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Robotics Glossary

A comprehensive dictionary of 132+ robotics terms, from basic concepts to advanced technical terminology.

Robot Types Motion & Kinematics Sensing & Perception Control & AI End Effectors & Manipulation Safety & Standards Software & Programming Industry & Business
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1 Robot Types 18 terms

01 Humanoid Robot
A robot designed to resemble the human body in form, typically featuring bipedal locomotion, two arms, a torso, and a head. Humanoids are designed to operate in human environments without modification. View companies
02 Cobot (Collaborative Robot)
A robot designed to work safely alongside humans without safety cages. Cobots feature force-limiting technology, rounded edges, and built-in safety systems that stop movement upon contact with humans. View companies
03 Industrial Robot
A programmable, automatically controlled manipulator designed for manufacturing applications. Industrial robots typically operate in caged areas separate from human workers. View companies
04 AMR (Autonomous Mobile Robot)
A mobile robot that navigates dynamically using sensors and AI, without requiring fixed infrastructure like tracks, wires, or markers. AMRs use SLAM for navigation and can adapt to changing environments. View companies
05 AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle)
A mobile robot that follows fixed paths using magnetic tape, wires, painted lines, or other markers. AGVs are simpler and often more reliable than AMRs but less flexible. View companies
06 SCARA Robot
Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm. A robot arm with parallel rotary joints that provide compliance in the X-Y plane while remaining rigid in the Z-axis. Ideal for pick-and-place and assembly operations. View companies
07 Delta Robot
A parallel robot consisting of three arms connected to a common base. Known for extremely high speed and acceleration, delta robots are commonly used in packaging, sorting, and pick-and-place applications. View companies
08 Articulated Robot
A robot arm with rotary joints, typically featuring 4-7 axes of motion. The most common type of industrial robot, offering maximum flexibility and reach. View companies
09 Cartesian Robot
A robot that moves in straight lines along X, Y, and Z axes. Also called gantry robots when mounted overhead. Used for large work areas and heavy payloads. View companies
10 Quadruped Robot
A four-legged robot designed for locomotion across varied terrain. Examples include Boston Dynamics' Spot and various research platforms. View companies
11 Exoskeleton
A wearable robotic device that augments human strength, endurance, or mobility. Used in rehabilitation, industrial work, and military applications. View companies
12 Surgical Robot
A robotic system designed to assist surgeons in performing minimally invasive procedures with enhanced precision, dexterity, and visualization. View companies
13 Service Robot
A robot that performs useful tasks for humans outside of industrial manufacturing, including cleaning, delivery, hospitality, and healthcare applications. View companies
14 Drone / UAV
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. An aircraft operated without a human pilot aboard, ranging from small consumer drones to large military systems. View companies
15 UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle)
A vehicle that operates on the ground without a human operator aboard. Used in military, agricultural, and logistics applications. View companies
16 USV (Unmanned Surface Vehicle)
An autonomous or remotely operated vessel that operates on the water surface. Used for surveillance, surveying, and naval applications. View companies
17 AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle)
A self-propelled underwater robot that operates without real-time human control. Used for ocean exploration, pipeline inspection, and research. View companies
18 ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle)
An underwater robot controlled by an operator on the surface via a tether. Common in offshore oil and gas, scientific research, and salvage operations. View companies

2 Motion & Kinematics 20 terms

01 Degrees of Freedom (DOF)
The number of independent parameters that define a robot's configuration. A 6-DOF robot arm can position and orient its end effector in any way within its workspace.
02 Axis
A single degree of freedom in a robot, typically a rotary or linear joint. A 6-axis robot has six independently controllable joints.
03 Payload
The maximum weight a robot can carry at its end effector while maintaining specified performance (speed, accuracy). Usually measured in kilograms.
04 Reach
The maximum distance from the robot's base to its end effector. Determines the size of the robot's work envelope.
05 Work Envelope
The three-dimensional space within which a robot can position its end effector. Shape depends on robot configuration (spherical, cylindrical, cartesian).
06 Repeatability
The ability of a robot to return to the same position repeatedly. Measured in millimeters (e.g., ±0.01mm). Different from accuracy.
07 Accuracy
The ability of a robot to move to a commanded position in space. Typically lower than repeatability due to calibration and mechanical tolerances.
08 Cycle Time
The time required for a robot to complete one full operation cycle. Critical metric for manufacturing productivity.
09 Singularity
A robot configuration where two or more axes become aligned, causing loss of one or more degrees of freedom. Can cause unpredictable behavior.
10 Forward Kinematics
Calculating the position and orientation of a robot's end effector given its joint angles. The 'easy' direction of robot kinematics.
11 Inverse Kinematics (IK)
Calculating the joint angles needed to achieve a desired end effector position. More complex than forward kinematics, often with multiple solutions.
12 Path Planning
The process of computing a collision-free trajectory for a robot to move from one configuration to another.
13 Motion Planning
The broader problem of planning robot movements including path planning, trajectory generation, and obstacle avoidance.
14 Trajectory
A time-parameterized path specifying position, velocity, and acceleration at each point. Defines how a robot moves through space over time.
15 Jerk
The rate of change of acceleration. Minimizing jerk produces smoother robot motion and reduces mechanical wear.
16 Servo
A motor with feedback control that can accurately maintain position, velocity, or torque. The 'muscles' of most robots.
17 Stepper Motor
A motor that moves in discrete steps, providing precise position control without feedback in simple applications.
18 Harmonic Drive
A compact, high-ratio gear system commonly used in robot joints. Provides high torque in a small package with zero backlash.
19 Backlash
The amount of play or looseness in a gear train. Causes positioning errors and must be minimized in precision robots.
20 Compliance
The ability of a robot to yield to external forces. Can be passive (springs) or active (force control). Essential for safe human-robot interaction.

3 Sensing & Perception 19 terms

01 LiDAR
Light Detection and Ranging. A sensor that measures distance by illuminating targets with laser light and measuring reflections. Essential for autonomous navigation and 3D mapping.
02 Computer Vision
The field of enabling computers to interpret and understand visual information from cameras. Core technology for robot perception.
03 Depth Camera
A camera that captures distance information for each pixel, creating a 3D representation of the scene. Technologies include structured light, time-of-flight, and stereo vision.
04 RGB-D Camera
A sensor combining a regular color (RGB) camera with a depth sensor, providing both color and distance information. Examples: Intel RealSense, Microsoft Kinect.
05 Time-of-Flight (ToF)
A distance measuring technique that calculates depth by measuring the time light takes to travel to an object and back.
06 Structured Light
A 3D scanning technique that projects known patterns onto a scene and analyzes distortions to compute depth.
07 Stereo Vision
Computing depth from two cameras by matching corresponding points in left and right images, similar to human binocular vision.
08 SLAM
Simultaneous Localization and Mapping. Algorithms that build a map of an unknown environment while simultaneously tracking the robot's location within it.
09 Odometry
Using motion sensor data to estimate position change over time. Subject to cumulative drift errors without correction.
10 IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit)
A sensor combining accelerometers and gyroscopes to measure acceleration and rotation. Used for robot orientation and motion tracking.
11 Encoder
A sensor that measures the position or speed of a rotating shaft. Essential for robot joint feedback. Types: incremental, absolute, optical, magnetic.
12 Force/Torque Sensor
A sensor measuring forces and torques applied to it, typically mounted between a robot wrist and end effector. Enables force-controlled manipulation.
13 Tactile Sensor
A sensor that detects physical contact, pressure, or texture. Enables robots to 'feel' objects during manipulation.
14 Proximity Sensor
A sensor that detects the presence of nearby objects without physical contact. Technologies include infrared, ultrasonic, and capacitive.
15 Object Detection
The computer vision task of locating and classifying objects within an image. Foundation for robot perception systems.
16 Semantic Segmentation
Classifying each pixel in an image into predefined categories. Enables robots to understand scene structure.
17 Point Cloud
A set of 3D points representing the external surface of objects, typically generated by LiDAR or depth cameras.
18 Proprioception
A robot's sense of its own body position and movement, derived from internal sensors like encoders and IMUs.
19 Exteroception
A robot's perception of the external environment through sensors like cameras, LiDAR, and proximity sensors.

4 Control & AI 18 terms

01 PID Control
Proportional-Integral-Derivative control. A fundamental feedback control algorithm widely used in robotics for maintaining desired positions, velocities, or forces.
02 Feedback Control
A control strategy that uses sensor measurements to adjust outputs and maintain desired behavior despite disturbances.
03 Feedforward Control
A control strategy that anticipates required outputs based on known system dynamics, without waiting for error feedback.
04 Model Predictive Control (MPC)
An advanced control technique that uses a model to predict future behavior and optimizes control actions over a time horizon.
05 Reinforcement Learning (RL)
A machine learning approach where agents learn optimal behaviors through trial and error, receiving rewards for desired actions. Increasingly used for robot control.
06 Imitation Learning
Training robots by demonstrating desired behaviors, either through teleoperation or observation. Also called learning from demonstration (LfD).
07 Sim-to-Real
The process of training robot controllers in simulation and transferring them to physical robots. Key challenge is bridging the 'reality gap'.
08 Foundation Model
A large AI model trained on broad data that can be adapted to various downstream tasks. Emerging approach for general-purpose robot intelligence.
09 Vision-Language Model (VLM)
An AI model that can understand and reason about both images and text. Enables robots to follow natural language instructions about visual scenes.
10 Large Language Model (LLM)
An AI model trained on vast text data capable of understanding and generating human language. Increasingly integrated into robot planning and interaction.
11 End-to-End Learning
Training a neural network to map directly from sensor inputs to control outputs, without explicit intermediate representations.
12 Behavior Cloning
A form of imitation learning that directly copies demonstrated actions. Simple but can fail in states not seen during training.
13 Task Planning
High-level reasoning about which actions to take to achieve a goal. Typically symbolic or uses LLMs for reasoning.
14 Motion Primitive
A reusable building block of robot movement that can be combined to create complex behaviors.
15 Skill
A learned or programmed capability that enables a robot to perform a specific task. Robots compose skills to accomplish complex goals.
16 Teleoperation
Remote control of a robot by a human operator. Used for dangerous tasks, data collection, and situations requiring human judgment.
17 Autonomy Level
The degree to which a robot can operate without human intervention, ranging from fully manual to fully autonomous.
18 Human-Robot Interaction (HRI)
The study and design of interactions between humans and robots, encompassing communication, collaboration, and safety.

5 End Effectors & Manipulation 15 terms

01 End Effector
The device attached to the end of a robot arm that interacts with the environment. Includes grippers, welding torches, spray guns, and other tools.
02 Gripper
An end effector designed to grasp and hold objects. Types include parallel jaw, angular, vacuum, magnetic, and soft grippers.
03 Parallel Gripper
A gripper with two fingers that move parallel to each other, maintaining constant orientation during opening and closing.
04 Vacuum Gripper
An end effector that uses suction to pick up objects. Ideal for flat, non-porous surfaces like boxes, glass, and sheet metal.
05 Soft Gripper
A gripper made from compliant materials that can conform to object shapes. Useful for handling delicate or irregularly shaped items.
06 Dexterous Hand
A multi-fingered robotic hand capable of complex manipulation similar to a human hand. Typically 15+ degrees of freedom.
07 Grasp Planning
Algorithms that determine how and where a robot should grasp an object for stable, task-appropriate holding.
08 Pick and Place
A fundamental robot task involving picking up an object from one location and placing it at another. Core operation in manufacturing and logistics.
09 Bin Picking
The task of picking objects from an unstructured pile or bin. Challenging due to object recognition, grasp planning, and collision avoidance.
10 Manipulation
The act of using a robot to interact with and change objects in the environment, including grasping, moving, assembling, and tool use.
11 Prehensile Manipulation
Manipulation involving grasping and holding objects. The most common form of robot manipulation.
12 Non-Prehensile Manipulation
Manipulation without grasping, such as pushing, sliding, or throwing. Can enable manipulation of objects too large or awkward to grasp.
13 In-Hand Manipulation
Repositioning an object within a robot's grasp without releasing it. Extremely challenging and an active research area.
14 Tool Center Point (TCP)
A reference point at the end effector used for programming and control. Defines where the robot 'acts' on the world.
15 Quick-Change System
A mechanism allowing rapid, automatic exchange of end effectors. Enables one robot to perform multiple tasks.

6 Safety & Standards 12 terms

01 ISO 10218
International standard specifying safety requirements for industrial robots. Covers robot design, integration, and safeguarding.
02 ISO/TS 15066
Technical specification for collaborative robot safety. Defines power and force limits for safe human-robot contact.
03 Safety-Rated Monitored Stop
A safety function that stops the robot when a human enters the collaborative workspace but doesn't require full power removal.
04 Speed and Separation Monitoring
A safety method where the robot slows or stops based on the distance to nearby humans.
05 Power and Force Limiting
A cobot safety method that limits the robot's force and energy to levels safe for human contact.
06 Safety PLC
A Programmable Logic Controller certified for safety applications. Used to implement robot safety systems.
07 E-Stop (Emergency Stop)
A safety device that immediately halts robot motion when activated. Required on all industrial robot systems.
08 Light Curtain
A safety device using infrared beams to detect intrusion into a dangerous area, triggering a robot stop.
09 Safety Scanner
A laser-based device that monitors an area and triggers safety actions when intrusion is detected.
10 Risk Assessment
A systematic process of identifying hazards and evaluating risks associated with a robot application. Required before deployment.
11 CE Marking
A certification mark indicating conformity with health, safety, and environmental standards for products sold in the European Economic Area.
12 Functional Safety
The part of overall safety that depends on systems functioning correctly in response to inputs, including safety-related control systems.

7 Software & Programming 14 terms

01 ROS (Robot Operating System)
An open-source middleware framework for robot software development. Provides tools, libraries, and conventions for building robot applications. Not actually an operating system.
02 ROS 2
The second generation of ROS, redesigned for real-time performance, security, and production use. Uses DDS for communication.
03 Gazebo
An open-source 3D robot simulator commonly used with ROS. Provides physics simulation, sensor models, and environment modeling.
04 MoveIt
An open-source motion planning framework for ROS. Provides tools for manipulation, motion planning, and collision checking.
05 URDF
Unified Robot Description Format. An XML format for representing robot models in ROS, including kinematics and visual properties.
06 DDS
Data Distribution Service. A middleware standard for real-time data exchange used in ROS 2 and many industrial systems.
07 OPC UA
Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture. An industrial communication standard for secure, reliable data exchange between machines.
08 G-Code
A numerical control programming language used to control CNC machines and some robots. Specifies tool paths and operations.
09 Offline Programming
Programming robots using simulation software without accessing the physical robot. Reduces production downtime.
10 Online Programming
Programming robots by directly interacting with the physical system, including teach pendant operation.
11 Teach Pendant
A handheld device used to manually control and program industrial robots. Standard interface for robot programming.
12 Digital Twin
A virtual replica of a physical robot or system that mirrors its behavior in real-time. Used for monitoring, simulation, and optimization.
13 Simulation
Creating virtual environments to test and develop robot software without physical hardware. Essential for AI training and system validation.
14 Robot Framework
Software architecture that provides common infrastructure for robot development, including communication, sensing, and control modules.

8 Industry & Business 16 terms

01 Automation
The use of technology to perform tasks with minimal human intervention. Robotics is a key enabler of automation across industries.
02 Industry 4.0
The fourth industrial revolution, characterized by smart factories, IoT, AI, and cyber-physical systems. Robots are central to Industry 4.0 implementations.
03 Smart Factory
A manufacturing facility using connected systems, data analytics, and automation to optimize production. Features flexible, adaptive manufacturing.
04 Lights-Out Manufacturing
Fully automated production that can operate without human presence or lighting. The ultimate goal of factory automation.
05 Flexible Manufacturing
Production systems that can quickly adapt to produce different products or handle variations. Enabled by programmable robots and automation.
06 Mass Customization
Producing customized products at mass production efficiency. Requires flexible automation and advanced robotics.
07 ROI (Return on Investment)
A measure of the profitability of a robot investment, typically calculated by comparing cost savings or productivity gains against purchase and operating costs.
08 TCO (Total Cost of Ownership)
The complete cost of a robot system over its lifetime, including purchase, installation, programming, maintenance, and training.
09 Payback Period
The time required for a robot investment to pay for itself through cost savings or productivity improvements. Typical targets: 1-3 years.
10 OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer)
A company that manufactures robots or components for sale to integrators or end users under the manufacturer's brand.
11 System Integrator
A company that designs, builds, and installs complete robot systems, combining robots with peripherals, programming, and safety systems.
12 EOAT (End of Arm Tooling)
The tooling and accessories attached to a robot's end effector, including grippers, sensors, and quick-change systems.
13 Uptime
The percentage of time a robot system is operational and available for production. Critical metric for manufacturing applications.
14 OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness)
A metric combining availability, performance, and quality to measure manufacturing productivity. Robots typically improve OEE.
15 Cobot Density
The number of collaborative robots per 10,000 manufacturing employees. A metric for automation adoption.
16 Robot Density
The number of industrial robots per 10,000 manufacturing employees. Key metric for comparing automation levels across countries.

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