diff --git a/src/act.lisp b/src/act.lisp
index 0d41eba..bf220af 100644
--- a/src/act.lisp
+++ b/src/act.lisp
@@ -21,11 +21,14 @@
 (defun dispatch-action (action context)
   "Routes an approved action to its registered physical actuator."
   (when (and action (listp action))
-    (let* ((target (or (ignore-errors (getf action :target)) *default-actuator*)) 
+    (let* ((raw-target (or (ignore-errors (getf action :target)) 
+                           (ignore-errors (getf action :TARGET))
+                           *default-actuator*))
+           (target (if (keywordp raw-target) raw-target (intern (string-upcase (string raw-target)) :keyword)))
            (actuator-fn (gethash target *actuator-registry*)))
       (if actuator-fn 
           (funcall actuator-fn action context) 
-          (harness-log "ACT ERROR: No actuator for ~a" target)))))
+          (harness-log "ACT ERROR: No actuator for ~s (from ~s)" target raw-target)))))
 
 (defun execute-system-action (action context)
   "Processes internal harness commands. (ACTUATOR)"
diff --git a/src/communication.lisp b/src/communication.lisp
index 88b59c8..bffe363 100644
--- a/src/communication.lisp
+++ b/src/communication.lisp
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 (in-package :opencortex)
 
-(defvar *actuator-registry* (make-hash-table :test 'equal)
+(defvar *actuator-registry* (make-hash-table :test 'equalp)
   "Global registry mapping target keywords to their physical actuator functions.")
 
 (defun register-actuator (name fn) 
   "Registers an actuator function. Actuators receive: (ACTION CONTEXT)."
-  (setf (gethash name *actuator-registry*) fn))
+  (let ((key (if (keywordp name) name (intern (string-upcase (string name)) :keyword))))
+    (setf (gethash key *actuator-registry*) fn)))
 
 (defun frame-message (msg-string)
   "Prefixes MSG-STRING with a 6-character hex length.