walkto

Walkto is a general navigation primitive used in robotics, artificial intelligence, and video games to command an agent to reach a designated location. It represents an abstract action that delegates the actual path finding and motion control to underlying systems. A walkto request typically specifies a target position, and may optionally include a target orientation, arrival tolerance, and constraints such as speed or timing.

In execution, a walkto command usually follows a two-layer approach. A planner computes a feasible path from the current state to the target, taking into account obstacles, terrain, and potential dynamic elements. A controller then follows the planned path, adjusting the agent’s velocity and heading to stay on course. The action can be performed synchronously (waiting until arrival) or asynchronously (reporting status and allowing other tasks to proceed in parallel).

Applications of walkto span multiple domains. In robotics, it is used within higher-level task planners to move mobile robots to specific coordinates. In video game development and simulation, walkto is a common AI action for moving non-player characters to waypoints on a navigation mesh. Middleware and robotics frameworks often expose similar primitives under names like move-to or go-to, providing standardized interfaces for planning and execution.

Variants and related concepts include move-to, goto, and reach-a-position actions, which differ mainly in naming and the exact interface but share the same core idea: translating a high-level goal into a locally feasible path and motion plan. Walkto emphasizes the intent to physically traverse to a location, rather than simply updating a target coordinate.