# Sketching Robot Programs On the Fly

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.03088 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.03088/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 6 Feb 2023.

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [RT-Sketch: Goal-Conditioned Imitation Learning from Hand-Drawn Sketches](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.02709/) (2024)
- [Cocobo: Exploring Large Language Models as the Engine for End-User Robot Programming](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.20712/) (2024)
- [GenComUI: Exploring Generative Visual Aids as Medium to Support Task-Oriented Human-Robot Communication](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.10678/) (2025)
- [U-Define: Designing User Workflows for Hard and Soft Constraints in LLM-Based Planning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.02765/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Service robots for personal use in the home and the workplace require end-user development solutions for swiftly scripting robot tasks as the need arises. Many existing solutions preserve ease, efficiency, and convenience through simple programming interfaces or by restricting task complexity. Others facilitate meticulous task design but often do so at the expense of simplicity and efficiency. There is a need for robot programming solutions that reconcile the complexity of robotics with the on-the-fly goals of end-user development. In response to this need, we present a novel, multimodal, and on-the-fly development system, Tabula. Inspired by a formative design study with a prototype, Tabula leverages a combination of spoken language for specifying the core of a robot task and sketching for contextualizing the core. The result is that developers can script partial, sloppy versions of robot programs to be completed and refined by a program synthesizer. Lastly, we demonstrate our anticipated use cases of Tabula via a set of application scenarios.