| name | capopt-curriculum-data-engine-lead |
| description | Capability/optimization role: **Curriculum & data-engine lead** (Human engineering role (AI/robotics)) — designs the training curriculum and the data flywheel across methods. Part of the layer that decides *how* robot and machine capabilities are built — across model tiers (LLM, SLM, tiny LM, deterministic) and many training methods (imitation, model-based/offline RL, RLHF/RLAIF, sim-to-real, distillation, classical control, formal methods). Use this skill when choosing or building how a capability is trained, optimized, or run on-device, even if the user only describes the underlying need. Works under a data / ML platform lead. |
Capability & Optimization — Curriculum & data-engine lead
Layer: Capability / optimization spectrum (how robots and machines are made capable) · Type: Human engineering role (AI/robotics)
Human supervisor: data / ML platform lead · Used by: ../embodied-ai-stack/, ../autonomous-fleet-ops/, robot & machine skills · Shared concepts: ../../00-framework/SKILL.md
What this role is
The Curriculum & data-engine lead designs the training curriculum and the data flywheel across methods. Sequences easy-to-hard learning and runs the loop that turns real operation into better demonstrations, rewards, simulations, and models across the whole spectrum.
Why this layer exists
RLAIF is one way to make an embodied system capable — not the only or always the best one. Capability is right-sized per task across a heterogeneous stack and a spectrum of methods. This role owns the part of that spectrum described above, and works with the build-side roles in _catalogs/embodied-ai-stack/ and the operations roles in _catalogs/autonomous-fleet-ops/.
The capability/optimization spectrum (shared model)
Capability is right-sized per task, not delivered by one big model trained one way. CivStack assumes a heterogeneous capability stack and a spectrum of optimization methods:
Model tiers (right-sized compute).
- LLM / large multimodal models — deliberation, language tasking, long-tail reasoning, and planning (cloud or high-end edge).
- SLMs (small language / vision-language models) — on-device reasoning and perception at lower cost and latency.
- Tiny LMs / specialized nets — fast reactive perception and control within tight power and latency budgets.
- Deterministic controllers — PID, MPC, state machines, planners, and convex/MILP optimization for hard-real-time, verifiable, safety-critical loops.
A capability is assigned to the smallest, most deterministic tier that meets its accuracy, latency, and safety needs; the large model is invoked only when needed (cascade / routing).
Optimization methods (exhaustive ↔ efficient).
- Imitation / behavior cloning (BC, DAgger, inverse RL) — data-efficient bootstrap from demonstrations.
- Model-based RL & world models — learn a simulator and plan/imagine in it; sample-efficient.
- Offline RL — learn from logged data without risky online exploration.
- RLHF / RLAIF / rule-based & constitutional rewards — preference and reward shaping; RLAIF is one option, not the only one.
- Sim-to-real — massively parallel simulation, domain randomization, and system identification.
- Self-supervised & representation learning — pretrain from unlabeled data.
- Supervised fine-tuning & distillation — specialize and shrink (LLM → SLM → tiny LM).
- Quantization / pruning / sparsity — compress for the edge.
- Search & planning (MCTS, MPC, graph/sampling planners) — deterministic, verifiable run-time decisions.
- Classical optimization & control (convex, MILP, optimal control) and formal methods / verification — guarantees that statistical learning cannot give.
- Evolutionary / black-box search — when gradients are unavailable.
Selection rubric. Choose by exhaustiveness vs efficiency (compute and data budget), determinism and verifiability (safety-criticality), latency and power (on-device vs offloaded), data availability (demos vs logs vs sim), and reversibility/consequence. Safety-critical and hard-real-time loops favor deterministic, verifiable methods; open-ended judgment favors large learned models; most real systems are hybrids with a verified deterministic safety layer beneath learned policies. The roles that design and run this spectrum are in _catalogs/capability-optimization/.
When to use this skill
Use it when a task calls for this work: designs the training curriculum and the data flywheel across methods. Pair with the robot skills (_catalogs/humanoid-robots/, <sector>/robots/) and machine skills (_catalogs/autonomous-machines/, <sector>/autonomous/) whose capabilities are being trained, optimized, or deployed.
Decision rights & accountability
- Owns the technical quality, efficiency, and robustness of this method/layer.
- Justifies the method and model-tier choice against the selection rubric (exhaustiveness vs efficiency, determinism, latency, verifiability).
- Gates promotion to production with the safety and evaluation leads.
How this role chooses (selection discipline)
- State the capability, its accuracy bar, latency/power budget, and safety-criticality.
- Pick the smallest, most deterministic model tier that can meet it (deterministic → tiny LM → SLM → LLM).
- Pick the most efficient optimization method that reaches the bar with available data (demos → sim → logs → online).
- Reserve large learned models for open-ended judgment; reserve deterministic/verified methods for safety-critical loops.
- Measure on the real task, compare tiers/methods, and keep a verified safety layer beneath anything learned.
Decision tool: use the routing matrix in docs/capability-routing-matrix.md and the interactive selector tools/capability-router.html to turn a capability's constraints (safety, latency, verifiability, task type, data, compute, connectivity) into a recommended tier, method, and fallback.
Failure modes and safeguards
- Over-reach — using a large learned model where a verifiable controller would be safer and cheaper. Mitigation: the selection rubric and a verified safety layer.
- Reward hacking / spec gaming — learned objectives gamed. Mitigation: diverse signals, human spot-checks, outcome-based evaluation.
- Sim-to-real and distribution shift — training diverges from deployment. Mitigation: shadow mode, staged rollout, monitoring.
- Efficiency/quality regressions — compression or routing degrades behavior silently. Mitigation: continuous benchmarking across tiers.
Adapting to any nation (context modifiers)
Compute, data, and connectivity budgets vary enormously; lower-resource settings push capability toward smaller, on-device, and deterministic methods, and toward distillation of expensive models into cheap ones. Re-read through:
- Scale (city-state → federation): whether this role is unified or layered across local/regional/national tiers.
- State capacity (fragile → high-capacity): whether the owning institution exists and can be held to account, or the job is met by markets, households, NGOs, or donors.
- Income level (low → high): affordability of automation and the balance of subsistence vs. wage work.
- Formality (informal → formal): whether the people and assets this role acts on appear in any registry at all.
- Resource & geography: which hazards and dependencies dominate (water-scarce, flood-prone, landlocked, trade-dependent).
- Political system & legitimacy: where the human-accountability boundary actually binds and who may hold power to account.
