added quantization, direct conversion and evaluation script to lerobot act

Author: mhpanah

notebooks/lerobot_act/README.md

@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 # ACT Policy → OpenVINO IR Conversion (Notebook Guide)
-
 This README documents the current workflow implemented in `act_to_openvino.ipynb` for converting a LeRobot ACT (Action Chunking Transformer) PyTorch checkpoint into an OpenVINO IR (XML/BIN) model. The notebook presently performs FP32 export (Model Optimizer invoked with FP16 compression flag but output standardized to `act_model_fp32.xml/bin`).
 
 
@@ -10,13 +9,17 @@ Place these next to the notebook:
 * `train_config.json` – optional (reproducibility record)
 * `stats.json` – optional normalization statistics
 
+## Required dataset Files (`dataset/G1_BlockStacking_Dataset/`)
+Download the G1_BlockStacking_Dataset from hugging face:
+https://huggingface.co/datasets/unitreerobotics/G1_Dex3_BlockStacking_Dataset
+
+
 ## Minimal Installation & Launch
 Recommended (Conda environment):
 ```bash
+bash setup_unitree_lerobot_env.sh
 conda create -n unitree_lerobot python=3.10 -y
 conda activate unitree_lerobot
-# Optional helper script if present in this folder
-bash setup_unitree_lerobot_env.sh
 # Launch notebook with correct kernel
 jupyter lab act_to_openvino.ipynb --NotebookApp.kernel_name=unitree_lerobot
 ```
@@ -49,16 +52,75 @@ Artifacts are copied / renamed to:
 * `act_model_fp32.xml`
 * `act_model_fp32.bin`
 
-## Directory Layout After Successful Conversion
+## Direct PyTorch FX Conversion
+Instead of exporting full temporal tensors via ONNX you can generate a smaller IR directly from PyTorch using OpenVINO's FX path. The wrapper internally creates placeholder temporal inputs (`action`, `action_is_pad`, history) so the IR exposes only observation features:
+* `observation_state`
+* `observation_images_0..N` (one input per camera)
+
+Resulting files:
+* `act_model_direct_fp32.xml/bin`
+* `act_model_direct_fp16.xml/bin`
+
+## INT8 Quantization (NNCF)
+You can produce an INT8 version for reduced size / latency using NNCF post‑training quantization.
+
+Prerequisites:
+* Direct FP32 IR: `act_model_direct_fp32.xml`
+* Representative dataset root (`ACT_DATASET_ROOT`) with episodes
+* Normalization stats: `stats.json`
+
+Generated files:
+* `openvino_ir_outputs/int8/model_int8.xml/bin`
+
+Tips:
+* Increase calibration samples for better accuracy.
+* Use `preset='accuracy'` if performance preset degrades results too much.
+* Ensure OpenVINO and NNCF versions are compatible (>= 2025.0.0 for OpenVINO runtime if using latest NNCF).
+
+
+## Evaluation of Variants
+The notebook / helper script can compare PyTorch baseline vs IR variants (Direct FP32, FP16, MO FP32, INT8).
+
+Environment variables (set before running evaluation cell):
+| Var | Purpose |
+|-----|---------|
+| `OPENVINO_MODEL_PATH` | Path to IR `.xml` file to evaluate |
+| `STATS_PATH` | Path to `stats.json` for normalization |
+| `OPENVINO_DEVICE` | `CPU|GPU|NPU|AUTO` (compile target) |
+| `OPENVINO_PRECISION_HINT` | Optional override (`FP32|FP16|INT8`) |
+
+
+Evaluation pipeline steps:
+1. Load PyTorch ACT and normalization stats.
+2. Compile OpenVINO model.
+3. Run action predictions over dataset episodes.
+4. Apply optional temporal smoothing ensemble.
+5. Plot per‑joint trajectories & error statistics (saved as `actions_comparison_<variant>.png`).
+
+
+## Directory Layout (Example After Conversion, FP16 & INT8 Quantization)
 ```
 act_to_openvino.ipynb
 act_checkpoint/
   model.safetensors
   config.json
   train_config.json
-  stats.json (optional)
+  stats.json              # normalization (recommended, required for eval & INT8)
+dataset/
+  G1_BlockStacking_Dataset/
 openvino_ir_outputs/
-  model.onnx
-  act_model_fp32.xml
+  model.onnx               # ONNX baseline export
+  act_model_fp32.xml       # MO baseline IR (full inputs)
   act_model_fp32.bin
+  act_model_direct_fp32.xml  # Direct minimal-input IR
+  act_model_direct_fp32.bin
+  int8/
+    model_int8.xml          # Post-training quantized INT8 IR
+    model_int8.bin
+
+figure_actions_comparison_direct_fp32.png
+figure_actions_comparison_direct_fp16.png
+figure_actions_comparison_mo_fp32.png
+figure_actions_comparison_int8.png
+
 ```