Skip to content

URML (open robot intent language): a typed, English-friendly intent layer above libwallaby (request for comment) #210

Description

@idoco2003

Hi KIPR maintainers,

URML (urml.dev) is a small, Apache-2.0 language for robot intent: an instruction (including an English one) becomes a typed primitive, validated against the robot's declared capabilities and a safety envelope, then dispatched. libwallaby is the control library behind the Wombat/Wallaby controllers used in Botball, and URML is interesting as a teaching companion above it. This is a consume / front-door note (cross-citation only, since libwallaby is GPL-3.0).

Nothing here asks the project to adopt, host, or maintain anything. This is a request for comment.

The mapping: students program against libwallaby. URML adds a small layer at the top -- a declared intent checked against the robot's declared capabilities before it runs, optionally starting from an English sentence. libwallaby stays the runtime; URML makes the intent and its validation explicit, which suits a teaching context. Given the GPL-3.0 license this proposes no shared code, only a boundary.

Two real questions: (1) is a typed, validated intent layer (declare intent, check against capabilities, optionally from English) a useful teaching companion above libwallaby? (2) Does URML's capability manifest map onto how a Wombat/Wallaby robot is configured?

Full write-up: https://github.com/URML-MARS/URML/blob/main/docs/rfcs/0571-libwallaby-outreach.md

Thanks for libwallaby; Botball is a great on-ramp, and making intent explicit is the kind of thing that helps newcomers reason about their robot.

Ido Yahalomi (URML, greenvh@gmail.com)

AI-assisted prose, maintainer-reviewed before posting (see https://github.com/URML-MARS/URML/blob/main/VIBE.md). Human-only correspondence available on request.

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Labels

    No labels
    No labels

    Type

    No type

    Projects

    No projects

    Milestone

    No milestone

    Relationships

    None yet

    Development

    No branches or pull requests

    Issue actions