[JesseK]

The command architecture is an interesting concept for robotics, but only because our processors are powerful enough to jump through the extra layers of abstraction without effecting the mechanical performance. I've experimented with sending high-level (marshalled) commands from a prompt to my quadrotor with some success. The architecture is essentially a queue for predicates and closures. The key to success on a larger system is managing compounding and/or non-deterministic behavior that causes the command queue to get gummed up.

As a reviewer's note, the command queue itself should have overriding interrupts -- ways to interrupt the current command with a higher priority command for the same subsystem. End-users under high pressure in an intense match are REALLY good at hitting the wrong button (e.g. to tell an arm to go down when they really wanted it to go up) and then changing their minds in under a few milliseconds.