Writing Permission Into the Map
■ The shortest path is chosen on distance and nothing else
A route planner minimises a cost function. When that cost holds only distance, a curtained treatment bay and a room closed to visitors are simply traversable segments. The robot is not breaking a rule; it is answering the map it was handed.
■ People read permission from context that never reaches the map
Corridor width and floor surface look identical either way. Whether passage is acceptable depends on what is happening behind the curtain, and staff read that from the room itself. A constraint nobody wrote down does not exist to the system.
■ Conclusion: Make permission an attribute that sits beside distance
Redefine route cost. Let the map carry privacy, quiet hours and access rules alongside distance, so blocked segments drop out during search rather than at the moment of contact. A nurse stepping into the path is a last safeguard, not a design.
Unwritten courtesy eventually becomes someone's body in the way.
