Core Viewpoint - The article emphasizes the need for a paradigm shift in robotics from modular systems to a unified architecture that enables embodied intelligence, allowing robots to process perception, reasoning, and action simultaneously, akin to human cognition [4][10][34]. Current Paradigm Limitations - Existing mainstream methods treat different modalities as independent modules, leading to inherent flaws in information processing and understanding [6][7]. - The representation bottleneck results in unavoidable compression losses when transferring information between different modality encoders, hindering deep cross-modal understanding of the physical world [7]. - The structural disconnection prevents models from learning intuitive causal relationships across modalities, which is essential for true physical intelligence [8]. Unified Architecture: From Division to Integration - The proposed unified modality architecture aims to eliminate artificial boundaries between visual, linguistic, and action modalities, processing them as a single information flow [4][10]. - The core of this architecture is unified representation learning, converting all modality information into a shared high-dimensional token sequence [11]. - A multi-task, multi-modal generation mechanism serves as a supervisory method, compelling the model to establish deep cross-modal correspondences [12]. Emergent Capabilities: Embodied Multi-Modal Reasoning - The unified architecture unlocks comprehensive embodied multi-modal reasoning capabilities that current modular systems cannot achieve [16]. - Symbol-space reasoning allows robots to deconstruct abstract shapes into concrete representations and perform physical operations based on this understanding [17]. - Physical space reasoning enables robots to understand the implications of actions on structural stability and articulate their reasoning processes [19][20]. - The system can autonomously explore complex environments by integrating visual observations, spatial memory, and common knowledge into coherent reasoning chains [22]. Conclusion - The transition to a unified architecture is crucial for enabling robots to interact seamlessly with the physical world, integrating perception, understanding, and action without the delays and losses associated with modular systems [30][31]. - This shift is not merely incremental but represents a fundamental evolution necessary for achieving embodied intelligence capable of cross-modal causal reasoning and spatial logic [34].