// Optimal - working on small pattern but too slow (scale bad)
// So I build the total command letter by letter - that surely is NOT globally optimal

Key=sol=>sol.pos+' '+sol.setBits

Solve=(target, startRow, startDir, cmd)=>{
  // Target is a rectangle string 5x5, newline separated for total (5+1)*5 chars
  if (target[target.length-1] != '\n') target += '\n';
  
  var T = ~new Date()
  var width = 5, height = 5, startPos = (width+1)*startRow;
  var offset = [-width-1, 1, width+1, -1];
  var turns = [ "", "r", "rr", "l" ];
  var cmds = [ "m", "rm", "rrm", "lm", "d", "rd", "rrd", "ld" ];
  var visited = {}, scan =[[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[]], cscan;
  
  var baseSol = { steps:[], pos: startPos, dir: startDir, setBits: 0};
  var score = 0, j = 0
  var bit, key, turn, curSol, move, result
  var targetBits = 0; 
  [...target].map((c,i)=>targetBits |= ((c=='o')<<i)) // 30 bits
  
  // First step, from outside, set bit in mask if it's set in target
  if (target[startPos]=='o') baseSol.setBits = 1<<startPos;
  console.log(target, targetBits.toString(16))
  visited[Key(baseSol)] = scan[0].push(baseSol);
  

  for (j = 0; j<99; j++)
  {
     cscan = scan[j];
     scan.push([])
     
     // console.log(`T: ${T-~new Date} J: ${j} SC: ${cscan.length}`)
     while (cscan.length > 0)
     {
        baseSol = cscan.pop()
        //console.log('Base', baseSol.dir, baseSol.pos, baseSol.setBits.toString(16), baseSol.steps.length)
        for(turn = 0; turn < 4; turn++)
        {
           // set direction, move and drop if you can
           curSol = {};
           curSol.dir = baseSol.dir + turn & 3;
           curSol.pos = baseSol.pos + offset[curSol.dir];
           // console.log(turn, curSol.dir, curSol.pos)
           if(target[curSol.pos] > ' '
              || curSol.dir == 1 && target[curSol.pos]=='\n'
             ) // if inside grid or on right border facing east
           {
              score = j + (turn == 2 ? 3 : turn == 0 ? 1 : 2);
              bit = 1 << curSol.pos;
              if (targetBits & bit)
                 curSol.setBits = baseSol.setBits | bit, move = 4 | turn;
              else
                 curSol.setBits = baseSol.setBits, score += 3, move = turn;
              if (!visited[key = Key(curSol)]) 
              {
                 curSol.steps = [...baseSol.steps, move] // clone and add
                 // task completed if on  right border and all bits ok
                 if (target[curSol.pos]>' ')
                 { // not on right border, proceed  
                    visited[key] = scan[score].push(curSol)
                 }  
                 else if (curSol.setBits == targetBits)
                 {
                    result = curSol.steps.map(v=>cmds[v]).join``
                    result = (cmd == '' 
                    ? target[startPos]=='o' ? 'p' : '' 
                    : target[startPos]=='o' ? 'd' : 'm') + result;
                    console.log(`T: ${T-~new Date} J: ${j} CMD: ${result}`)
                    return [cmd+result, curSol.pos / (width+1) | 0];
                 }
              }
           }
        }
     }
  }
  // Miserable failure!
  return []
}  

console.log=(...x)=>LOG.innerHTML+=x+'\n';
// TEST
Karel=(cmd, width, height) =>  // even if for this test we have a limited height to handle
{ 
  var grid = [...('.'.repeat(width)+'\n').repeat(height)],
  o = width+1,p = o*(height-2)+1,d = [-o, 1, o, -1], // direction offsets
  steps = [],s = [...grid],q = 0; // face up

  s[p] = 'n';
  steps.push([s.join``,'-']);
  
  [...cmd].forEach(c => 
    (
      c == 'l' ? q = q-1 &3
      : c == 'r' ? q = q+1 &3
      : c == 'a' ? q = q+2 &3
      : c == 'm' ? p += d[q]
      : c == 'p' ? grid[p] = 'o'
      : c == 'd' ? grid[p += d[q]] = 'o'
      : 0,
      s = [...grid],  
      s[p] = s[p] == 'o' ? 'NESW'[q] : 'nesw'[q],
      steps.push([s.join``,c])
    )
  )
  return [s.join``,steps]
}  


var AlphabetMap = `.ooo..oooo..ooooo.oooo..ooooo.ooooo..oooo.o...o.ooooo.....o.o...o.o.....ooooo.o...o.ooooo.oooo..oooo..oooo..ooooo.ooooo.o...o.o...o.o...o.o...o.o...o.ooooo
o...o.o...o.o.....o...o.o.....o.....o.....o...o...o.......o.o..o..o.....o.o.o.oo..o.o...o.o...o.o..o..o...o.o.......o...o...o.o...o.o...o..o.o...o.o.....o.
ooooo.oooo..o.....o...o.oooo..oooo..o.ooo.ooooo...o.......o.oo....o.....o.o.o.o.o.o.o...o.oooo..o..o..oooo..ooooo...o...o...o..o.o..o.o.o...o.....o.....o..
o...o.o...o.o.....o...o.o.....o.....o...o.o...o...o...o...o.o..o..o.....o...o.o..oo.o...o.o.....oooo..o..o......o...o...o...o..o.o..o.o.o..o.o...o.....o...
o...o.oooo..ooooo.oooo..ooooo.o.....oooo..o...o.ooooo..ooo..o...o.ooooo.o...o.o...o.ooooo.o.........o.o...o.ooooo...o...ooooo...o...ooooo.o...o.o.....ooooo`.split('\n')
var LetterMap = [];
var l,row,m;

for (l=0;l<26;l++)
{
  for(m='',row=0;row<5;row++)
    m += AlphabetMap[row].substr(l*6,5)+'\n'
  LetterMap[l]=m;  
}

print=Message=>{
  var Alphabet = 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'
  var startRow = 4, cmd=''
  var startDir = 0 // start facing UP
  ;[...Message].forEach(l => (
    [cmd, startRow] = Solve(LetterMap[Alphabet.search(l)], startRow, startDir, cmd),
    startDir = 1, // after each letter will be facing RIGHT
    cmd += '\n' // addin a newline (scoring 0) just for readability
  ))

  if (startRow != 4) 
    cmd += 'mr'+'m'.repeat(4-startRow)+'rr' // on last row and facing up
  else 
    cmd += 'ml' // ...facing up

  // Recalc score
  var score = 0
  ;[...cmd].forEach(c=>score += c=='m'? 4 : c<' '? 0: 1)

  var robot = Karel(cmd.replace(/\n/g,''), 26*7, 7)
  O.innerHTML=cmd+'\nScore:'+score
  R.innerHTML=robot[0]
  RS.innerHTML=robot[1].join`\n`
}  

function test()
{
  var msg = I.value.toUpperCase()
  msg=msg.replace(/[^A-Z]/g,'')
  I.value=msg
  print(I.value)
}

test()

fieldset {
  padding:0;
}

pre {
  margin: 2px;
}

#RS {
  height: 200px;
  width: 50%;
  overflow:auto;
}

#I { width: 50% }

<fieldset ><legend>Message to print</legend>
<input id=I value='ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'><button onclick='test()'>go</button></fieldset>
<fieldset ><legend>Command Result (newlines added for readability)</legend>
<pre id=O></pre></fieldset>
<fieldset ><legend>Robot output</legend>
<pre id=R></pre></fieldset>
<fieldset ><legend>Robot step by step</legend>
<pre id=RS></pre></fieldset>
<fieldset ><legend>log</legend>
<pre id=LOG></pre></fieldset>