CoRL Submission

This is the pre-upload audit for a CoRL paper. The numbers below are the CoRL 2026 requirements as read on 2026-07-08 from the official Instruction for Authors and Call for Papers (corl.org); the 2026 deadline has passed, so apply this skill to a 2027-cycle draft after re-opening the new year's pages — CoRL re-issues its instructions annually and has changed page accounting between cycles.

The 2026 package, itemized

What makes the CoRL audit different

Two venue-specific traps dominate desk problems here, and neither exists in the same form at neighboring conferences:

1. The Limitations section is not optional and not free. The 2026 instructions require every submission to include a Limitations section — limiting assumptions, failure modes, and how they might be addressed — and it counts inside the 8 pages. Drafts imported from NeurIPS-style templates (where such sections often sit outside the limit) silently overflow. Audit the page budget with Limitations present, not as an afterthought.
2. Project pages leak identity. Robot-learning papers habitually ship a project website with videos. During review, any link that identifies an author, lab, or institution is an anonymity violation under the 2026 instructions — this includes the URL itself (lab-name.github.io fails even if the page is scrubbed). Use an anonymous hosting pattern or put the video in the supplementary upload instead.

Anonymity sweep for a robot-learning paper

Beyond the standard items (author block, acknowledgments, metadata, third-person self-citation), sweep the modalities specific to this field:

• Video frames: lab signage, whiteboards, badge lanyards, reflections in glossy robot shells, distinctive lab furniture that appears in your prior papers.
• Robot livery: stickers, hostnames on monitors, custom end-effectors already associated with your group.
• Dataset paths burned into figures or config listings (/home/<user>/...).
• Repository and W&B links in code snippets or appendix listings.

# Mechanical pre-upload pass on the submission PDF and supplementary bundle
pdftotext main.pdf - | grep -nEi 'github\.io|github\.com|wandb|acknowledg|our (lab|group|university)' | head
pdfinfo main.pdf | grep -Ei 'author|creator|producer'
grep -RnEi 'hostname|/home/|api_key' supplementary/code/ | head
stat -c '%n %s' supplementary/video.mp4      # must be <= 250 MB (2026 strict cap)
pdftotext main.pdf - | grep -ci 'limitation' # 0 hits => missing mandatory section

Page-budget strategy under the 8+Limitations rule

• Write the Limitations section early and hold it at a fixed budget (half a page is a common shape); do not let it become the compression victim of deadline week.
• Overflow goes to the appendix — reviewers are not obligated to read it, so only non-load-bearing detail (full hyperparameter tables, extra rollouts, per-task breakdowns beyond the headline) may live there.
• Do not fight the template: class-file modifications, margin edits, and squeezed float spacing are detectable and read as rule-testing to ACs.

Form fields and policy checks

• Abstract registration first. The 2026 cycle separated abstract (May 26) and paper (May 29); a missed abstract registration forecloses the submission entirely. Register with a stable title and author list.
• Dual submission: the paper must not be under review elsewhere; the fast-moving robot-learning arXiv culture makes this an easy accident when a workshop version is circulating — check the current CFP's exact scope wording each cycle.
• GenAI policy: the 2026 Instruction for Authors added a generative-AI policy (announced April 2026); its exact disclosure requirements are 待核实 in this pack — read that section verbatim before submitting.
• Subject areas / keywords on the form drive reviewer assignment in a small, specialized pool; pick the subfield your harshest competent critic works in.

Pre-upload checklist

[ ] Abstract registered by the abstract deadline (title/authors stable)
[ ] Main text <= 8 pages WITH Limitations section included and substantive
[ ] References + appendix after main text, same PDF, uncounted
[ ] corl_2026 template unmodified; compiles with no page-limit tricks
[ ] Anonymity sweep passed: text, figures, video frames, links, metadata
[ ] Supplementary video <= 250 MB, ~3 min, anonymized end to end
[ ] Code/data (if included) scrubbed of identities, paths, and keys
[ ] OpenReview form: authors, conflicts, keywords, abstract synced with PDF
[ ] Dual-submission status confirmed with every coauthor in writing
[ ] GenAI-policy disclosure handled per the current instructions [待核实]

Re-verify each cycle

Page accounting (the 2026 camera-ready got a 9th page; earlier cycles differed), the Limitations rule, video caps, the GenAI policy, and deadline clock conventions are all chair-set and cycle-volatile. The controlling sources are https://www.corl.org/contributions/call-for-papers and https://www.corl.org/contributions/instruction-for-authors for the live year — open both before trusting any number in this file.