the spaces they are defined on, but designing them is generally non-trivial. Recent work on the Riemannian Mat\'ern kernels, based on stochastic partial differential equations and spectral theory of the Laplace-Beltrami operator, offers promising avenues towards constructing such geometry-aware kernels. In this paper, we study techniques for implementing these kernels on manifolds of interest in robotics, demonstrate their performance on a set of artificial benchmark functions, and illustrate geometry-aware Bayesian optimization for a variety of robotic applications, covering orientation control, manipulability optimization, and motion planning, while showing its improved performance.

PaperPDFCodeCode Syntology ran

In Syntology Open this paper in Syntology's Atlas, the map of the papers in Syntology's graph and their citations.

For agents, Syntology's MCP tool lists every function and class Syntology harvested from this paper and whether it ran (how to connect): get_harvested_code_for_paper(arxiv_id="2111.01460")

Code

Syntology Ran 4 of 5 code samples harvested from 1 repository linked to this paper; 1 has no recorded run. Of those that ran: 2 ran · honoured contract; 1 ran · violated contract; 1 ran · fixture could not drive it.

By repository: official repository: 5 samples from 1 repository, 4 ran. The run record, sample by sample. “Ran” means executed on a synthesized input, not that the code is correct or reproduces the paper.

noemiejaquier/materngabo officialmentioned in paperpytorch report

Repository list and official/mentioned flags are the archive's, frozen 2025-07-28. Reachability, where shown, is from one Syntology probe window (2026-09-16 to 2026-09-18); repositories not probed show nothing. GitHub stars are not tracked.

Code Syntology ran Syntology

5 samples harvested; 4 ran; 2 honoured the contract we drafted; 1 has no recorded run. Read from Syntology's graph 2026-09-24; that is when this build read the record, not when the samples ran.

2ran · honoured contract
1ran · violated contract
1ran · fixture could not drive it
1unverified

Licence: 0 of the 5 samples are pointer only, meaning Syntology does not serve that copy's text. This page shows no code text for any sample; each one links to its file in the repository.

Harvested from noemiejaquier/materngabo. “Ran” means the sample executed on a synthesized input. It does not mean the output is correct, and nothing here reproduces the paper's results. “Honoured” and “violated” refer to a contract Syntology drafted from the code itself; “our draft was wrong” and “fixture could not drive it” are failures of Syntology's instrument, not of the code.

Each sample ends with its code_sha256, Syntology's identity for that exact code. An agent fetches the stored sample with Syntology's MCP tool get_code(code_sha256="…") (how to connect); click an identity to copy that call.

Repository labels, per sample. official repository: The archive marks this repository official for the paper. named in the paper: The archive records that the paper mentions this repository; it is not marked official. community (archive-listed): In the archive's code links for this paper, not marked official and not recorded as mentioned in the paper. found in paper text by Syntology: Syntology found this repository in the paper's own text; whether it is the authors' implementation is not asserted. community: Not in the archive's code links for this paper; a community repository Syntology harvested. Samples from a repository marked official are listed first. Licence labels name the repository's licence as recorded at harvest. “Pointer only” means Syntology does not serve that copy's text, for one of four reasons: no licence file was found; the licence was not identified; the licence is recorded as permissive but that copy's record is not marked cleared; or the licence is outside the permissive list Syntology serves text under (MIT, Apache-2.0, BSD and similar). Some licences outside that list permit redistribution, such as WTFPL, and GPL-3.0 under its conditions; they are simply not on the list. Hover a licence label for the reason. File links open the file on GitHub at the default branch, which may have changed since the harvest.

expmap noemiejaquier/materngabo/BoManifolds/Riemannian_utils/sphere_utils.py official repository ran · fixture could not drive it fingerprinted MIT (permissive) · 99ad78a4a4fba742 · report
get_bounds noemiejaquier/materngabo/examples/bo_manifolds_benchmark_examples/bo_sphere.py official repository ran · honoured contract fingerprinted MIT (permissive) · 497840b7481a16b1 · report
logmap noemiejaquier/materngabo/BoManifolds/Riemannian_utils/sphere_utils.py official repository ran · violated contract fingerprinted MIT (permissive) · 3a68411500f0893d · report
sphere_distance noemiejaquier/materngabo/BoManifolds/Riemannian_utils/sphere_utils.py official repository ran · honoured contract fingerprinted MIT (permissive) · ed94c379c2d11b24 · report
get_constraints noemiejaquier/materngabo/examples/bo_manifolds_benchmark_examples/bo_sphere.py official repository unverified MIT (permissive) · a92c057668700063 · report

Tasks

Bayesian OptimizationMotion Planning

Results from the paper archive 2025-07-28

No leaderboard rows for this paper in the archive.

Methods

Gaussian Process

Report a problem or propose a change · a person checks every report against the paper or source before anything changes; decisions are listed on /corrections