diff --git a/Brain/marcus_brain.py b/Brain/marcus_brain.py
index edb966f..9b351b3 100644
--- a/Brain/marcus_brain.py
+++ b/Brain/marcus_brain.py
@@ -146,7 +146,12 @@ def init_brain():
         print("  [Voice] disabled by config")
 
     _log("Brain initialized", "info", "brain")
-    _warmup_llava()
+
+    # Warmup runs in a daemon thread so the dashboard + Command: prompt
+    # appear immediately. The first real user command will either hit a
+    # warm model (fast) or pay the cold-load itself (same as before).
+    import threading as _t
+    _t.Thread(target=_warmup_llava, daemon=True, name="llava-warmup").start()
 
 
 # Global voice references
@@ -400,20 +405,51 @@ def _handle_llava(cmd):
 # HELPERS
 # ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
 
+def _strip_ansi(s: str) -> str:
+    """Strip ANSI colour escapes for correct visual width calculations."""
+    import re as _re
+    return _re.sub(r"\x1b\[[0-9;]*m", "", s)
+
+
 def _warmup_llava():
+    """
+    Runs in a daemon thread — primes the Ollama model into VRAM so the first
+    user command doesn't pay the ~15-20 s cold-load. Tolerates client-timeout
+    on the first attempt (common on the 16 GB Jetson when the compute graph
+    needs a second pass to fit) by doing one silent retry.
+    """
     import ollama
-    print("  Warming up LLaVA... (loading into GPU)")
-    try:
-        img = get_frame()
-        ollama.chat(
-            model=OLLAMA_MODEL,
-            messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "hi",
-                       "images": [img] if img else []}],
-            options={"temperature": 0.0, "num_predict": _cfg["warmup_num_predict"]}
-        )
-        print("  LLaVA warm - first command will be fast\n")
-    except Exception as e:
-        print(f"  Warmup failed ({e}) - first command may be slow\n")
+    # Quiet heartbeat in the terminal so the operator knows something is happening
+    # without flooding stdout once the banner prints.
+    print("  [Warmup] Loading Qwen2.5-VL into GPU...")
+    base_options = {
+        "temperature": 0.0,
+        "num_predict": _cfg["warmup_num_predict"],
+        # Honor the same compute-graph caps everything else uses, otherwise
+        # Ollama reverts to batch=512/ctx=4096 for this call and OOMs.
+        "num_batch":   _cfg.get("num_batch", 128),
+        "num_ctx":     _cfg.get("num_ctx",   2048),
+    }
+    for attempt in (1, 2):
+        try:
+            img = get_frame()
+            ollama.chat(
+                model=OLLAMA_MODEL,
+                messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "hi",
+                           "images": [img] if img else []}],
+                options=base_options,
+            )
+            print("  [Warmup] Ready — first command will be fast")
+            return
+        except Exception as e:
+            if attempt == 1:
+                # Cold-load frequently times out on attempt #1 while Ollama
+                # is still allocating the compute graph. The model stays
+                # loaded though, so attempt #2 almost always succeeds.
+                print(f"  [Warmup] first attempt timed out, retrying...")
+                continue
+            print(f"  [Warmup] failed after retry ({e}) — first real command "
+                  f"will pay the cold-load (~15-20 s)")
 
 
 def get_brain_status() -> dict:
@@ -480,18 +516,39 @@ def run_terminal():
     """Run brain with terminal input loop."""
     init_brain()
 
+    # ─── DASHBOARD ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+    # Separate the boot log from the interactive dashboard with a clear
+    # visual break. Print at the end of init so it's always the last thing
+    # on screen before the first `Command:` prompt — even if the operator
+    # scrolled through a wall of subsystem init messages.
     status = get_brain_status()
-    print()
-    print("=" * 54)
-    print("           SANAD AI BRAIN — READY")
-    print("=" * 54)
-    for k, v in status.items():
-        print(f"  {k:<12}: {v}")
-    print("-" * 54)
-    print("  Type a command, or say \"Sanad, <command>\".")
-    print("  Shortcuts: help | example | yolo | patrol | auto on/off | q")
-    print("=" * 54)
-    print()
+
+    def _fmt(v):
+        if v is True:  return "\033[92mON \033[0m"    # green
+        if v is False: return "\033[91mOFF\033[0m"    # red
+        return str(v)
+
+    W = 58
+    print("\n\n" + "╔" + "═" * (W-2) + "╗")
+    print("║" + "   SANAD — AI BRAIN READY".ljust(W-2) + "║")
+    print("╠" + "═" * (W-2) + "╣")
+    left  = [("model",    status["model"]),
+             ("voice",    _fmt(status["voice"])),
+             ("camera",   status["camera"])]
+    right = [("yolo",     _fmt(status["yolo"])),
+             ("lidar",    _fmt(status["lidar"])),
+             ("memory",   _fmt(status["memory"])),
+             ("odometry", _fmt(status["odometry"]))]
+    for i in range(max(len(left), len(right))):
+        l = f"  {left[i][0]:<8}: {left[i][1]}"        if i < len(left)  else ""
+        r = f"  {right[i][0]:<8}: {right[i][1]}"      if i < len(right) else ""
+        # account for ANSI escapes when padding the left column
+        pad = 28 + (len(l) - len(_strip_ansi(l)))
+        print("║" + l.ljust(pad) + r.ljust(W - 2 - pad) + "║")
+    print("╠" + "═" * (W-2) + "╣")
+    print("║" + "  Type a command, or say \"Sanad, <command>\".".ljust(W-2) + "║")
+    print("║" + "  help · example · yolo · patrol · auto on/off · q".ljust(W-2) + "║")
+    print("╚" + "═" * (W-2) + "╝\n")
 
     try:
         while True:
diff --git a/Lidar/SLAM_worker.py b/Lidar/SLAM_worker.py
index 0b82394..4045fc3 100644
--- a/Lidar/SLAM_worker.py
+++ b/Lidar/SLAM_worker.py
@@ -595,7 +595,16 @@ def slam_worker(
     def init_slam_stack():
         nonlocal slam, filt, stable
 
-        cfg = load_config(config_file=None, max_range=float(eng_cfg.max_range))
+        # kiss_icp >= 1.2.x requires a `deskew` positional arg; pre-1.2 doesn't.
+        # Try the new signature first, fall back to the old one.
+        try:
+            cfg = load_config(
+                config_file=None,
+                deskew=bool(getattr(eng_cfg, "deskew", True)),
+                max_range=float(eng_cfg.max_range),
+            )
+        except TypeError:
+            cfg = load_config(config_file=None, max_range=float(eng_cfg.max_range))
         cfg.mapping.voxel_size = float(eng_cfg.slam_voxel_size)
         slam = KissICP(cfg)