core/docs/decisions/ADR-0209-sensorimotor-feedback-contract.md

ADR-0209: Sensorimotor Feedback Is Afferent

Status: Proposed Date: 2026-06-04 Domains: sensorium/sensorimotor/, sensorium/protocol.py, future robotics integrations Depends on: ADR-0013, ADR-0198, ADR-0208

Decision

CORE will treat proprioception, tactile/contact state, actuator state feedback, and action result evidence as afferent sensorimotor input. Motor commands remain efferent and are governed separately by EfferentGate.

proprioception / contact / actuator feedback
  -> sensorimotor compiler
  -> SensorimotorCompilationUnit
  -> ObservationFrame

field action intent
  -> EfferentGate + AuthorityToken
  -> governed decode / refusal
  -> environment effect
  -> result feedback re-enters as sensorimotor input

Contract

The v1 afferent signal is quantized and replayable:

ProprioceptiveSignal
  pose_q
  velocity_q
  force_torque_q
  contact_q
  actuator_state_q
  source_sha256
  canonical_sha256

The compiler emits:

SensorimotorIR
SensorimotorCompilationUnit
ContentAddressedDelta

No decoder, trajectory executor, actuator driver, robot interface, tool call, or skill invocation is introduced by this contract.

Consequences

This reserves the correct robotics shape without making unsafe action emission look like ordinary perception. A robot can later close the loop through environment orchestration, but the two halves remain type-separated:

• sensorimotor feedback is evidence;
• motor command is authorized action;
• action results become new evidence only after they re-enter through an afferent compiler.

Proof Obligations

• Same canonical proprioceptive signal produces identical unit and merge key.
• IR replay reproduces the projection.
• Sensorimotor deltas merge idempotently.
• Sensorimotor compiler exposes no decode path.
• Trace records contain no command or trajectory payload.