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Research-collab proposal: URML primitive vocabulary for Northwestern CRB + HAND ERC #3

@idoco2003

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@idoco2003

Hi Northwestern CRB,

Posting this as a research-collaboration proposal to Prof. Todd Murphey, Prof. Ed Colgate, and Prof. Kevin Lynch. I'm Ido Yahalomi, maintainer of URML, an Apache 2.0 specification for substrate-neutral robot intent.

Northwestern CRB anchors dexterous manipulation across medical, soft, and industrial robotics at URML's Move #6 wave. The HAND Engineering Research Center ($52M / 10y NSF) is the largest-budget academic research surface URML has engaged. URML proposes alignment on three vectors:

(a) ergodic-control + URML composition: Murphey's ergodic exploration policies generate state coverage; URML's measure + wait_for(threshold) + LLM-bridge are the user-facing layer above ergodic-policy execution.
(b) HAND ERC outreach mention (where ERC communications team decides).
(c) Lynch textbook (speculative): Modern Robotics: Mechanics, Planning, and Control is the global standard. A speculative ask: would a future edition or workshop consider a URML primitive-vocabulary appendix or worked example? URML expects this is below the base case but documents the ask.

License note: MurpheyLab is GPL-3.0 predominant; URML reference/ is Apache-2.0. The integration is documentation and cross-citation, not adapter code.

This is proposal-only, part of URML's Move #6 outreach.

Full RFC: https://github.com/URML-MARS/URML/blob/main/docs/rfcs/0085-northwestern-crb-outreach.md

Feedback we'd value

  1. Ergodic-control + URML composition. Useful direction?
  2. Coursework integration. ME 495 as candidate for URML primitive vocabulary?
  3. HAND ERC outreach. Interest in mentioning URML in HAND ERC developer outreach (ERC leadership decides)?
  4. License-fit. GPL-3.0 on MurpheyLab vs Apache-2.0 on URML. Cross-citation arrangements?
  5. Lynch textbook (speculative). Would Modern Robotics consider a URML appendix or worked example in a future edition?
  6. Conformance lane?
  7. Anything else.

Thanks for MurpheyLab's open-source posture across ergodic-control + max-diffusion-RL + brne + DPGO, the HAND ERC's scale, and Lynch's textbook lineage. URML's research-side outreach benefits from CRB's institutional depth.

Ido Yahalomi (URML maintainer, urml.dev)

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