Apple’s AMP1 lets general-purpose AI models run robot arms, and they beat the specialists

Apple researchers say off-the-shelf AI models writing Python code outperformed purpose-built robot policies in simulation and real-world tests Apple has a new robotics paper. Its argument is that you may not need a robot-specific brain to make a robot useful. The system is called AMP1, short for Agentic Manipulation Policies. It lets general-purpose AI models control robot arms by writing and running Python code. According to the research, it outperformed specialist robot policies on manipulation tasks. The paper, titled “On Agentic Manipulation Policies” (arXiv:2611.09892), was published in November 2026. The code and simulation data are publicly available. How AMP1 actually works AMP1 runs zero-shot. The model gets no fine-tuning on the specific robot or task, and it doesn’t need a library of demonstrations. The research describes the framework running across several robotic configurations: single-arm, bimanual (two arms), and mobile setups. Supporting different hardware without retraining is exactly the flexibility specialist systems tend to lack. AMP1 can also adapt its strategy in real time, including using tools and running searches. The numbers In simulation, the team tested...