feat(policies): Allow users to register 3rd party policies - pip install lerobot_policy_mypolicy

[danielsanjosepro]

What this does

• It allows new users to register their own policies, similar to how users can now register 3rd party devices and can be used as:

conda activate lerobot
pip install lerobot_policy_<my_amazing_policy_name>
lerobot-train --policy.type <my_amazing_policy_name> --env.type pusht

• I created an example for the DiTFlow policy (see Add DiT policy with flow matching objective #680). The policy pluging can be found here lerobot_policy_ditflow and a dead simple guide on how to use it can be found here: test_lerobot_policy_ditflow.
• I created a small documentation file to help users create their own.

Why?

It will promote sharing policies without having to fork LeRobot and become incompatible with the ecosystem in a few weeks. It is also easier to maintain policies externally instead of cluttering the default policies of LeRobot, reducing the maintenance effort for the main contributors.

How it was tested

It was tested by running the train and evaluation scripts of LeRobot with lerobot_policy_ditflow on pusht and on our Franka Robotics FR3. It was also tested with other policies that are (for now) not publicly available.

How to checkout & try? (for the reviewer)

The easiest would be to check out test_lerobot_policy_ditflow.

To train DiTFlow on pusht just try this:

git clone https://github.com/danielsanjosepro/lerobot_policy_ditflow.git
git clone https://github.com/danielsanjosepro/lerobot.git
git clone https://github.com/danielsanjosepro/test_lerobot_policy_ditflow.git

cd test_lerobot_policy_ditflow
pixi shell  # similar to conda, it activates the environment and installs lerobot as well as lerobot_policy_ditflow
bash scripts/train.sh  # train DiTFlow and Diffusion on pusht

Looking forward for your feedback! 🤗

[Copilot]

Pull Request Overview

This PR enables users to register and use third-party policy implementations as pip-installable plugins, following the pattern lerobot_policy_<policy_name>. This allows the community to contribute policies without forking LeRobot, similar to the existing device plugin system.

Key changes:

• Renamed register_third_party_devices() to register_third_party_plugins() and added support for lerobot_policy_* packages
• Integrated plugin registration into training and evaluation scripts
• Added dynamic import mechanisms in policy factory to support third-party policies
• Created documentation for policy plugin development

Reviewed Changes

Copilot reviewed 10 out of 10 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
src/lerobot/utils/import_utils.py	Renamed function to register_third_party_plugins() and added lerobot_policy_ prefix to plugin discovery
src/lerobot/scripts/lerobot_train.py	Added plugin registration call in main entry point
src/lerobot/scripts/lerobot_eval.py	Added plugin registration call in main entry point
src/lerobot/scripts/lerobot_teleoperate.py	Updated import to use renamed register_third_party_plugins() function
src/lerobot/scripts/lerobot_replay.py	Updated import to use renamed register_third_party_plugins() function
src/lerobot/scripts/lerobot_record.py	Updated import to use renamed register_third_party_plugins() function
src/lerobot/scripts/lerobot_calibrate.py	Updated import to use renamed register_third_party_plugins() function
src/lerobot/policies/factory.py	Added dynamic import helpers for third-party policy classes and processors
docs/source/bring_your_own_policies.mdx	Added comprehensive guide for creating third-party policy plugins
docs/source/_toctree.yml	Added new documentation page to table of contents

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[Copilot]

Pull Request Overview

Copilot reviewed 10 out of 10 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

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[HuggingFaceDocBuilderDev]

The docs for this PR live here. All of your documentation changes will be reflected on that endpoint. The docs are available until 30 days after the last update.

[imstevenpmwork]

Gracias, @danielsanjosepro! That's an excellent idea; I'm surprised policies didn't occur to me in the original PR.

This is looking good. I'll hold this PR until next week, as the current focus is on bug fixes and documentation updates for the 0.4.1 release.