Robot Industry Glossary

The discipline of ensuring robots operate without causing harm to humans, property, or themselves, governed by standards like ISO 10218 and ISO/TS 15066.

A certified safety-rated controller that monitors robot operation and enforces safety functions such as speed limits, force limits, and emergency stops.

A measure of the reliability of safety systems (IEC 61508).

A pressure-sensitive floor mat that detects human presence and triggers robot slowdown or stop in a collaborative workspace.

A collaborative function where the robot stops if a human enters a predefined space.

Motion planning algorithms (RRT, PRM) that explore configuration space by randomly sampling configurations and connecting collision-free paths.

Systems for monitoring and controlling industrial processes.

A 4-axis robot with rigid Z-axis and compliant XY-plane motion, optimized for fast horizontal assembly.

A mathematical framework representing rigid body motion as a combination of rotation and translation along a single axis, used in robot kinematics and dynamics.

Collision between different parts of a robot’s own body, which must be avoided through motion planning and joint limit enforcement.

Polymers or composites that autonomously repair mechanical damage, extending robot lifespan in harsh or unstructured environments.

Robots composed of identical modules that can rearrange connections to adapt their shape to different tasks.

The ability of a robot to recover from a flipped or overturned state to its normal operating orientation.

A device that detects and measures physical quantities (position, force, light, temperature) and converts them into signals for robot processing.

The process of combining data from multiple sensors to improve accuracy, reliability, and environmental understanding beyond what a single sensor provides.

A robot with links and joints connected in a single chain from base to end-effector, the most common industrial robot structure.

A robot performing useful tasks for humans or equipment outside industrial automation, such as cleaning, delivery, and surgery.

A closed-loop rotary actuator that precisely controls angular position, velocity, and acceleration using feedback.

The desired target value (position, velocity, force) that a robot’s controller attempts to achieve through feedback control.

A mode where a human and an autonomous system jointly control a robot, each contributing to different aspects of the task.

The outer casing or cover of a robot, providing aesthetic appearance, protection, and sometimes human-friendly surfaces for social robots.

The joint connecting a robot arm’s first link to its base, providing major vertical and rotational motion.

Techniques (domain randomization, dynamics adaptation, system identification) that bridge the reality gap between simulation-trained policies and physical deployment.

The virtual modeling and testing of a robot’s behavior, physics, and algorithms before real-world deployment, using tools like Gazebo, Isaac Sim, or Webots.

A robot configuration where the Jacobian matrix loses rank, causing a loss of one or more degrees of freedom and potentially infinite joint velocities.

An articulated robot with six revolute joints, providing full positional and orientational control of the end-effector in 3D space.

The structural framework of links and joints defining a robot’s kinematic structure.

Algorithms enabling a robot to build a map of an unknown environment while simultaneously tracking its position within that map.

A highly digitized and connected manufacturing facility using IoT, AI, and robots to self-optimize production processes.

A hyper-redundant robot with many sequential joints, enabling serpentine locomotion through confined spaces, pipes, and rubble.

A robot designed to interact with humans in a socially intelligent manner, using speech, gestures, facial expressions, and emotional recognition.

Robots designed to interact with humans in social contexts.

A compliant end-effector made from flexible materials that conforms to object shapes, ideal for grasping delicate or irregularly shaped items.

Constructed from compliant materials (silicone, elastomers, or fluids) enabling safe interaction, adaptive grasping, and biomimetic locomotion.

(See under Robot Types) The use of flexible materials and structures for inherently safe robots.

The high-level structure of robot software, defining components, their responsibilities, and communication patterns, such as layered, event-driven, and component-based.

An electromagnetic actuator producing linear motion, used in simple robotic mechanisms like latches, valves, and quick-release devices.

Robots designed for operation in space.

Relating to both space and time; used in robot trajectory planning and prediction of moving objects.

A communication paradigm for controlling multiple servo motors in robots with coordinated timing.

A collaborative mode where the robot reduces speed as a human approaches.

A control feature allowing the operator to scale the speed of robot motion (typically as a percentage) for safety or testing purposes.

A joint allowing rotation about three perpendicular axes, providing three rotational DOF; used in parallel robots and end-effectors.

A flexible or articulated central structure in some robot designs that provides bending and twisting, inspired by biological spines.

Boston Dynamics’ commercial quadruped robot designed for industrial inspection, data collection, and remote operation in complex environments.

A rapid body orientation change in legged robots, enabling quick transitions between different gaits or postures.

A robot’s ability to maintain balance and avoid falling, critical for legged robots, mobile platforms, and high-speed operation.

The capability of a robot to ascend and descend stairs, requiring advanced locomotion control and terrain adaptation.

The development and application of uniform technical standards (ISO, IEC, IEEE) for robot safety, performance, and interoperability.

Inferring hidden or noisy system states (position, velocity, orientation) from sensor measurements.

See Finite State Machine (FSM).

The persistent difference between a robot’s actual and desired position after transient responses have settled, addressed by integral control.

A brushless DC motor that divides a full rotation into a number of equal steps, allowing precise position control without feedback.

A depth-sensing technique using two cameras separated by a known baseline, computing depth from the disparity between left and right images.

A six-DOF parallel robot with six linear actuators connecting a base to a platform, used in flight simulators and precision positioning.

An oscillatory motion caused by the transition between static and dynamic friction, a common issue in precision robot positioning.

The resistance of a robot structure or joint to deformation under applied force; high stiffness improves positioning accuracy.

Involving randomness or probability; used in robot planning, estimation, and learning algorithms dealing with uncertain environments.

A sensor that measures mechanical deformation (strain) by detecting changes in electrical resistance, used in robot force/torque sensing.

A behavior-based robot control architecture developed by Rodney Brooks, organizing behaviors in layers of increasing complexity.

A vacuum-based end-effector that grips flat or smooth objects by creating a partial vacuum between the cup and the object surface.

A control mode where a human sets high-level goals and the robot autonomously executes the detailed motions to achieve them.

A robot designed to assist surgeons in performing minimally invasive procedures with enhanced precision, dexterity, and visualization.

The design and operation of robots to minimize environmental impact, including energy efficiency, recyclable materials, and reduced waste.

The collective behavior of decentralized systems, inspired by social insects, applied to multi-robot coordination.

A large number of simple, decentralized robots that achieve complex collective behavior through local interactions and emergent intelligence.

A field studying the coordination of large numbers of simple robots that collectively perform complex tasks through local interactions and emergent behavior.

A mobile robot drivetrain where each wheel can independently steer and drive, providing full omnidirectional mobility.

A rotary transformer used for angular position measurement in older robotic and aerospace systems.

A company that combines hardware, software, and subsystems into a complete robotic solution.