Sources — Foundations of Vision Language Action Models
The references below are organized as a developmental chain describing how perception, embodiment, action, control, autonomous systems, and Vision Language Action Models (VLAs) became progressively formalized across disciplines.
Perceptual Foundations
The foundational question concerns how perception emerges from environmental observation.
Phenomenology of Perception (1945)
https://archive.org/details/phenomenologyofp0000merl_e6m9
The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception (1979)
https://archive.org/details/pdfy-u5hmFOvOM2Civ4Gz/mode/2up
Embodiment and Action
Perception becomes operational through embodied interaction and action.
Gesture and Speech (1964-1965)
https://archive.org/details/leroi-gourhan-andre-gesture-and-speech
The Embodied Mind (1991)
https://archive.org/details/FranciscoJ.VarelaEvanT.ThompsonEleanorRoschTheEmbodiedMindCognitiveScienceAndHum
Environment and Meaning
Perception and action occur within environmental and relational systems.
Steps to an Ecology of Mind (1972)
https://archive.org/details/stepstoecologyof0000bate
Decision and Control
Observed conditions become actionable through decision and control processes.
Administrative Behavior (1947)
https://archive.org/details/administrativebe0000simo_f3b1
Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine (1948)
https://archive.org/details/wiener-1938/Cybernetics%20or%20Communication%20and%20Control%20in%20the%20Animal%20and%20the%20Machine%20-%20Norbert%20Wiene_OCR/page/125/mode/2up
An Introduction to Cybernetics (1956)
https://archive.org/details/AnIntroductionToCybernetics
Autonomous Systems
Perception, interpretation, and control become integrated within autonomous system architectures.
Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (1995)
https://archive.org/details/isbn_9788177583670
Introduction to AI Robotics (2000)
https://archive.org/details/introductiontoai0000murp
Vision-Language-Action Models
RT-1: Robotics Transformer for Real-World Control at Scale (2022)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.06817
RT-2: Vision-Language-Action Models Transfer Web Knowledge to Robotic Control (2023)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.15818
Structural Interpretation
Taken together, these references describe a progression from perception and embodied action toward autonomous systems capable of transforming environmental observations into realized state transitions.
Perception
↓
Embodiment
↓
Environment
↓
Decision
↓
Control
↓
Autonomous Systems
↓
Vision Language Action Models (VLAs)
Within this progression, Vision Language Action Models (VLAs) represent contemporary autonomous system architectures that integrate perception, interpretation, action selection, and transition realization within a unified operational framework.