I have a theory/headcanon as to why dupes get stuck so often
And it's quite simple really: they see differently than we do!
While we see the asteroid as 2D, they perceive the world in 3D! U can see that in the animated shorts, despite being 2D animated, you can see that the rooms and objects have depth. Meaning when we tell them to go dig out a room, they don't see what they're actually digging, other than the tile right next to them. Like you could go and send them mine coal and they wouldn't know they're mining for coal until they get to it! Yknow what I mean?
So when you tell them to go dig something, they have no idea that there's a hole there or that they can't get out of there once they're in there.
I'm definitely putting the printing pod perceiving the world as 3D as well in my AU thing...











