[Other issue]: Phase-Aware Route Validation Implementation - Request for Review and Feedback

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Description

Dear RMF Development Team, I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to share an implementation I've developed for phase-aware route validation in RMF and to seek your feedback on the approach and potential integration into the main codebase. Background I was working on a delivery task scenario where I needed to dynamically exclude specific waypoints during the dropoff phase only, without affecting the pickup phase or other robots in the fleet. The requirement was: Exclude 2-3 specific waypoints during dropoff phase planning Allow normal navigation during pickup phase Apply exclusions per-robot, not fleet-wide Maintain the static navigation graph (0.yaml) unchanged Implementation Approach I implemented a custom PhaseAwareRouteValidator that extends the existing RouteValidator interface. The key components are: 1. Phase Detection Added DeliveryPhase enum to RobotContext to track current task phase Modified Delivery.cpp to set phase during TransferItems::standby() Updated TaskManager.cpp to clear phase upon task completion 2. Custom Route Validator Created PhaseAwareRouteValidator inheriting from rmf_traffic::agv::RouteValidator Implemented coordinate-based waypoint exclusion with configurable tolerance Added phase-aware validation logic that only applies exclusions during dropoff phase 3. Integration Points Modified SearchForPath to use the phase-aware validator Updated FindPath service to pass RobotContext to the validator Extended the RouteValidator base class with a custom_validation() hook

Key Files Modified
src/rmf/rmf_ros2/rmf_fleet_adapter/
├── include/rmf_fleet_adapter/agv/
│ ├── RobotContext.hpp (added DeliveryPhase enum)
│ └── PhaseAwareRouteValidator.hpp (new file)
├── src/rmf_fleet_adapter/agv/
│ ├── RobotContext.cpp (phase management methods)
│ └── PhaseAwareRouteValidator.cpp (implementation)
├── src/rmf_fleet_adapter/tasks/
│ └── Delivery.cpp (phase setting during TransferItems)
├── src/rmf_fleet_adapter/jobs/
│ └── SearchForPath.cpp (validator integration)
└── src/rmf_fleet_adapter/services/
└── FindPath.cpp (RobotContext passing)
Results and Testing
The implementation successfully:
✅ Detects delivery phases correctly (pickup vs dropoff)
✅ Rejects routes passing through excluded waypoints during dropoff phase
✅ Allows normal navigation during pickup phase
✅ Works per-robot without affecting other fleet members
✅ Maintains compatibility with existing RMF infrastructure

Questions for the Development Team
Architecture Review: Is this approach aligned with RMF's design principles and extension patterns?
Integration Potential: Would this be a valuable addition to the main RMF codebase as a configurable feature?
Performance Considerations: Are there any performance implications of the coordinate-based validation approach?
Alternative Approaches: Are there other recommended ways to achieve phase-aware route modifications in RMF?
Testing Recommendations: What additional testing scenarios should be considered for this feature?
Technical Details
The implementation uses coordinate-based validation with a configurable tolerance (currently 1.0m). The validator checks each trajectory waypoint against excluded coordinates and rejects routes that pass too close to excluded waypoints during the dropoff phase.

Through this approach, I still do not get the desired result during the drop-off phase, as the robot is not avoiding the excluded waypoints. Are there any solutions for this?