Good move getting a nice robot! I'm doing something similar to you, but I went with a cheap robot, the "HIWONDER 6DOF Robotic Arm Kit". It was only $600, but wow is it bad. The precision and repeatability are both "are you drunk?" level. I can hear the gears grind when it moves. I suppose I should upgrade. But if my system can work with a terrible robot, I assume it would work even better with a nice one!
My project is https://github.com/colinator/Ariel - basically, no VLAs - instead, "just write code". Or have the agents do it.
I don't have a writeup yet about applying Ariel to _this_ robot, but this is for a previous one: https://colinator.github.io/Ariel/post1.html.
Excited to follow your progress!
Wow very cool project and thanks for the Ariel pointer! Added to my reading list.
And yes, having a nice robot makes life so much easier. Very happy with my choice so far!