Ro-SLM: Onboard Small Language Models for Robot Task Planning and Operation Code Generation

Wenhao Wang; Yanyan Li; Long Jiao; Jiawei Yuan

cs.ROApr 13, 2026

Ro-SLM: Onboard Small Language Models for Robot Task Planning and Operation Code Generation

Authors: Wenhao Wang, Yanyan Li, Long Jiao, Jiawei Yuan

Organizations: Department of Computer & Information Science, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth · Department of Computer Science & Engineering, California State University San Marcos

Abstract

Recent advances in large language models (LLMs) provide robots with contextual reasoning abilities to comprehend human instructions. Yet, current LLM-enabled robots typically depend on cloud-based models or high-performance computing infrastructure, which limit their deployment on robots under unreliable internet environments or with constrained computational resources, such as UAVs and small ground vehicles. Thus, deploying fine-tuned small language models (SLMs) that support onboard deployment offers a promising alternative. This paper introduces Ro-SLM, a framework that enables reliable SLM-driven robot operation by distilling LLMs' knowledge and reasoning. Ro-SLM starts from dataset synthesis by leveraging LLMs to generate diverse task instructions, produce corresponding ground truth code with minimal human assistance, and augment instructions into real-world application scenarios. Ro-SLM is then fine-tuned with the dataset, in which LLM serves as a reward function to guide the training. Extensive experiments on UAV operation tasks demonstrate that Ro-SLM improves the performance of SLM from being incapable of supporting robotic task planning and code generation to achieving performance that approaches LLM.

Figures & tables

Figure 1: Ro-SLM framework for enabling SLM-driven robot operations.

Figure 2: Ro-SLM overview: dataset synthesis and SLM fine-tuning. The LLMs are configured with different system prompts to support instruction generation, augmentation, ground truth code mapping, and the reward function. The detailed system prompts are provided in Appendix A , B , and C .

	Basic		Advanced
Method	SR	Completeness	SR	Completeness
Llama-3.1-8B Grattafiori et al. (2024)	$9.1\%$	$9.1\%$	$5\%$	$9\%$
GSCE Wang et al. (2025a)	$100\%$	$100\%$	$75.0\%$	$91.5\%$
Corrective GSCE Wang et al. (2025b)	$100\%$	$100\%$	$90.0\%$	$97.8\%$
Ro-SLM with Comments	$95.5\%$	$96.6\%$	$50.0\%$	$76.2\%$
Ro-SLM without Augmentation	$95.5\%$	$96.6\%$	$55.0\%$	$74.8\%$

Table 1: Results on the Basic and Advanced datasets.

	Basic		Advanced
Method	SR	Completeness	SR	Completeness
Llama-3.1-8B Grattafiori et al. (2024)	$11.4\%$	$26.1\%$	$0\%$	$8.4\%$
GSCE Wang et al. (2025a)	$100\%$	$100\%$	$75.0\%$	$94.8\%$
Corrective GSCE Wang et al. (2025b)	$100\%$	$100\%$	$81.7\%$	$96.3\%$
Ro-SLM with Comments	$90.9\%$	$93.2\%$	$55.0\%$	$75.2\%$
Ro-SLM without Augmentation	$88.6\%$	$92.0\%$	$70.0\%$	$81.3\%$

Table 2: Results on the real-world mapping of Basic and Advanced datasets.

	SR		Completeness
Advanced	GSCE Wang et al. (2025a)	Ro-SLM	GSCE Wang et al. (2025a)	Ro-SLM
Low	$100\%$	$66.7\%$	$100\%$	$87.9\%$
Medium	$88.9\%$	$77.8\%$	$97.8\%$	$86.9\%$
High	$75.0\%$	$75.0\%$	$88.9\%$	$75.6\%$
Very High	$25.0\%$	$50.0\%$	$73.7\%$	$81.7\%$
Real-world Mapping

Table 3: Comparison of SR & Completeness on different complexities: advanced tasks and their real-world mapping.

	SR	Completeness
Corrective GSCE Wang et al. (2025b)	$87.5\%$	$97.2\%$
Ro-SLM	$75\%$	$81.1\%$

Table 4: Results on ground vehicle.

Appendix figures & tables11 assets

Supplementary material from the paper’s appendix.

Appendix

Task	Scenario
Fly 5 meters up, then fly 4 meters down.	Please perform a vertical inspection of the warehouse wall. In the world frame, ascend 5 meters to check the condition of an overhead ventilation duct, then descend 4 meters in the world frame to inspect a mid-height access panel more closely.
Fly 5 meters down, then fly 4 meters up.	You are flying under a bridge to inspect structural damage. In the world frame, descend 5 meters to move from the initial hover position down toward the lower girder area for a detailed scan, then ascend 4 meters in the world frame to bring the drone closer to the mid-level of the bridge structure for follow-up imaging.
Fly 5 meters up, then fly 4 meters up.	You are going to conduct a rooftop antenna inspection at a warehouse. In the world frame, ascend 5 meters to rise above nearby obstacles and reach the general rooftop level, then ascend another 4 meters in the world frame to perform a visual check of the antenna assembly.
Fly 5 meters down, then fly 4 meters down.	The drone is flying around a tall warehouse. In the world frame, descend 5 meters to move from the overhead inspection position down toward the shelf, then continue descending 4 meters in the world frame to inspect the lower shelves and base of the rack more closely.
Rotate 180 degrees, then fly 4 meters forward in the drone’s body frame.	Perform a corridor inspection. First, in the drone’s body frame, rotate 180 degrees to face the opposite direction down the hallway. Then, still in the drone’s body frame, fly 4 meters forward to continue the inspection along the newly faced segment of the corridor.
Rotate 180 degrees, then fly 4 meters backward in the drone’s body frame.	The drone is going to conduct a reverse-approach inspection. First, in the drone’s body frame, rotate 180 degrees to face the support beams behind the drone, then in the drone’s body frame, fly 4 meters backward to carefully reposition closer to the rear side of the structure for detailed imaging.

Appendix

Table 7

Turn to face the local south, then fly 4 meters forward in the drone’s body frame.	The drone is going to perform an inspection of rooftop solar installation along a building’s southern edge. First, in the world frame, turn the drone until its front faces local south to align with the panel row, then in the drone’s body frame, fly 4 meters forward to approach the center of the southern panel array for closer inspection.
Turn to face the local south, then fly 4 meters backward in the drone’s body frame.	Now, perform an indoor aisle inspection in a warehouse. First, in the world frame, yaw the drone to face local south to align with the aisle direction. Then, in the drone’s body frame, fly 4 meters backward to slowly increase the distance from a tall storage rack while maintaining the camera’s view of its shelves for documentation.
Turn to face the local south, then fly 4 meters right in the drone’s body frame.	Fly along a rectangular crop field boundary. First, in the world frame, rotate the drone until its front aligns with south to match the survey heading. Then, in the drone’s body frame, translate 4 meters to the drone’s right side to position it laterally over the field’s inner edge for side-view imaging of the boundary.
Turn to face the local south, then fly 4 meters left in the drone’s body frame.	Perform a short side-clearance survey along a building. First, in the world frame, rotate the drone so that its forward-facing camera points toward the local south. Then, move 4 meters to the left in the drone’s body frame to inspect the adjacent wall section while keeping the same south-facing view.
Turn 90 degrees clockwise, then fly 4 meters forward in the drone’s body frame.	You are going to inspect the side of a building. First, in the world frame, rotate the drone 90 degrees clockwise to face the adjacent wall. Then, in the drone’s body frame, fly 4 meters forward to approach the wall and capture detailed images of the wall.
Turn 90 degrees clockwise, then fly 4 meters backward in the drone’s body frame.	Conduct an indoor aisle inspection in a warehouse. First, in the world frame, rotate the drone 90 degrees clockwise to align it with a side aisle. Then, in the drone’s body frame, fly 4 meters backward to safely reverse along that aisle while keeping the camera oriented toward the shelves being inspected.
Turn 90 degrees clockwise, then fly 4 meters right in the drone’s body frame.	The drone is inspecting the side of a house. First, in the world frame, yaw the drone 90 degrees clockwise to align its front camera with the side wall. Then, in the drone’s body frame, fly 4 meters to the right to scan along the wall section while maintaining the same distance from the structure.

Appendix

Table 8

Turn to face the local east, then fly 4 meters forward in the drone’s body frame.	Conduct a short inspection along a known east-west power line. In the world frame, rotate the drone points toward the local east to align with the line’s direction, then in the drone’s body frame, fly 4 meters forward along its nose direction to advance to the next inspection point.
Turn to face the local east, then fly 4 meters backward in the drone’s body frame.	Perform an alignment maneuver during a perimeter survey of a construction site. In the world frame, yaw the drone until its nose points toward local east to match the planned heading, then in the drone’s body frame, fly 4 meters backward to fly away.
Turn to face the local east, then fly 4 meters right in the drone’s body frame.	Perform a short inspection along a house wall. First, in the world frame, yaw the drone to face local east so its camera aligns with the wall’s length, then, maintaining the drone’s heading, move 4 meters to the right in the drone’s body frame to scan along the wall while keeping its orientation fixed.
Turn to face the local east, then fly 4 meters left in the drone’s body frame.	Inspect the exterior of a wall. First, in the world frame, yaw to align the drone so its nose points toward the local east to face the wall directly. Then, maintaining altitude and orientation, fly 4 meters to the left in the drone’s body frame to laterally scan along the wall for structural damage.
Turn 90 degrees counterclockwise, then fly 4 meters forward in the drone’s body frame.	Perform a corridor inspection inside a warehouse. In the world frame, first yaw 90 degrees counterclockwise to align the drone with the inspection aisle. Then, in the drone’s body frame, fly 4 meters forward along the aisle to approach the designated inspection point.
Turn 90 degrees counterclockwise, then fly 4 meters backward in the drone’s body frame.	Conduct an indoor inspection for a bookshelf. First, in the world frame, turn the drone 90 degrees counterclockwise to align its camera with a side shelf row. Then, in the drone’s body frame, fly 4 meters backward along its longitudinal axis to slowly increase the distance from the shelf while maintaining the same viewing angle for documenting the entire rack.
Turn 90 degrees counterclockwise, then fly 4 meters right in the drone’s body frame.	Perform an indoor aisle inspection in a warehouse. First, in the world frame, rotate the drone 90 degrees counterclockwise to align its forward-facing camera with a perpendicular storage aisle. Then, in the drone’s body frame, translate 4 meters to the right to laterally shift along the aisle and inspect the shelf sections on that side.

Appendix

Table 9

Turn to face the local west, then fly 4 meters forward in the drone’s body frame.	Inspect a solar panel on a rooftop. In the world frame, rotate the drone’s nose points toward the local west to align with the panel row, then, in the drone’s body frame, fly 4 meters forward along its current heading to move along the row for a closer inspection.
Turn to face the local west, then fly 4 meters backward in the drone’s body frame.	You are flying around a barn. First, in the world frame, yaw the drone to face local west so its camera can align with the target wall. Then, in the drone’s body frame, fly 4 meters backward to increase standoff distance from the wall while keeping the same heading for stable visual inspection.
Turn to face the local west, then fly 4 meters right in the drone’s body frame.	Inspect a solar farm row alignment. First, in the world frame, rotate the drone until it faces local west to align with the panel rows. Then, in the drone’s body frame, fly 4 meters to the right to shift over to an adjacent lane while maintaining the same heading.
Turn to face the local west, then fly 4 meters left in the drone’s body frame.	Inspect the side of a wall. In the world frame, yaw the drone to face local west to align its camera with the wall, then in the drone’s body frame, translate 4 meters to the left to scan along the wall while maintaining the same orientation.
Fly the drone in the top-right direction at an angle of 30 degrees from the horizontal axis, in the YZ plane of the drone’s body frame for a distance of 10 meters.	Inspect the structural integrity of a roof corner joint. In the drone’s body frame, in the YZ plane, move the drone 10 meters in the top-right direction at an angle of 30 degrees from the horizontal axis (within that YZ plane) so the onboard camera can capture the upper-right edge of the wall-ceiling junction for detailed imaging.
Fly the drone in the top-left direction at an angle of 30 degrees from the horizontal axis, in the YZ plane of the drone’s body frame for a distance of 10 meters.	Survey the upper-left corner of a warehouse shelf for inventory inspection. In the drone’s body frame, move in the YZ plane by flying 10 meters in a direction 30 degrees above the horizontal axis toward the top-left relative to the drone’s forward-facing orientation, I would like to see what on the path.
Fly the drone in the bottom-right direction at an angle of 30 degrees from the horizontal axis, in the YZ plane of the drone’s body frame for a distance of 10 meters.	Inspect a vertical cable fastened on a building corner. In the drone’s body frame, move 10 meters in the bottom-right direction within its YZ plane at an angle of 30 degrees from the horizontal axis to follow the slanted cable.

Appendix

Table 10

Rotate 180 degrees, then fly the drone in the top-right direction at an angle of 30 degrees from the horizontal axis, in the YZ plane of the drone’s body frame for a distance of 10 meters.	Inspect the rear side of a cell-tower panel. First, in the drone’s body frame, rotate 180 degrees to face the opposite side of the tower. Then, still in the drone’s body frame, fly 10 meters in the YZ plane in the top-right direction, maintaining a 30-degree angle from the horizontal axis, to position the drone optimally for capturing detailed images of the rear cabling and connectors.
Rotate 180 degrees, then fly the drone in the top-left direction at an angle of 30 degrees from the horizontal axis, in the YZ plane of the drone’s body frame for a distance of 10 meters.	Conduct an indoor inspection along a warehouse aisle. First, in the drone’s body frame, rotate 180 degrees to face the opposite direction down the aisle. Also, in the drone’s body frame, fly 10 meters in the YZ plane in a top-left direction, maintaining a 30-degree angle from the horizontal axis to approach and examine elevated shelving and overhead fixtures on the upper-left side of the aisle.
Rotate 180 degrees, then fly the drone in the bottom-right direction at an angle of 30 degrees from the horizontal axis, in the YZ plane of the drone’s body frame for a distance of 10 meters.	Perform an inspection of the rear-lower corner of a building. First, in the drone’s body frame, rotate 180 degrees to face the opposite direction along the original heading. Then, still in the drone’s body frame within its YZ plane, fly 10 meters in the bottom-right direction at an angle of 30 degrees from the horizontal axis to reach and survey the lower-right rear junction of the wall and support beam.
Rotate 180 degrees, then fly the drone in the bottom-left direction at an angle of 30 degrees from the horizontal axis, in the YZ plane of the drone’s body frame for a distance of 10 meters.	Perform an internal pipe inspection where the drone needs to reorient and then follow a specific diagonal path. First, in the drone’s body frame, rotate 180 degrees to face the opposite direction along the pipe. Then, still in the drone’s body frame, fly in the bottom-left direction within the YZ plane at an angle of 30 degrees from the horizontal axis for a distance of 10 meters to inspect a lower-side junction of the pipe.
Turn 60 degrees clockwise, then fly 10 meters forward in the drone’s body frame.	Inspect a communication antenna on a building rooftop. First, in the world frame, rotate the drone 60 degrees clockwise to align its front camera with the antenna array, then, in the drone’s body frame, fly 10 meters forward to approach the structure for a detailed visual inspection.
Turn 60 degrees clockwise, then fly 10 meters backward in the drone’s body frame.	Inspect a billboard along a roadside. In the world frame, yaw the drone 60 degrees clockwise to align its camera with the billboard surface, then, in the drone’s body frame, fly 10 meters backward to increase distance for a wider inspection shot while keeping the same orientation.
Turn 60 degrees clockwise, then fly 10 meters right in the drone’s body frame.	Perform a perimeter scan around a farm corner. In the world frame, yaw the drone 60 degrees clockwise to align its camera with the side fence, then in the drone’s body frame fly 10 meters to the right to fly along the fence.

Appendix

Table 11

Turn 60 degrees counterclockwise, then fly 10 meters forward in the drone’s body frame.	I need to inspect a building corner for damage. First, in the world frame, rotate the drone 60 degrees counterclockwise to align its camera with the next inspection segment. Then, in the drone’s body frame, fly 10 meters forward along its current heading so I can see the corner damage.
Turn 60 degrees counterclockwise, then fly 10 meters backward in the drone’s body frame.	I need to inspect a building for heat leaks. First, in the world frame, rotate the drone 60 degrees counterclockwise to align its thermal camera with the target wall section. Then, in the drone’s body frame, fly 10 meters backward to increase the inspection distance while keeping the camera pointed at the same area for a wider thermal overview.
Turn 60 degrees counterclockwise, then fly 10 meters right in the drone’s body frame.	You are a drone flying inside a warehouse. In the world frame, first yaw the drone 60 degrees counterclockwise to align its forward-facing camera toward the new shelf row, then in the drone’s body frame, translate 10 meters to the right to move laterally along the shelf for a continuous side-view inspection of stored items.
Turn 60 degrees counterclockwise, then fly 10 meters left in the drone’s body frame.	I need to see the status of my roof panel. First, in the world frame, yaw the drone 60 degrees counterclockwise to face along the panel row, then in the drone’s body frame, fly 10 meters to the left to position the drone over the adjacent panel for next panel imaging.

Appendix

Table 5: Application Scenarios in Basic Task Dataset

Task	Scenario
Take off and fly up 5 meters. You should fly in a square pattern with 5-meter sides by moving forward, right, backward, and left along the world axis.	The drone is going to carry out an inspection flight above an empty parking lot. First, take off and ascend 5 meters in the world frame to reach a safe inspection height. Then, in the world frame, fly in a square pattern with 5-meter sides: move 5 meters forward to scan the area ahead, 5 meters to the right to check the neighboring section, 5 meters backward to pass over the starting area again, and finally 5 meters to the left to return to the original position at the same altitude.
Take off and fly up 5 meters. You should fly in a square pattern with 5-meter sides by moving forward in the drone’s body frame and turning right at each corner.	Control the drone to conduct an automated perimeter check around a small farm. First, take off and climb vertically 5 meters in the world frame to reach the inspection altitude. Then, in the drone’s body frame, fly forward 5 meters to begin the pass along one side, make a right turn to face the next side, fly forward another 5 meters, and repeat this pattern of turning right and flying forward 5 meters at each corner until completing a square path with 5-meter sides.
Take off and fly up 5 meters. You should fly in a square pattern with 5-meter sides by moving forward, right, backward, and left along the world axis. Make sure the drone is oriented in the flying direction.	Carry out a simple perimeter check around a small equipment zone. First, take off and climb vertically 5 meters in the world frame. Then, keeping the drone at this height and always yawed so its front faces the direction of travel, fly a square path with 5-meter sides in the world frame by moving 5 meters forward, then 5 meters to the right, then 5 meters backward, and finally 5 meters to the left to return to the starting point.
Take off and fly up 5 meters. You should fly in a square pattern with 5-meter sides by moving forward, right, backward, and left along the world axis. Make sure the drone is oriented opposite to the flying direction.	I need the drone to fly over a rooftop area. First, take off and ascend 5 meters in the world frame to reach a safe inspection height. Then, fly a square survey pattern with 5-meter sides in the world frame: move forward 5 meters, then right 5 meters, then backward 5 meters, and then left 5 meters to return to the starting horizontal position. Throughout the entire square flight, keep the drone’s heading opposite to its current direction of travel so that its camera is always facing the area already inspected.
Take off and fly up 5 meters, then turn to face west. Next, turn to face east. From your current position, fly in a square with 5-meter sides while continuously facing east. The movement pattern should follow this sequence: north, east, south, and west along the world axis.	Please conduct a short positioning and orientation test near a building. First, take off and ascend 5 meters in the world frame, then yaw to face west to verify the heading, followed by a yaw to face east to set the final inspection direction. From this fixed altitude and always keeping the drone’s nose facing east, fly a 5-meter square path in the world frame, moving north 5 meters, then east 5 meters, then south 5 meters, and finally west 5 meters to return to the starting horizontal position.

Appendix

Table 13

Take off and fly up 5 meters. You will examine a square area. You should fly in a square pattern with 5-meter sides by moving forward, right, backward, and left. To examine the square area, the drone should orientate perpendicular to the moving direction on each side of the square.	Perform a low-altitude inspection of a construction site. First, take off and ascend vertically 5 meters in the world frame to reach the inspection height. Then, survey a square 5-meter-by-5-meter area by flying in a square path: move 5 meters forward, then 5 meters right, then 5 meters backward, and finally 5 meters left, all in the same world frame. While flying along each side of the square, keep the drone’s body orientation perpendicular to its current direction of motion so its camera faces sideways relative to the flight path during the entire inspection.
Take off and fly up 5 meters. You will examine a square area. You should fly in a square pattern with 5-meter sides by moving forward, right, backward, and left. To examine the square area, the drone should orientate perpendicular to the moving direction on each side of the square. Next, ascend another 5 meters and fly the square pattern in reverse order to examine the same area.	The drone carries out a two-level aerial inspection of warehouse shelves. First, take off and climb 5 meters in the world frame. At this height, survey a 5-by-5-meter square by flying in a square pattern: move 5 meters forward, then 5 meters right, then 5 meters backward, then 5 meters left, keeping the drone’s heading perpendicular to its direction of motion for each leg of the square. After completing this loop, ascend another 5 meters in the world frame and repeat the same square pattern in the reverse order to inspect the same area from a higher altitude.
Take off and fly up 5 meters. Fly in a square with 5-meter sides. The movement pattern should follow this sequence: forward, right, backward, and left along the world axis. Next, fly a second square that is symmetric with respect to the X-axis in the XY plane. To examine the two square areas, the drone should orientate perpendicular to the moving direction on each side of the squares.	Conduct an aerial calibration around a building rooftop. First, take off and ascend 5 meters in the world frame. At that altitude, survey a square inspection area with 5-meter sides by flying straight forward 5 meters, then right 5 meters, then backward 5 meters, and then left 5 meters, all defined in the world frame. Next, inspect a second square area that is the mirror image of the first one across the world X-axis in the XY plane, following the same square path. Throughout both square inspections, keep the drone’s heading perpendicular to its current flight direction along each side, so the camera consistently views sideways relative to the motion.
Take off and fly up 5 meters. Fly a figure of 8 on a flat, horizontal plane with each side of 5 meters. The left square is on your left-rear side, and the right square is on your right-front side. You should begin with the left square by flying left. The right square should start from moving forward. Make sure the drone is oriented in the flying direction for all squares.	The drone is a trainer; it is going to fly a training flight for inspecting two adjacent rooftop sections. First, take off and climb 5 meters in the world frame to reach a safe inspection height. Then, at this constant altitude, trace a flat “figure-8” path made of two 5-meter squares on the horizontal plane: the first square is located to your left rear side and is flown by moving left first, and the second square is located to your right front side and is flown by moving forward first. Throughout the maneuver, keep the drone’s nose pointed in the direction of motion along each segment of both squares.

Appendix

Table 14

Take off and fly up 5 meters. Fly a figure of 8 on a flat, horizontal plane with each side of 5 meters. The left square is on your left-rear side, and the right square is on your right-front side. You should begin with the left square by flying left. The right square should start from moving north. Additionally, for the left square, the drone is oriented in the flying direction; for the right square, the drone should examine the area while flying the right square pattern. A good strategy for examining is the drone orientate perpendicular to the moving direction on each side of the right square.	Conduct an aerial inspection around two adjacent houses. First, take off and ascend vertically 5 meters in the world frame to reach the inspection height. Then, at this constant altitude, fly a flat figure-of-eight pattern made of two adjacent 5-meter-by-5-meter squares in the horizontal plane. The first (left) square is positioned to your left-rear side, and you start this square by moving left while keeping the drone’s nose aligned with the direction of motion along each side. After completing the left square, continue directly into the second (right) square, which is positioned to your right-front side and starts with motion toward the north. While flying the right square, maintain the same 5-meter side lengths and altitude, but use the drone to examine the surrounding area by keeping its head oriented perpendicular to the direction of travel on each side, as if scanning the environment sideways while following the square path.
Take off and climb up 5 m. Fly a 5 m square by moving forward, left, backward, and right. Then fly a 5 m square by moving forward, right, backward, and left.	Perform a basic inspection pattern around a small equipment zone. First, take off and climb straight up 5 meters in the world frame to reach a safe inspection height. Then fly a 5-meter square path in the world frame by moving 5 meters forward, 5 meters left, 5 meters backward, and 5 meters right, returning to the starting point above the equipment. After that, repeat a 5-meter square scan in the world frame but this time move 5 meters forward, 5 meters right, 5 meters backward, and 5 meters left, again returning to the same hovering point.
Take off and climb up 5 m. Fly a 5 m square (forward/right/back/left). Then shift 5 m south, and fly the same square pattern again.	Inspect a rooftop section of a warehouse. In the world frame, take off and climb up 5 meters to reach inspection altitude, then fly a 5-meter square path by moving 5 meters forward, 5 meters right, 5 meters backward, and 5 meters left to scan the first area. After finishing this square, shift 5 meters south in the world frame to align over the next section of the roof, and repeat the same 5-meter square path with the same forward, right, back, and left movements to complete the second area scan.
Take off and climb up 5 m. Fly a 5 m square (forward/right/back/left). And fly the same square pattern again. Make sure the drone is oriented to the flying direction in each square.	The drone is going to perform a simple flight check in an open test field. First, take off and climb up 5 meters in the world frame to reach a safe inspection height. Then have the drone fly a square path with 5-meter sides in the world frame by moving forward, then right, then back, then left, keeping its heading aligned with the current flying direction along each side of the square. After completing this square once, repeat the same 5-meter square pattern in the same way, again making sure the drone’s orientation always matches the direction of travel on each leg.

Appendix

Table 15

Take off and fly up 5 meters. You should fly in a square pattern with 5-meter sides by moving forward, right, backward, and left along the world axis. Then fly the same square pattern again. Make sure the drone is oriented opposite to the flying direction.	Inspect a rooftop ventilation area with repeated coverage at a fixed height. In the world frame, take off and ascend 5 meters to reach the inspection altitude. At this height, fly a square patrol route with 5-meter sides by moving forward, then right, then backward, then left in the world frame, keeping the drone’s heading always opposite to its current direction of motion during this square. After completing the first square, repeat the same square pattern a second time at the same altitude, again ensuring the drone stays oriented opposite to its flying direction for each leg of the path.
Take off and fly up 5 meters, then turn to face south. Next, turn to face east. From your current position, fly in a square with 5-meter sides while continuously facing east. The movement pattern should follow this sequence: north, east, south, and west in the world axis.	We just repaired a drone, and now conduct an outdoor positioning and heading check for a drone. First, take off and climb 5 meters in the world frame to reach a safe testing height, then rotate in place to face south, and then rotate again in place to face east to confirm heading control. From this fixed starting point, fly a 5-meter-side square path in the world frame while always keeping the drone’s nose pointing east, following straight segments in this order: move north 5 meters, then east 5 meters, then south 5 meters, and finally west 5 meters to return to the starting position.
Take off and climb up 5 m. Fly a 5 m square (forward/right/back/left). Then shift 5 m north, and fly the same square pattern again. The drone will examine the second square area, where the drone should orientate perpendicular to the moving direction on each side of the second square.	You are going to survey in two neighboring grid cells. First, take off and climb 5 meters in the world frame. From there, fly a 5-meter square path by moving 5 meters forward, then 5 meters right, 5 meters back, and 5 meters left in the world frame to complete the first area scan. Next, shift 5 meters north in the world frame to reach the second grid cell, and repeat the same 5-meter square pattern (forward, right, back, left). During this second square, keep the drone’s heading perpendicular to its motion along each side so that it is rotated 90 degrees relative to the direction of travel while it examines this second area.
Take off and fly up 5 meters. You will examine a square area. You should fly in a square pattern with 5-meter sides by moving forward, left, backward, and right. To examine the square area, the drone should orientate perpendicular to the moving direction on each side of the square.	Carry out a short aerial inspection over a small field. First, take off and climb vertically 5 meters in the world frame to reach a safe inspection height. Then, at this fixed altitude, survey a square area with 5-meter sides by flying in a square path: move 5 meters forward, then 5 meters left, then 5 meters backward, and finally 5 meters right in the world frame to return to the starting point. While flying along each side, keep the drone’s heading perpendicular to the current flight direction so the camera looks sideways relative to the movement for better coverage of the area.

Appendix

Table 16

Take off and fly up 5 meters. Fly in a square with 5-meter sides. The movement pattern should follow this sequence: forward, right, backward, and left along the world axis. Then descend 5 meters. Next, fly a second square that is symmetric with respect to the north-south(X) axis. You will examine the two square areas, and the drone should orientate perpendicular to the moving direction on each side of the squares.	Conduct an automated inspection of two adjacent rooftop zones. First, in the world frame, take off and ascend 5 meters to the inspection height. Then survey the first zone by flying a square path with 5-meter sides, moving in sequence: forward, right, backward, and left, all defined in world axes. After completing this loop, descend 5 meters in the world frame to return to the starting altitude. Next, perform a second square survey at the same scale, with the square path mirrored about the north-south (X) axis in the world frame, so it is symmetric to the first one. Throughout both square paths, keep the drone’s heading oriented perpendicular to its direction of motion along each side to simulate a side-looking inspection payload.
Take off and fly up 5 meters. Fly a figure of 8 on a flat, horizontal plane with each side of 5 meters. The first square of 8 is on your left-front side, and the right square is on your right-rear side. You should begin with the first square by flying left. The right square should start from moving south. Make sure the drone is oriented in the flying direction for all squares.	You are responsible for conducting an inspection flight around a small neighborhood. First, take off and climb vertically 5 meters in the world frame to reach a safe inspection height. Then, at that constant altitude, trace a horizontal figure 8 pattern with two adjoining 5-meter-wide squares in the world frame: fly the first 5-meter square to your left-front side, starting by moving left, keeping the drone’s nose always pointed along the direction of motion; then continue directly into the second 5-meter square on your right-rear side, starting that square by moving south in the world frame, again keeping the drone oriented along the direction of travel for every segment of both squares.
Take off and fly up 5 meters. Fly a figure of 8 on a flat, horizontal plane with each side of 5 meters. The first square of 8 is on your left-front side, and the right square is on your right-rear side. You should begin with the first square by flying left. The right square should start from moving south. Additionally, for the left square, the drone is oriented in the flying direction; for the right square, the drone should examine the area while flying the right square pattern. A good strategy for examining the inward square area is to let the drone orientate perpendicular to the moving direction on each side of the right square.	You should control the drone to do a low-altitude inspection of a small construction site. First, take off and ascend vertically 5 meters in the world frame. Then, at that height, survey two adjacent 5 m*5 m square zones on a flat horizontal plane in a figure 8 path: the first square lies to your left front and the second to your right rear. Start by flying the left-front square, beginning with a 5-meter segment to the left and completing the full square while keeping the drone’s nose pointed along the direction of travel on each side. After finishing that square, continue into the right-rear square, starting its path with a segment heading south and flying the same 5-meter-per-side square. During this right-rear square, inspect the interior of the square by keeping the drone’s camera pointed toward the inside area: on each side, orient the drone so its body is perpendicular to the direction of motion while it follows the right-rear square pattern.

Appendix

Table 6: Application Scenarios in Advanced Task Dataset

Code Generation for Robotics

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Oct 7, 2026

Skill-SLM: Agent Skill-driven Small Language Models for Reliable Robot Operation

Small language models (SLMs) have been increasingly adopted for onboard robot operation because they enable intelligent decision-making. However, existing approaches are mainly distillation-oriented and rely on enumerating representative task-solution pairs. This makes dataset construction difficult and limits generalization to diverse robot tasks whose possible forms grow rapidly. This paper proposes Skill-SLM, a framework that reformulates SLM-driven robot operation as a task-decomposition and skill-composition problem. Given a natural language task instruction, Skill-SLM decomposes the task into subtasks, selects appropriate skills from the skill library, and orchestrates the selected skills into executable robot operations. First, to support the skill-driven workflow, we propose a novel robot operational skill aware context-free grammar (CFG) to extract the skills required to accomplish tasks and build the skill library accordingly. Then, we configure LLM teachers to induce and synthesize training datasets for the SLMs, enabling SLMs to decompose tasks and orchestrate skills reliably. Additionally, we employ a progressive skill orchestration strategy to improve the reliability of skill implementation and overall robot operation. Experiments on UAV operation tasks indicate that Skill-SLM substantially outperforms distillation-oriented baselines, especially on unseen tasks that require generalization of capabilities. Additional experiments on ground vehicle tasks further demonstrate that Skill-SLM can be applied to different robot platforms.

Wenhao Wang, Yanyan Li, Jiawei Yuan

Department of Computer & Information Science, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth · Department of Computer Science & Engineering, California State University San Marcos

Small Language Models Robot Task Planning Language-Conditioned Robot Control Robot Skill Learning

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Jun 5, 2024

CLMASP: Coupling Large Language Models with Answer Set Programming for Robotic Task Planning

Large Language Models (LLMs) possess extensive foundational knowledge and moderate reasoning abilities, making them suitable for general task planning in open-world scenarios. However, it is challenging to ground a LLM-generated plan to be executable for the specified robot with certain restrictions. This paper introduces CLMASP, an approach that couples LLMs with Answer Set Programming (ASP) to overcome the limitations, where ASP is a non-monotonic logic programming formalism renowned for its capacity to represent and reason about a robot's action knowledge. CLMASP initiates with a LLM generating a basic skeleton plan, which is subsequently tailored to the specific scenario using a vector database. This plan is then refined by an ASP program with a robot's action knowledge, which integrates implementation details into the skeleton, grounding the LLM's abstract outputs in practical robot contexts. Our experiments conducted on the VirtualHome platform demonstrate CLMASP's efficacy. Compared to the baseline executable rate of under 2% with LLM approaches, CLMASP significantly improves this to over 90%.

Xinrui Lin, Yangfan Wu, Huanyu Yang +3

University of Science and Technology of China, China · Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, China

Large Language Model-Based Robot Planning Robot Task Planning

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Aug 24, 2026

ROS2SmolVLA: Enabling Small Vision-Language-Action Models for Integration into Industrial-Grade Lightweight Robots

Industrial demand changes the paradigms of production. Due to smaller batch sizes and more variations in products, companies face a growing challenge to adopt more adaptive production systems. In particular, robot-based automation is usually static and fails to respond to constantly changing processes. Vision-Language-Action (VLA) Models are a promising opportunity to mitigate this challenge by generating robot actions based on the observed system state. However, current research either focuses on large models that cannot be computed on premise, creating compliance and security challenges, or use lab-grade robot hardware that obscures exploitation in real industrial settings. In this work, we adapt Hugging Face's SmolVLA for Universal Robots lightweight robots. Further, we release the open-source repository ROS2SmolVLA that implements an interface for ROS 2 to SmolVLA, and makes it applicable for industrial-grade hardware. By this, we allow a lenient adoption into lab and industrial environments. We validate the functionality of SmolVLA for a Universal Robots UR10e using a pick-and-place task and give implementation guidelines. Our findings support that SmolVLA is a well-suited option for small-sized tasks that need to be computed on premise.

Nils Mandischer, Noah Böckmann, Ludwig Holl +1

University of Augsburg, Chair of Mechatronics, Am Technologiezentrum 8, 86159 Augsburg, Germany

Robotics Industrial Robotics Vision-Based Robot Control Vision-Language-Action Models

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Abstract

Code Generation for Robotics

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