diff --git a/src/lerobot/scripts/lerobot_smolvla2_runtime.py b/src/lerobot/scripts/lerobot_smolvla2_runtime.py
index f0c390f8f..84d7a9d00 100644
--- a/src/lerobot/scripts/lerobot_smolvla2_runtime.py
+++ b/src/lerobot/scripts/lerobot_smolvla2_runtime.py
@@ -263,6 +263,47 @@ def _parse_args(argv: list[str] | None = None) -> argparse.Namespace:
     return p.parse_args(argv)
 
 
+def _log_obs_tensors_once(label: str, obs: Any, flag: dict) -> None:
+    """Print shape / dtype / per-channel stats of every observation tensor
+    going into the policy, exactly once per provider lifetime.
+
+    Used to bisect train/inference mismatches: if the dry-run path
+    and the robot path produce identifiably different tensors here
+    (e.g. one is batched twice, one has a different range, one is on
+    a different device), the LM head's collapse on the live robot is
+    a tensor-shape bug, not a distribution-shift problem. If the
+    tensors *do* match byte-for-byte and the head still collapses,
+    only then is the scene-content OOD hypothesis the right one.
+    """
+    if flag.get("done") or not isinstance(obs, dict):
+        return
+    flag["done"] = True
+    import torch as _torch  # noqa: PLC0415
+
+    for k, v in obs.items():
+        if not isinstance(k, str) or not k.startswith("observation."):
+            continue
+        if isinstance(v, _torch.Tensor):
+            try:
+                stats = (
+                    f"min={float(v.min()):.4f} max={float(v.max()):.4f} "
+                    f"mean={float(v.mean()):.4f} std={float(v.float().std()):.4f}"
+                )
+            except Exception:  # noqa: BLE001
+                stats = "(stats unavailable)"
+            logger.warning(
+                "obs[%s] %-30s shape=%s dtype=%s device=%s %s",
+                label,
+                k,
+                tuple(v.shape),
+                v.dtype,
+                v.device,
+                stats,
+            )
+        else:
+            logger.warning("obs[%s] %-30s type=%s value=%r", label, k, type(v).__name__, v)
+
+
 def _load_policy_and_preprocessor(
     policy_path: str,
     dataset_repo_id: str | None,
@@ -368,6 +409,7 @@ def _build_observation_provider(
         )
 
     state = {"cursor": max(0, min(start_frame, len(ds) - 1))}
+    _logged = {"done": False}
 
     def _provider() -> dict | None:
         idx = state["cursor"]
@@ -383,6 +425,8 @@ def _build_observation_provider(
         if preprocessor is not None:
             sample = preprocessor(sample)
 
+        _log_obs_tensors_once("dry-run", sample, _logged)
+
         # Keep only observation keys; the runtime's text path will
         # merge these with its own lang_tokens / lang_masks.
         observation = {
@@ -649,6 +693,7 @@ def _build_robot_observation_provider(
     # head's distribution at position 0 collapses to its dominant
     # mode (a memorised ``\n``-only run in this checkpoint).
     _resize_logged = {"done": False}
+    _obs_logged = {"done": False}
     target_image_shapes: dict[str, tuple[int, int]] = {}
     if ds_features:
         for fkey, fmeta in ds_features.items():
@@ -770,6 +815,8 @@ def _build_robot_observation_provider(
                 return None
             obs_tensors = processed if isinstance(processed, dict) else {}
 
+        _log_obs_tensors_once("robot", obs_tensors, _obs_logged)
+
         observation = {
             k: v
             for k, v in obs_tensors.items()