# ArtifactArena: Evaluating models by the robots they build in the physical world

- Source: arXiv cs.RO
- Published: 2026-10-26T04:00:00.000Z
- RoboHot: https://robohot.news/en/items/dpfutp10op6ea0jtaulj6xhdx
- Original: https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.06511

## Summary

ArtifactArena is an open-ended evaluation platform that challenges models with hardware-software co-design: building working robots in a simulated arena and pitting them against each other. The platform guides models to improve their robot artifacts through three channels: text descriptions, physics simulator feedback, and gameplay data, and compares frontier models using Elo rankings from head-to-head tournaments. The authors are releasing the framework and tournament infrastructure for ongoing community submissions, creating a non-saturating long-term testbed.