Atlas // knowledge graph
Nothing here is a list of articles.
68 entities, 163 relations. Research dossiers, open problems, categories, execution stages and the research systems working on them — traversed one node at a time. Any node you focus becomes its own address.
RESEARCH DOSSIER // Dossier 07 // UNVERIFIED
PERMISSION TO ACT
Who gives AI permission to act in the real world?
Relations 13
Open full dossier →RESEARCH DOSSIER · 3
EXECUTION STAGE · 5
CATEGORY · 1
OPEN PROBLEM · 4
Full relation index
EXECUTION STAGE
PERCEPTION
Reading a physical scene accurately enough to act inside it.
Connected to 11 entities · EMBODIED AI, VISION-LANGUAGE-ACTION MODELS, SIMULATION, SENSING & TELEMETRY
EXECUTION STAGE
HUMAN INTENT
Recovering what a person actually wants from ambiguous, underspecified natural language.
Connected to 10 entities · HUMAN-ROBOT INTERACTION, HUMAN-IN-THE-LOOP, VISION-LANGUAGE-ACTION MODELS, REAL-WORLD SERVICES
EXECUTION STAGE
WORLD UNDERSTANDING
Holding a representation of an environment that keeps changing.
Connected to 09 entities · WORLD MODELS, SIMULATION, EMBODIED AI, EMBODIED INTELLIGENCE
EXECUTION STAGE
PLANNING
Turning a goal into an ordered sequence of physically possible steps.
Connected to 10 entities · WORLD MODELS, ROBOT LEARNING, EMBODIED AI, ROBOT MANIPULATION
EXECUTION STAGE
IDENTITY
Who an agent is when it acts on someone else's behalf in the world.
Connected to 08 entities · AGENTIC COMMERCE, PHYSICAL AI INFRASTRUCTURE, PHYSICAL AI INFRASTRUCTURE, IDENTITY · 06
EXECUTION STAGE
PERMISSIONS
What an autonomous system is allowed to do, and who authorised it.
Connected to 09 entities · AGENTIC COMMERCE, HUMAN-IN-THE-LOOP, PHYSICAL AI INFRASTRUCTURE, HUMAN ↔ MACHINE
EXECUTION STAGE
PAYMENTS
How a machine pays for a real-world service under a mandate and a limit.
Connected to 09 entities · AGENTIC COMMERCE, REAL-WORLD SERVICES, REAL-WORLD ORCHESTRATION, PHYSICAL AI INFRASTRUCTURE
EXECUTION STAGE
ORCHESTRATION
Coordinating humans, providers, APIs and machines toward one outcome.
Connected to 17 entities · REAL-WORLD SERVICES, HOSPITALITY ROBOTICS, DELIVERY ROBOTICS, PHYSICAL AI INFRASTRUCTURE
EXECUTION STAGE
PHYSICAL EXECUTION
The moment intelligence touches matter: motion, contact, transport.
Connected to 14 entities · ROBOT MANIPULATION, DEXTERITY, HUMANOIDS, AUTONOMOUS MOBILITY
EXECUTION STAGE
FAILURE RECOVERY
What happens when reality diverges from the plan mid-execution.
Connected to 09 entities · ROBOT LEARNING, HUMAN-IN-THE-LOOP, DELIVERY ROBOTICS, LONG-HORIZON EXECUTION
EXECUTION STAGE
VERIFICATION
Proving the intended physical outcome actually occurred.
Connected to 15 entities · PHYSICAL AI INFRASTRUCTURE, REAL-WORLD SERVICES, HUMAN-ROBOT INTERACTION, AUTONOMOUS MOBILITY
EXECUTION STAGE
LEARNING
Feeding real-world outcomes back into the system that caused them.
Connected to 06 entities · ROBOT LEARNING, SIMULATION, WORLD MODELS, ROBOTICS ECONOMICS
CATEGORY
HUMAN INTENT
How machines understand what humans actually want.
Connected to 03 entities · HUMAN INTENT, PLANNING, HUMAN INTENT
CATEGORY
EMBODIED INTELLIGENCE
How intelligence perceives and reasons inside physical environments.
Connected to 02 entities · PERCEPTION, WORLD UNDERSTANDING
CATEGORY
MANIPULATION & DEXTERITY
How machines physically interact with objects.
Connected to 02 entities · PHYSICAL EXECUTION, HUMANOID DEXTERITY
CATEGORY
WORLD MODELS
How intelligent systems represent and predict physical environments.
Connected to 02 entities · WORLD UNDERSTANDING, PLANNING
CATEGORY
LONG-HORIZON EXECUTION
How machines complete tasks spanning many steps, changing state and time.
Connected to 04 entities · PLANNING, ORCHESTRATION, FAILURE RECOVERY, LONG-HORIZON EXECUTION
CATEGORY
AUTONOMOUS MOBILITY
How machines move humans, objects and themselves through physical space.
Connected to 03 entities · PHYSICAL EXECUTION, PERCEPTION, AUTONOMOUS MOBILITY
CATEGORY
HUMAN ↔ MACHINE
How humans and intelligent machines coordinate.
Connected to 03 entities · HUMAN INTENT, PERMISSIONS, VERIFICATION
CATEGORY
REAL-WORLD ORCHESTRATION
How intelligence coordinates external systems, providers, APIs, humans and machines.
Connected to 02 entities · ORCHESTRATION, PAYMENTS
CATEGORY
FAILURE & RECOVERY
What happens when physical execution does not go according to plan.
Connected to 02 entities · FAILURE RECOVERY, FAILURE & RECOVERY
CATEGORY
VERIFICATION
How a system knows the intended physical outcome actually happened.
Connected to 01 entities · VERIFICATION
CATEGORY
ROBOTICS ECONOMICS
Cost curves, deployment economics, labour substitution and complementarity, utilisation, scaling.
Connected to 02 entities · ORCHESTRATION, LEARNING
CATEGORY
PHYSICAL AI INFRASTRUCTURE
The infrastructure required underneath intelligence operating in the physical world.
Connected to 07 entities · IDENTITY, PERMISSIONS, PAYMENTS, ORCHESTRATION
RESEARCH SYSTEM
ROBOT LEARNING
Policies learned from data, demonstration and interaction.
Connected to 03 entities · PLANNING, FAILURE RECOVERY, LEARNING
RESEARCH SYSTEM
HUMANOIDS
General-purpose embodiment in human environments.
Connected to 02 entities · PHYSICAL EXECUTION, PERCEPTION
RESEARCH SYSTEM
AUTONOMOUS MOBILITY
Moving people, objects and machines through physical space.
Connected to 03 entities · PHYSICAL EXECUTION, PERCEPTION, VERIFICATION
RESEARCH SYSTEM
ROBOT MANIPULATION
Grasping, placing and acting on objects.
Connected to 02 entities · PHYSICAL EXECUTION, PLANNING
RESEARCH SYSTEM
DEXTERITY
Fine contact-rich control; hands as the hardest interface.
Connected to 01 entities · PHYSICAL EXECUTION
RESEARCH SYSTEM
HOME ROBOTICS
Unstructured private environments with no schema.
Connected to 02 entities · PHYSICAL EXECUTION, HUMAN INTENT
RESEARCH SYSTEM
HOSPITALITY ROBOTICS
Service execution where guests, staff and machines share a floor.
Connected to 02 entities · ORCHESTRATION, VERIFICATION
RESEARCH SYSTEM
DELIVERY ROBOTICS
Last-metre handover between machines and people.
Connected to 02 entities · ORCHESTRATION, FAILURE RECOVERY
RESEARCH SYSTEM
EMBODIED AI
Intelligence that reasons from inside a body in an environment.
Connected to 03 entities · PERCEPTION, WORLD UNDERSTANDING, PLANNING
RESEARCH SYSTEM
WORLD MODELS
Learned predictive representations of physical dynamics.
Connected to 03 entities · WORLD UNDERSTANDING, PLANNING, LEARNING
RESEARCH SYSTEM
SIMULATION
Synthetic environments, and the gap back to reality.
Connected to 03 entities · PERCEPTION, WORLD UNDERSTANDING, LEARNING
RESEARCH SYSTEM
VISION-LANGUAGE-ACTION MODELS
Language and vision mapped directly onto action.
Connected to 02 entities · PERCEPTION, HUMAN INTENT
RESEARCH SYSTEM
HUMAN-ROBOT INTERACTION
Legibility, trust and handover between people and machines.
Connected to 02 entities · HUMAN INTENT, VERIFICATION
RESEARCH SYSTEM
HUMAN-IN-THE-LOOP
When execution should escalate from machine to person.
Connected to 03 entities · HUMAN INTENT, PERMISSIONS, FAILURE RECOVERY
RESEARCH SYSTEM
AGENTIC COMMERCE
Identity, mandate and payment for autonomous buyers.
Connected to 03 entities · IDENTITY, PERMISSIONS, PAYMENTS
RESEARCH SYSTEM
REAL-WORLD SERVICES
Providers, availability and businesses without machine interfaces.
Connected to 04 entities · HUMAN INTENT, PAYMENTS, ORCHESTRATION, VERIFICATION
RESEARCH SYSTEM
PHYSICAL AI INFRASTRUCTURE
The layer underneath intelligence that operates in the world.
Connected to 04 entities · IDENTITY, PERMISSIONS, ORCHESTRATION, VERIFICATION
RESEARCH SYSTEM
SENSING & TELEMETRY
The instruments that report physical state back.
Connected to 02 entities · PERCEPTION, VERIFICATION
OPEN PROBLEM
INTENT · 01
How does a machine know what a human really means?
Connected to 02 entities · HUMAN INTENT, HUMAN INTENT
OPEN PROBLEM
PERCEPTION · 02
How much of a scene must be understood before acting is safe?
Connected to 01 entities · PERCEPTION
OPEN PROBLEM
PLANNING · 03
How does a plan stay valid in an environment that keeps moving?
Connected to 03 entities · PLANNING, WORLD UNDERSTANDING, LONG-HORIZON EXECUTION
OPEN PROBLEM
DEXTERITY · 04
Why is contact-rich manipulation still harder than language?
Connected to 02 entities · PHYSICAL EXECUTION, HUMANOID DEXTERITY
OPEN PROBLEM
NAVIGATION · 05
How do autonomous systems handle the long tail of physical space?
Connected to 03 entities · PHYSICAL EXECUTION, PERCEPTION, AUTONOMOUS MOBILITY
OPEN PROBLEM
IDENTITY · 06
Who is an agent, legally and technically, when it acts for someone?
Connected to 02 entities · IDENTITY, PERMISSION TO ACT
OPEN PROBLEM
PAYMENTS · 07
Who gives an autonomous agent permission to spend money?
Connected to 04 entities · PAYMENTS, PERMISSIONS, MACHINE COMMERCE, PERMISSION TO ACT
OPEN PROBLEM
PAYMENTS · 08
How does a machine purchase a real-world service end to end?
Connected to 03 entities · PAYMENTS, ORCHESTRATION, MACHINE COMMERCE
OPEN PROBLEM
PERMISSIONS · 09
What are the limits of delegated authority for a physical action?
Connected to 02 entities · PERMISSIONS, PERMISSION TO ACT
OPEN PROBLEM
HUMAN COORDINATION · 10
When should execution move from machine to human?
Connected to 02 entities · FAILURE RECOVERY, FAILURE & RECOVERY
OPEN PROBLEM
HUMAN COORDINATION · 11
How do machines coordinate with humans who do not behave deterministically?
Connected to 03 entities · HUMAN INTENT, ORCHESTRATION, HUMAN INTENT
OPEN PROBLEM
EXECUTION · 12
How should robots interact with businesses that have no machine-readable interface?
Connected to 02 entities · ORCHESTRATION, MACHINE COMMERCE
OPEN PROBLEM
EXECUTION · 13
How does an autonomous system operate where APIs do not exist?
Connected to 03 entities · ORCHESTRATION, PHYSICAL EXECUTION, MACHINE COMMERCE
OPEN PROBLEM
FAILURE RECOVERY · 14
How does physical AI recover when reality diverges from the plan?
Connected to 02 entities · FAILURE RECOVERY, FAILURE & RECOVERY
OPEN PROBLEM
FAILURE RECOVERY · 15
What does a retry mean when the first attempt changed the world?
Connected to 04 entities · FAILURE RECOVERY, WORLD UNDERSTANDING, LONG-HORIZON EXECUTION, FAILURE & RECOVERY
OPEN PROBLEM
VERIFICATION · 16
How does a system verify that a physical outcome occurred?
Connected to 02 entities · VERIFICATION, AUTONOMOUS MOBILITY
OPEN PROBLEM
ECONOMICS · 17
Which cost curve makes physical execution economically inevitable?
Connected to 02 entities · ORCHESTRATION, LEARNING
OPEN PROBLEM
TRUST · 18
How do physical agents establish trust with people and businesses?
Connected to 03 entities · IDENTITY, VERIFICATION, PERMISSION TO ACT
OPEN PROBLEM
EXECUTION · 19
How does an agent choose between human and machine execution?
Connected to 02 entities · ORCHESTRATION, AUTONOMOUS MOBILITY
RESEARCH DOSSIER
HUMAN INTENT
When a human says what they want, does the machine actually understand the goal?
Connected to 08 entities · HUMAN INTENT, PLANNING, PHYSICAL EXECUTION, HUMAN INTENT
RESEARCH DOSSIER
LONG-HORIZON EXECUTION
What happens after step one?
Connected to 09 entities · HUMAN INTENT, PLANNING, WORLD UNDERSTANDING, ORCHESTRATION
RESEARCH DOSSIER
FAILURE & RECOVERY
What happens when reality says no?
Connected to 09 entities · LONG-HORIZON EXECUTION, FAILURE RECOVERY, WORLD UNDERSTANDING, VERIFICATION
RESEARCH DOSSIER
HUMANOID DEXTERITY
Why is the human hand still so difficult to replace?
Connected to 07 entities · FAILURE & RECOVERY, PHYSICAL EXECUTION, PERCEPTION, LEARNING
RESEARCH DOSSIER
AUTONOMOUS MOBILITY
When the driver disappears, what infrastructure remains?
Connected to 11 entities · HUMANOID DEXTERITY, PHYSICAL EXECUTION, IDENTITY, PAYMENTS
RESEARCH DOSSIER
MACHINE COMMERCE
How does a machine buy something in the real world?
Connected to 12 entities · AUTONOMOUS MOBILITY, IDENTITY, PERMISSIONS, PAYMENTS
RESEARCH DOSSIER
PERMISSION TO ACT
Who gives AI permission to act in the real world?
Connected to 13 entities · HUMAN INTENT, AUTONOMOUS MOBILITY, MACHINE COMMERCE, IDENTITY
// Milan, Italy
// Real World Atlas
// Observation continues