Materials
Domain Consistent Industrial Decarbonisation of Global Coal Power Plants
Ashraf, Waqar Muhammad, Dua, Vivek, Debnath, Ramit
Machine learning and optimisation techniques (MLOPT) hold significant potential to accelerate the decarbonisation of industrial systems by enabling data-driven operational improvements. However, the practical application of MLOPT in industrial settings is often hindered by a lack of domain compliance and system-specific consistency, resulting in suboptimal solutions with limited real-world applicability. To address this challenge, we propose a novel human-in-the-loop (HITL) constraint-based optimisation framework that integrates domain expertise with data-driven methods, ensuring solutions are both technically sound and operationally feasible. We demonstrate the efficacy of this framework through a case study focused on enhancing the thermal efficiency and reducing the turbine heat rate of a 660 MW supercritical coal-fired power plant. By embedding domain knowledge as constraints within the optimisation process, our approach yields solutions that align with the plant's operational patterns and are seamlessly integrated into its control systems. Empirical validation confirms a mean improvement in thermal efficiency of 0.64\% and a mean reduction in turbine heat rate of 93 kJ/kWh. Scaling our analysis to 59 global coal power plants with comparable capacity and fuel type, we estimate a cumulative lifetime reduction of 156.4 million tons of carbon emissions. These results underscore the transformative potential of our HITL-MLOPT framework in delivering domain-compliant, implementable solutions for industrial decarbonisation, offering a scalable pathway to mitigate the environmental impact of coal-based power generation worldwide.
Parallelized Planning-Acting for Efficient LLM-based Multi-Agent Systems
Li, Yaoru, Liu, Shunyu, Zheng, Tongya, Song, Mingli
Recent advancements in Large Language Model(LLM)-based Multi-Agent Systems(MAS) have demonstrated remarkable potential for tackling complex decision-making tasks. However, existing frameworks inevitably rely on serialized execution paradigms, where agents must complete sequential LLM planning before taking action. This fundamental constraint severely limits real-time responsiveness and adaptation, which is crucial in dynamic environments with ever-changing scenarios. In this paper, we propose a novel parallelized planning-acting framework for LLM-based MAS, featuring a dual-thread architecture with interruptible execution to enable concurrent planning and acting. Specifically, our framework comprises two core threads:(1) a planning thread driven by a centralized memory system, maintaining synchronization of environmental states and agent communication to support dynamic decision-making; and (2) an acting thread equipped with a comprehensive skill library, enabling automated task execution through recursive decomposition. Extensive experiments on challenging Minecraft demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework.
How simple can you go? An off-the-shelf transformer approach to molecular dynamics
Eissler, Max, Korjakow, Tim, Ganscha, Stefan, Unke, Oliver T., Müller, Klaus-Robert, Gugler, Stefan
Most current neural networks for molecular dynamics (MD) include physical inductive biases, resulting in specialized and complex architectures. This is in contrast to most other machine learning domains, where specialist approaches are increasingly replaced by general-purpose architectures trained on vast datasets. In line with this trend, several recent studies have questioned the necessity of architectural features commonly found in MD models, such as built-in rotational equivariance or energy conservation. In this work, we contribute to the ongoing discussion by evaluating the performance of an MD model with as few specialized architectural features as possible. We present a recipe for MD using an Edge Transformer, an "off-the-shelf'' transformer architecture that has been minimally modified for the MD domain, termed MD-ET. Our model implements neither built-in equivariance nor energy conservation. We use a simple supervised pre-training scheme on $\sim$30 million molecular structures from the QCML database. Using this "off-the-shelf'' approach, we show state-of-the-art results on several benchmarks after fine-tuning for a small number of steps. Additionally, we examine the effects of being only approximately equivariant and energy conserving for MD simulations, proposing a novel method for distinguishing the errors resulting from non-equivariance from other sources of inaccuracies like numerical rounding errors. While our model exhibits runaway energy increases on larger structures, we show approximately energy-conserving NVE simulations for a range of small structures.
A Magnetic-Actuated Vision-Based Whisker Array for Contact Perception and Grasping
Hu, Zhixian, Wachs, Juan, She, Yu
Tactile sensing and the manipulation of delicate objects are critical challenges in robotics. This study presents a vision-based magnetic-actuated whisker array sensor that integrates these functions. The sensor features eight whiskers arranged circularly, supported by an elastomer membrane and actuated by electromagnets and permanent magnets. A camera tracks whisker movements, enabling high-resolution tactile feedback. The sensor's performance was evaluated through object classification and grasping experiments. In the classification experiment, the sensor approached objects from four directions and accurately identified five distinct objects with a classification accuracy of 99.17% using a Multi-Layer Perceptron model. In the grasping experiment, the sensor tested configurations of eight, four, and two whiskers, achieving the highest success rate of 87% with eight whiskers. These results highlight the sensor's potential for precise tactile sensing and reliable manipulation.
SAGE-Amine: Generative Amine Design with Multi-Property Optimization for Efficient CO2 Capture
Lim, Hocheol, Cho, Hyein, Kim, Jeonghoon
Efficient CO2 capture is vital for mitigating climate change, with amine-based solvents being widely used due to their strong reactivity with CO2. However, optimizing key properties such as basicity, viscosity, and absorption capacity remains challenging, as traditional methods rely on labor-intensive experimentation and predefined chemical databases, limiting the exploration of novel solutions. Here, SAGE-Amine was introduced, a generative modeling approach that integrates Scoring-Assisted Generative Exploration (SAGE) with quantitative structure-property relationship models to design new amines tailored for CO2 capture. Unlike conventional virtual screening restricted to existing compounds, SAGE-Amine generates novel amines by leveraging autoregressive natural language processing models trained on amine datasets. SAGE-Amine identified known amines for CO2 capture from scratch and successfully performed single-property optimization, increasing basicity or reducing viscosity or vapor pressure. Furthermore, it facilitated multi-property optimization, simultaneously achieving high basicity with low viscosity and vapor pressure. The 10 top-ranked amines were suggested using SAGE-Amine and their thermodynamic properties were further assessed using COSMO-RS simulations, confirming their potential for CO2 capture. These results highlight the potential of generative modeling in accelerating the discovery of amine solvents and expanding the possibilities for industrial CO2 capture applications.
SuperGPQA: Scaling LLM Evaluation across 285 Graduate Disciplines
Team, M-A-P, Du, Xinrun, Yao, Yifan, Ma, Kaijing, Wang, Bingli, Zheng, Tianyu, Zhu, Kang, Liu, Minghao, Liang, Yiming, Jin, Xiaolong, Wei, Zhenlin, Zheng, Chujie, Deng, Kaixin, Jia, Shian, Jiang, Sichao, Liao, Yiyan, Li, Rui, Li, Qinrui, Li, Sirun, Li, Yizhi, Li, Yunwen, Ma, Dehua, Ni, Yuansheng, Que, Haoran, Wang, Qiyao, Wen, Zhoufutu, Wu, Siwei, Xing, Tianshun, Xu, Ming, Yang, Zhenzhu, Wang, Zekun Moore, Zhou, Junting, Bai, Yuelin, Bu, Xingyuan, Cai, Chenglin, Chen, Liang, Chen, Yifan, Cheng, Chengtuo, Cheng, Tianhao, Ding, Keyi, Huang, Siming, Huang, Yun, Li, Yaoru, Li, Yizhe, Li, Zhaoqun, Liang, Tianhao, Lin, Chengdong, Lin, Hongquan, Ma, Yinghao, Pang, Tianyang, Peng, Zhongyuan, Peng, Zifan, Qi, Qige, Qiu, Shi, Qu, Xingwei, Quan, Shanghaoran, Tan, Yizhou, Wang, Zili, Wang, Chenqing, Wang, Hao, Wang, Yiya, Wang, Yubo, Xu, Jiajun, Yang, Kexin, Yuan, Ruibin, Yue, Yuanhao, Zhan, Tianyang, Zhang, Chun, Zhang, Jinyang, Zhang, Xiyue, Zhang, Xingjian, Zhang, Yue, Zhao, Yongchi, Zheng, Xiangyu, Zhong, Chenghua, Gao, Yang, Li, Zhoujun, Liu, Dayiheng, Liu, Qian, Liu, Tianyu, Ni, Shiwen, Peng, Junran, Qin, Yujia, Su, Wenbo, Wang, Guoyin, Wang, Shi, Yang, Jian, Yang, Min, Cao, Meng, Yue, Xiang, Zhang, Zhaoxiang, Zhou, Wangchunshu, Liu, Jiaheng, Lin, Qunshu, Huang, Wenhao, Zhang, Ge
Large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated remarkable proficiency in mainstream academic disciplines such as mathematics, physics, and computer science. However, human knowledge encompasses over 200 specialized disciplines, far exceeding the scope of existing benchmarks. The capabilities of LLMs in many of these specialized fields-particularly in light industry, agriculture, and service-oriented disciplines-remain inadequately evaluated. To address this gap, we present SuperGPQA, a comprehensive benchmark that evaluates graduate-level knowledge and reasoning capabilities across 285 disciplines. Our benchmark employs a novel Human-LLM collaborative filtering mechanism to eliminate trivial or ambiguous questions through iterative refinement based on both LLM responses and expert feedback. Our experimental results reveal significant room for improvement in the performance of current state-of-the-art LLMs across diverse knowledge domains (e.g., the reasoning-focused model DeepSeek-R1 achieved the highest accuracy of 61.82% on SuperGPQA), highlighting the considerable gap between current model capabilities and artificial general intelligence. Additionally, we present comprehensive insights from our management of a large-scale annotation process, involving over 80 expert annotators and an interactive Human-LLM collaborative system, offering valuable methodological guidance for future research initiatives of comparable scope.
GRADEO: Towards Human-Like Evaluation for Text-to-Video Generation via Multi-Step Reasoning
Mou, Zhun, Xia, Bin, Huang, Zhengchao, Yang, Wenming, Jia, Jiaya
Recent great advances in video generation models have demonstrated their potential to produce high-quality videos, bringing challenges to effective evaluation. Unlike human evaluation, existing automated evaluation metrics lack high-level semantic understanding and reasoning capabilities for video, thus making them infeasible and unexplainable. To fill this gap, we curate GRADEO-Instruct, a multi-dimensional T2V evaluation instruction tuning dataset, including 3.3k videos from over 10 existing video generation models and multi-step reasoning assessments converted by 16k human annotations. We then introduce GRADEO, one of the first specifically designed video evaluation models, which grades AI-generated videos for explainable scores and assessments through multi-step reasoning. Experiments show that our method aligns better with human evaluations than existing methods. Furthermore, our benchmarking reveals that current video generation models struggle to produce content that aligns with human reasoning and complex real-world scenarios. The models, datasets, and codes will be released soon.
Origami-Inspired Soft Gripper with Tunable Constant Force Output
Ni, Zhenwei, Xu, Chang, Qin, Zhihang, Zhang, Ceng, Tang, Zhiqiang, Wang, Peiyi, Laschi, Cecilia
-- Soft robotic grippers gently and safely manipulate delicate objects due to their inherent adaptability and softness. Limited by insufficient stiffness and imprecise force control, conventional soft grippers are not suitable for applications that require stable grasping force. In this work, we propose a soft gripper that utilizes an origami-inspired structure to achieve tunable constant force output over a wide strain range. The geometry of each taper panel is established to provide necessary parameters such as protrusion distance, taper angle, and crease thickness required for 3D modeling and FEA analysis. Simulations and experiments show that by optimizing these parameters, our design can achieve a tunable constant force output. Moreover, the origami-inspired soft gripper dynamically adapts to different shapes while preventing excessive forces, with potential applications in logistics, manufacturing, and other industrial settings that require stable and adaptive operations.
General Force Sensation for Tactile Robot
Chen, Zhuo, Ou, Ni, Zhang, Xuyang, Wu, Zhiyuan, Zhao, Yongqiang, Wang, Yupeng, Lepora, Nathan, Jamone, Lorenzo, Deng, Jiankang, Luo, Shan
Robotic tactile sensors, including vision-based and taxel-based sensors, enable agile manipulation and safe human-robot interaction through force sensation. However, variations in structural configurations, measured signals, and material properties create domain gaps that limit the transferability of learned force sensation across different tactile sensors. Here, we introduce GenForce, a general framework for achieving transferable force sensation across both homogeneous and heterogeneous tactile sensors in robotic systems. By unifying tactile signals into marker-based binary tactile images, GenForce enables the transfer of existing force labels to arbitrary target sensors using a marker-to-marker translation technique with a few paired data. This process equips uncalibrated tactile sensors with force prediction capabilities through spatiotemporal force prediction models trained on the transferred data. Extensive experimental results validate GenForce's generalizability, accuracy, and robustness across sensors with diverse marker patterns, structural designs, material properties, and sensing principles. The framework significantly reduces the need for costly and labor-intensive labeled data collection, enabling the rapid deployment of multiple tactile sensors on robotic hands requiring force sensing capabilities.
Stable and Accurate Orbital-Free DFT Powered by Machine Learning
Remme, Roman, Kaczun, Tobias, Ebert, Tim, Gehrig, Christof A., Geng, Dominik, Gerhartz, Gerrit, Ickler, Marc K., Klockow, Manuel V., Lippmann, Peter, Schmidt, Johannes S., Wagner, Simon, Dreuw, Andreas, Hamprecht, Fred A.
Hohenberg and Kohn have proven that the electronic energy and the one-particle electron density can, in principle, be obtained by minimizing an energy functional with respect to the density. Given that decades of theoretical work have so far failed to produce this elusive exact energy functional promising great computational savings, it is reasonable to try and learn it empirically. Using rotationally equivariant atomistic machine learning, we obtain for the first time a density functional that, when applied to the organic molecules in QM9, yields energies with chemical accuracy while also converging to meaningful electron densities. Augmenting the training data with densities obtained from perturbed potentials proved key to these advances. Altogether, we are now closer than ever to fulfilling Hohenberg and Kohn's promise, paving the way for more efficient calculations in large molecular systems. 1 arXiv:2503.00443v1 The proof marked a radical departure from most prior work, which had ...