Loading Exported Policies

InferenceModel

src/physicalai/inference/model.py

src/physicalai/inference/manifest.py

src/physicalai/inference/adapters/registry.py

onnx

.onnx

openvino

.xml

src/physicalai/inference/utils/_hub.py

Workflow

1. Identify the artifact: local export directory or Hub

   repo_id

   , expected backend, and whether the user needs

   select_action

   vs

   predict_action_chunk

   .
   • Done when: load path and API entry point are chosen before editing code.
2. Load with auto-detection first (local):
   python

   from physicalai.inference import InferenceModel
   model = InferenceModel("./exports/act_policy")

   • Done when:

     model

     constructs without explicit

     backend=

     when artifacts match a registered extension.
3. Hub load when the package is published:
   python

   model = InferenceModel.from_pretrained("OpenVINO/act-fp16-ov", revision="<commit-sha>")

   • Done when: revision is pinned for reproducibility when security or CI matters.
4. Explicit backend only when auto-detection is ambiguous:
   python

   model = InferenceModel("./exports/act_policy", backend="openvino", device="CPU")

5. Validate structure against

   references/export-load-contract.md

   and backend notes (

   references/onnx.md

   ,

   references/openvino.md

   ).
   • Done when: manifest, model file, and processor artifacts resolve under the export directory.
6. Smoke inference without owning robot timing:
   python

   model.reset()
   action = model.select_action(observation)

   • Done when: one forward pass succeeds on representative observation keys/shapes. For hardware loops, hand off to

     physicalai-runtime-running-policy-on-robot

     .

Validation loop

uv run pytest tests/unit/inference/test_model.py tests/unit/inference/test_manifest.py -q

tests/unit/inference/

Required checks

• Export directory contains backend model file(s) and

  manifest.json

  consistent with

  docs/reference/manifest-schema.md

  .
• Metadata input/output/feature names align with preprocessors in the manifest.
• Optional backends fail with clear install guidance (

  onnxruntime

  , OpenVINO).
• Do not document a backend unless an adapter is registered in

  src/physicalai/inference/adapters/

  .
• Hub loads must not log tokens; prefer pinned

  revision=

  for production docs.

References

• references/export-load-contract.md

  — consumer-side contract (coordinate with Studio export skill).

• references/onnx.md

  ,

  references/openvino.md

  — adapter constraints.