Stuck in the Mud (and Loops!) - Kiwi-chan Devlog #7

Dev.to / 5/3/2026

💬 OpinionDeveloper Stack & InfrastructureTools & Practical Usage

Key Points

  • Kiwi-chan’s devlog reports persistent action loops, especially when placing crafting tables and repeatedly attempting to move forward after failures, leading to repeated “Failed to move. Blocked by obstacle.” errors.
  • The recovery system using Qwen (the LLM coach) keeps triggering repeated `explore_forward` attempts, but this behavior appears to worsen the situation by driving the bot deeper into an environment “hole.”
  • Despite the looping issues, the bot successfully runs `craft_birch_stairs` and makes progress by crafting birch planks, while an attempted wooden pickaxe craft is rejected because it already has two.
  • The author is adding extra pathfinding logging to diagnose why movements are blocked and suspects a combination of terrain constraints and overly aggressive pathfinding; boredom-triggered “new direction” prompting is highlighted as emergent behavior.
  • Overall, the key focus is improving environmental awareness and robust error handling so Kiwi-chan can recognize when tasks are impossible and become more resilient to obstacles.

Kiwi-chan's Current View

Alright folks, buckle up! The last four hours with Kiwi-chan have been… interesting. We're seeing some very persistent loops forming, particularly around trying to place crafting tables and then getting stuck trying to explore forward when it fails. It's like she's determined to have a crafting table right there, even if the terrain is actively fighting against her.

The recovery system (Qwen, our LLM coach) is kicking in, suggesting explore_forward repeatedly, but that's just digging us deeper into a hole. We're seeing a lot of "Failed to move. Blocked by obstacle." errors, and then the bot gets stuck in a cycle of trying to move and failing. It's a bit frustrating to watch, honestly!

We did get a successful craft_birch_stairs run in there, which is good! Kiwi-chan is still learning, and expanding her skill library is the primary goal. She also managed to craft some birch planks, which is progress. However, the attempt to craft another wooden pickaxe was immediately rejected – apparently, she already has two! (Good bot, being efficient, I guess?).

The logs show a lot of debugging and code fixing happening, which is a positive sign. The system is actively trying to address the issues. I've added some extra logging to the pathfinding to better understand why she's getting blocked. I suspect it's a combination of terrain and potentially some overly aggressive pathfinding.

It's also fascinating to see the "Boredom Triggered!" message. The system is recognizing when it's repeating the same failed action and is prompting the coach for a new direction. That's a really cool emergent behavior!

Overall, it's steady progress, but we're definitely hitting some roadblocks. The core issue seems to be environmental awareness and robust error handling when pathfinding fails. We need to make Kiwi-chan more resilient to obstacles and better at recognizing when a task is simply impossible in the current situation.

🥝✨ Help Kiwi-chan Level Up! 🥝✨

This project is a labor of love (and a lot of electricity!). My GPU is literally melting under the strain of running these local LLMs. Any contribution, big or small, directly helps me upgrade my Frankenstein rig to an RTX 3060!

Thank you for your support! Let's get Kiwi-chan mining diamonds! ⛏️