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This survey paper establishes a critical framework for understanding security and privacy risks in foundation model-powered robots, moving beyond the models themselves to include embodied execution pipelines and governance layers. By systematizing 96 existing studies into a unified taxonomy, it reveals specific threat patterns and evaluation gaps that are essential for building trustworthy autonomous systems. The work provides a necessary research agenda for securing the next generation of AI-driven robotics against emerging vulnerabilities.
Source coveringarXiv

SoK: Security and Privacy of Foundation-Model-Powered Robots

arXiv3 min read

arXiv:2606.16788v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Foundation models are reshaping robotics by enabling robots to interpret open-ended instructions, reason over multimodal contexts, and operate in complex, open-world environments. However, their integration also introduces security and privacy (S&P) risks that extend beyond the FMs themselves to embodied execution pipelines, supporting ecosystems, and broader governance impacts. Existing literature reviews provide valuable insights but often focus on specific FM types, risk categories, mitigation strategies, or trust boundaries. Consequently, the field lacks a unified structure for analyzing where risks originate, how they propagate across robotic systems, and where mitigations should intervene. To address this gap, we propose a progressive F-E-S-G structural boundary framework for analyzing the S&P of FM-powered robots. The framework comprises four layers: the Foundation model layer (F), Embodied system layer (E), Supporting ecosystem layer (S), and Governance impact layer (G). Building on this structure, we develop a multi-level taxonomy that organizes prior studies along three levels: F-E-S-G trust boundary, security-privacy concerns, and risk-mitigation perspectives. We further annotate each study using fine-grained coding attributes, including target, lifecycle stage, mechanism, system access, and effect. Guided by this framework and taxonomy, we systematize 96 papers. Our analysis uncovers multiple threat patterns, defense mismatches, and evaluation gaps that are difficult to identify from a single-boundary perspective. Based on these findings, we identify open challenges and future directions to provide a research agenda for developing secure, privacy-preserving, and responsibly governed FM-powered robotic systems.

Abstract:Foundation models are reshaping robotics by enabling robots to interpret open-ended instructions, reason over multimodal contexts, and operate in complex, open-world environments. However, their integration also introduces security and privacy (S&P) risks that extend beyond the FMs themselves to embodied execution pipelines, supporting ecosystems, and broader governance impacts. Existing literature reviews provide valuable insights but often focus on specific FM types, risk categories, mitigation strategies, or trust boundaries. Consequently, the field lacks a unified structure for analyzing where risks originate, how they propagate across robotic systems, and where mitigations should intervene. To address this gap, we propose a progressive F-E-S-G structural boundary framework for analyzing the S&P of FM-powered robots. The framework comprises four layers: the Foundation model layer (F), Embodied system layer (E), Supporting ecosystem layer (S), and Governance impact layer (G). Building on this structure, we develop a multi-level taxonomy that organizes prior studies along three levels: F-E-S-G trust boundary, security-privacy concerns, and risk-mitigation perspectives. We further annotate each study using fine-grained coding attributes, including target, lifecycle stage, mechanism, system access, and effect. Guided by this framework and taxonomy, we systematize 96 papers. Our analysis uncovers multiple threat patterns, defense mismatches, and evaluation gaps that are difficult to identify from a single-boundary perspective. Based on these findings, we identify open challenges and future directions to provide a research agenda for developing secure, privacy-preserving, and responsibly governed FM-powered robotic systems.

Robotics (cs.RO)

arXiv:2606.16788 [cs.RO]

(or arXiv:2606.16788v1 [cs.RO] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2606.16788 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

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Full text under the publisher's open licence · 324 words