Learning from Trials and Errors: Reflective Test-Time Planning for Embodied LLMs

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2602.21198v1
• Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2026 18:55:18 GMT
• Title: Learning from Trials and Errors: Reflective Test-Time Planning for Embodied LLMs
• Authors: Yining Hong, Huang Huang, Manling Li, Li Fei-Fei, Jiajun Wu, Yejin Choi,
• Abstract summary: Embodied robots cannot reflect on what went wrong or why, turning deployment into a sequence of independent trials.<n>We introduce Reflective Test-Time Planning, which integrates two modes of reflection: textitreflection-in-action and textitreflection-on-action<n>We also include retrospective reflection, allowing the agent to re-evaluate earlier decisions and perform model updates with hindsight.
• Score: 63.88783817420284
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: Embodied LLMs endow robots with high-level task reasoning, but they cannot reflect on what went wrong or why, turning deployment into a sequence of independent trials where mistakes repeat rather than accumulate into experience. Drawing upon human reflective practitioners, we introduce Reflective Test-Time Planning, which integrates two modes of reflection: \textit{reflection-in-action}, where the agent uses test-time scaling to generate and score multiple candidate actions using internal reflections before execution; and \textit{reflection-on-action}, which uses test-time training to update both its internal reflection model and its action policy based on external reflections after execution. We also include retrospective reflection, allowing the agent to re-evaluate earlier decisions and perform model updates with hindsight for proper long-horizon credit assignment. Experiments on our newly-designed Long-Horizon Household benchmark and MuJoCo Cupboard Fitting benchmark show significant gains over baseline models, with ablative studies validating the complementary roles of reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action. Qualitative analyses, including real-robot trials, highlight behavioral correction through reflection.

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