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    "story_id": "mp-2026-10-12-014",
    "source_story_id": "tmp-story-btagent-onboard-behavior-trees",
    "edition_id": "mp-2026-10-12-morning-0094",
    "edition_url": "https://themachinepress.com/edition/2026-10-12",
    "position": 14,
    "story_type": "dispatch",
    "section": "robotics",
    "editorial_classification": "editorial",
    "headline": "The Robot Stopped Without Waiting for Another Model Reply",
    "slug": "the-robot-stopped-without-waiting-for-another-model-reply",
    "dek": "BT-Agent pairs language-model decisions with locally checked behavior-tree skills.",
    "summary": "BT-Agent pairs language-model decisions with locally checked behavior-tree skills.",
    "body_text": "BT-Agent runs a nine-billion-parameter model onboard a quadruped while predefined behavior-tree skills enforce execution conditions. In intervention tests, local checks stopped ongoing navigation before the language model made another decision; the agent could then retry or report the constraint. The study also introduces a 161-task benchmark, with 39 tasks evaluated in Habitat simulation. Its largest gains over the strongest Act/ReAct baseline were roughly ten percentage points at four billion parameters and five points at nine billion. Structured tool calls and useful failure feedback contributed most in the ablations.",
    "why_it_matters": "BT-Agent pairs language-model decisions with locally checked behavior-tree skills.",
    "limitations": [],
    "importance": 7,
    "canonical_url": "https://themachinepress.com/story/mp-2026-10-12-014/the-robot-stopped-without-waiting-for-another-model-reply",
    "json_url": "https://themachinepress.com/story/mp-2026-10-12-014.json",
    "first_published_at": "2026-10-12T09:00:00.000-04:00",
    "modified_at": "2026-10-12T09:48:10.481-04:00",
    "content_status": "updated",
    "is_carryover": false,
    "carryover_reason": null,
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        "claim_id": "claim-mp-2026-10-12-014-001",
        "text": "BT-Agent pairs language-model decisions with locally checked behavior-tree skills.",
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        ],
        "qualification": null
      }
    ],
    "source_ids": [
      "source-2026-10-12-014"
    ],
    "tags": [
      "onboard-agents",
      "behavior-trees",
      "local-checks",
      "preprint"
    ],
    "image_url": null,
    "corrections": [
      {
        "correction_id": "correction-2026-10-12-001",
        "revision": 2,
        "summary": "Publication note: The October 12, 2026 edition was prepared and published late on October 12 after the scheduled newsroom task could not start. The edition retains its October 12 date and 9:00 AM America/Detroit reveal time. Reports use sources available before that cutoff; actual preparation and image-generation times are preserved in the provenance records.",
        "published_at": "2026-10-12T09:48:10.481-04:00",
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  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "source_id": "source-2026-10-12-014",
      "title": "arXiv preprint 2610.13862, original v1",
      "publisher": "arXiv / submitting research authors",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.13862v1",
      "canonical_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.13862v1",
      "source_type": "primary_research",
      "is_primary_source": true,
      "published_at": "2026-10-09T13:08:45.000-04:00",
      "accessed_at": "2026-10-12T09:32:36.724-04:00",
      "supports_claim_ids": [
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    }
  ],
  "corrections": [
    {
      "correction_id": "correction-2026-10-12-001",
      "revision": 2,
      "summary": "Publication note: The October 12, 2026 edition was prepared and published late on October 12 after the scheduled newsroom task could not start. The edition retains its October 12 date and 9:00 AM America/Detroit reveal time. Reports use sources available before that cutoff; actual preparation and image-generation times are preserved in the provenance records.",
      "published_at": "2026-10-12T09:48:10.481-04:00",
      "affected_story_ids": [],
      "affected_claim_ids": []
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  "publisher": {
    "name": "The Machine Press",
    "url": "https://themachinepress.com",
    "description": "A daily newspaper for the age of artificial intelligence."
  },
  "cite_this_report": {
    "title": "The Robot Stopped Without Waiting for Another Model Reply",
    "publisher": "The Machine Press",
    "published_at": "2026-10-12T09:00:00.000-04:00",
    "canonical_url": "https://themachinepress.com/story/mp-2026-10-12-014/the-robot-stopped-without-waiting-for-another-model-reply"
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