Robot Industry Glossary

The robotic stacking of products or containers onto pallets in a prescribed pattern, a major industrial automation application.

A robot with multiple kinematic chains connecting the base to the end-effector, offering high stiffness, speed, and accuracy, such as Delta and Stewart-Gough platforms.

A geometric curve describing the spatial trajectory of a robot’s end-effector or base, without time information.

Finding a collision-free geometric route from start to goal, such as A*, RRT, PRM, Dijkstra.

The maximum mass a robot can carry at its end-effector while maintaining specified performance, a key industrial robot specification.

The robot’s ability to sense and interpret its environment using cameras, LiDAR, tactile sensors, and other modalities.

A classification of the reliability of safety-related parts of a control system (ISO 13849).

A fundamental robotic operation involving grasping an object from one location and placing it at another.

A robot specialized for rapidly moving objects from one location to another.

The most widely used feedback control algorithm, calculating a control signal based on the error, its integral, and its rate of change: u=Kp?e+Ki??edt+Kd?dtde?.

A precision grasp using fingertips to hold small objects with fine control, as opposed to a power grasp.

Rotation of a robot or end-effector about the lateral (Y) axis, one of three Euler angle components.

The smallest unit of a digital image, representing color or intensity at a specific location; fundamental in robot vision processing.

An industrial digital computer used for automation of electromechanical processes.

An actuator powered by compressed air, offering fast, lightweight motion for pick-and-place and simple assembly robots.

A set of data points in 3D space representing the external surfaces of objects, generated by LiDAR, depth cameras, or stereo vision.

An open-source library for 2D/3D point cloud processing.

The combination of a robot’s position (X, Y, Z) and orientation (roll, pitch, yaw) in space, fully describing its location.

A control mode where the robot’s controller drives each joint to a specified position, the most common control mode in industrial robots.

A variable resistor used as a position sensor.

Cobots restrict output to safe thresholds (typically <150 N continuous contact force per ISO/TS 15066) to prevent injury during collisions.

A safety principle where the robot is designed to limit kinetic energy and contact forces.

A grasp using full hand contact for maximum grip strength, suitable for heavy or large objects.

The system of components (motors, gears, drives) that delivers power to the robot’s joints or wheels.

The configuration of a robot hand before contact with an object, planned to match the object’s geometry for effective grasping.

Using data and analytics to predict equipment failure and schedule maintenance proactively.

A joint that provides linear (translational) motion along a single axis, as opposed to a revolute joint.

An approach that uses probability theory to handle uncertainty in perception and action.

The process of managing a product’s lifecycle from inception through design, manufacturing, service, and disposal.

A method where a robot learns tasks by observing a human performing them, eliminating the need for manual programming.

A basic control strategy where the control output is proportional to the error signal, forming the “P” in PID control.

An artificial limb with robotic components that restores or enhances motor function for amputees or individuals with disabilities.

A set of rules governing data exchange between robot components and systems, including TCP/IP, CAN, and ROS messages.

Located closer to the robot’s base; in a robot arm, the proximal end is the shoulder or mounting point.

A sensor that detects the presence of nearby objects without physical contact, using infrared, ultrasonic, or capacitive technology.

A generalized matrix inverse used in redundant robot inverse kinematics to compute joint velocities from desired end-effector velocities.

An open-source Python framework developed by Facebook AI Research for robot learning and control.

A popular programming language in robotics due to its simplicity, extensive libraries (NumPy, SciPy), and integration with ROS.

A deep learning framework used in robotics for training neural networks for perception, control, and policy learning.