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PhysAgent: Reflective Agentic Physics Control for Physically Plausible Video Generation

Reflection-iteration agents for controllable, physically plausible video generation.

Qirui Li1Jinkun Hao1Yibo Li1Ran Yi1Paul L. Rosin2Yu-Kun Lai21Shanghai Jiao Tong University ยท 2Cardiff University

Overview

Multi-Round Iterative Generation

A small red ball rolls down from the higher step on the right and lands in the paper cup below; the impact then makes the cup lose balance and tip over.

Iteration 1
Iteration 2
Iteration 3
Reflection 1 to 2

Speed of the red ball should be faster to fall into the cup.

Reflection 2 to 3

The red ball should be heavier to knock down the cup, and increase the speed a littlt bit.

A bowling ball curves to the right along the lane, hits only the right-side pin, knocks that pin down, and leaves the other pins standing.

Iteration 1
Iteration 2
Iteration 3
Reflection 1 to 2

The bowling ball's velocity direction should be adjusted further to the right.

Reflection 2 to 3

The bowling ball's velocity is now deviating too far to the right, so it should be adjusted slightly back to the left.

A red curling stone slides from behind toward a yellow stone at the target, hits it, pushes it away from its original position, and finally stops near the center of the target.

Iteration 1
Iteration 2
Iteration 3
Reflection 1 to 2

The red curling stone's velocity direction should point straight toward the yellow stone.

Reflection 2 to 3

The red curling stone should move faster, and its mass should be slightly increased.

A yellow toy stands on a wooden table; a blue ring descends from above but does not fully loop around it, instead getting half caught on the toy body and stopping at an angle.

Iteration 1
Iteration 2
Iteration 3
Reflection 1 to 2

Increase the ring's initial downward velocity.

Reflection 2 to 3

Slightly reduce the initial velocity to avoid overshooting the desired contact state.

A small rocket launches from the grass, first flies upward to the right, then gradually curves left, forming a C-shaped arc.

Iteration 1
Iteration 2
Iteration 3
Reflection 1 to 2

The rocket thrust should be stronger and last longer.

Reflection 2 to 3

The steering force should be applied slightly earlier.

A snowball flies in an arc toward a wooden fence, hits the fence. Some of it breaks into powder, and bounces back outward.

Iteration 1
Iteration 2
Iteration 3
Reflection 1 to 2

The snowball collider should be fixed during the early stage to prevent it from breaking apart in flight.

Reflection 2 to 3

The snowball needs a higher initial velocity.

Comparisons with Baselines

Ours
Baseline

In a side-scrolling pipe game scene, a small bird flies to the right while bobbing up and down to adjust its height, passing through the gap between each pair of vertical pipes in sequence.

Ours
Baseline

A red toy car drifts sideways while descending the transparent ramp and the car tips over onto its side on the tabletop.

Ours
Baseline

A knife is thrown above a wooden cutting board, flies forward while flipping in the air, and finally lands near the board.

Ours
Baseline

Two oranges slide off the end of a conveyor belt, fall to the floor, collide with a third orange that was resting below, and push it forward.

Ours
Baseline

A huge pumpkin hangs directly above a small wooden stool, falls vertically, lands heavily on it, and crushes the stool.

Ours
Baseline

A scooter rolls across the ground toward a trash can, hits it, loses balance and falls over, while the trash can is also knocked down.

Ours
Baseline

In a snake game, the snake first moves to the right to eat a piece of food, then turns downward and continues moving.

Ours
Baseline

A snowman stands in the snow; the hat on its head is blown off by the wind and falls to one side.

More Results

Event 1

In a stack of books near the table edge, the top three books are pushed off the tabletop and fall, while the bottom book remains on the table.

Event 2

Only the top book in the stack is pushed sideways; it slides off the stack, flips once in the air, and lands flat on the floor, while the remaining books stay upright in a stack.

Event 1
Event 2
Event 1

After the support plate beneath the transparent ramp is pulled away, the white foam block loses support and falls downward.

Event 2

A white foam block is above a transparent ramp and gently floats downward through the air, slowly approaching the ramp surface.

Event 1

In a snake game, the snake first moves to the right, then turns downward and continues moving to eat the fruit.

Event 2

In a snake game, the snake moves through four successive stages, changing direction step by step and eating the target food.

Event 1

A snowman stands in the snow; the hat on its head is blown off by the wind and falls to one side.

Event 2

A snowman is hit by a sideways wind or force.

Event 1

An umbrella lies beside an open road; strong wind lifts it off the ground, carries it into the air, and makes it drift around.

Event 2

An umbrella is blown by the wind on an open road; instead of flying high, it tumbles backward along the road surface.

Event 1

A red toy car starts on a transparent ramp, rolls down the slope, and reaches the flat tabletop.

Event 2

A red toy car rolls down the transparent ramp, then turns around and changes direction after reaching the bottom.

Event 1

A small yellow cube rests near a table edge; as its center of mass passes the edge, it slips outward and falls.

Event 2

A small yellow cube near the table edge receives a sideways force, flips to the left, and falls off the tabletop.

Event 1

A soccer ball on the grass rolls forward across the field and crosses the goal line.

Event 2

A soccer ball is kicked from the grass, leaves the ground, flies toward the goal, and lands inside.

Event 1

A red kite held by a string in the sky sways left and right under the wind.

Event 2

A red kite in the sky is pulled by the wind and moves along a roughly circular path.

Abstract

Physically plausible video generation remains challenging for current generative models, especially when the user prompts describe fine-grained object dynamics, force interactions, complex trajectories, and temporally structured motion. Existing physics-grounded video generation methods introduce physics engines to provide explicit simulation priors, but they often rely on one-shot vision-language model prediction to configure physical parameters and motion controls. Such a paradigm is fragile due to the strong coupling among simulation parameters, the limited expressiveness of low-level force or collision-based controls, and the lack of feedback mechanisms for realizing complex and precise physical outcomes.

In this paper, we propose a reflection-iteration agent framework that closes the loop between vision-language model configuration, physics simulation, reflective evaluation, and iterative parameter refinement. Beyond improving the control of coupled physical parameters, our framework enables the agent to progressively realize complex trajectories, multi-stage interactions, and precise event outcomes by treating each physical program as an executable hypothesis. In addition, we design a set of high-level physics-control APIs to support more compositional and complex motion behaviors. Our framework improves prompt alignment, physical plausibility, and generalization in physics-grounded video generation.

Method Overview

Starting from an input image and event prompt, the agent infers a physical control program, executes it in simulation, verifies intermediate artifacts, and refines failed factors before using the accepted rollout as a structured motion prior for video synthesis.

Method overview