Reasoning

Reasoning refers to a robot’s ability to infer, plan, and adapt across tasks and environments. In humanoid robotics, reasoning supports high-level decision-making in complex, human-designed spaces — deciding not just how to move, but why, when, and in what sequence. Unlike low-level control, it operates across goals, dependencies, object relationships, and context.

Modern systems incorporate reasoning through Large Language Models, multimodal transformers, and task planners. These models interpret user intent, break down abstract instructions, and sequence actions across manipulation, navigation, or dialogue. 

Approaches such as SayCan, MALMM, and A3VLM bring reasoning into robot control by using multimodal input to plan feasible actions. SayCan links LLM-generated plans to real-world affordance scores, MALMM re-plans after failures, and A3VLM infers part interactions to guide articulated manipulation.For humanoids operating in unstructured spaces, reasoning is a prerequisite for generality. It’s how robots go from scripted behavior to goal-directed autonomy.