AI in Robotics ============================================= LLM → Navigation -------------------- **Theme:** *Words to Waypoints* — this week we teach a robot to turn natural-language commands (e.g., "go to the charging dock, then the kitchen") into concrete **navigation goals** in ROS 2. We combine **LLMs** (for language understanding) with **Nav2** (for motion) and a light **world ontology** that maps words to places. Focus ----- - Understand how LLMs interpret intent, entities, and spatial relations. - Design a **location ontology** (names → map poses/areas). - Build a **command parser** (baseline rules + LLM fallback). - Convert language into **Nav2 NavigateToPose** action goals. - Run end-to-end in **Gazebo + Nav2**, with confirmation and safety checks. Prerequisites ------------- - A working Nav2 stack (e.g., TurtleBot3 in Gazebo) and a map (`.png/.yaml`). - Basic ROS 2 Python (rclpy), actions, and topics. - For LLM integration: any HTTP client + an LLM endpoint (cloud or local). *(We provide a stub so you can swap in your provider.)* Theory ------ - **Grounding**: linking language tokens (e.g., "kitchen", "left of table") to map frames, poses, or zones. - **Intent & entities**: detect goals, sequences ("then"), and constraints ("avoid corridor", "slowly"). - **Ambiguity management**: confirm, ask clarifying questions, or fall back to safe defaults. - **Pipelined design**: 1) *NL → structured plan* (intent + waypoints), 2) *plan → geometry* (poses in `map` frame), 3) *geometry → Nav2 actions*.