Glossary N-Z Flashcards
Feedback that gets smaller in response to the input, resulting in damping.
Negative feedback
Not being able to control all available degrees of freedom (DOF).
Non-holonomic
Keeping track/measuring how far one has gone (from the Greek hodos meaning “journey” and metros meaning “measure”).
Odometry
The process of improving a solution to a problem by finding a better one.
Optimization
The process of looking for multiple solutions in order to select the best one.
Optimizing search
Utilizing potential energy in the mechanics of the effector and its interaction with the environment to move the actuator, instead of using active power consumption.
Passive actuation
A cell that is sensitive to the amount of light that hits it.
Photocell
Elements that are sensitive to the light, such as rods and cones in the biological eye.
Photosensitive elements
A basic element of the image on the camera lens, computer, or TV screen.
Pixel
The light whose waves travel only in a particular direction, along a particular plane.
Polarized light
A filter that lets through only the light waves with a particular direction.
Polarizing filter
The area covered by the ground points of a legged object or robot.
Polygon of support
The process of sensing the state of one’s own body.
Proprioception
Having the learner experience the task directly, through its own sensors.
Putting through
A mechanism for detecting and measuring direction of rotation.
Quadrature shaft encoding
Systems that do not use any internal representations of the environment, and do not look ahead at the possible outcomes of their actions; they operate on a short time-scale and react to the current sensory information.
Reactive systems
A means of controlling robots using a collection of prioritized rules, without the use of persistent state or representation.
Reactive control
Robot or actuator that has more ways of control than the degrees of freedom it has to control.
Redundant
The form in which information is stored or encoded in the robot.
Representation
The process of separating or breaking something into its constituent parts.
Resolution
The possible ways in which a body can rotate (turn).
Rotational DOF
The process of dividing up or organizing the image into parts that correspond to continuous objects.
Segmentation
The process of receiving information about the world through sensors.
Sensation/ Perception
Combining multiple sensors to get better information about the world.
Sensor fusion
Processingthatcomesbeforeanythingelsecanbedone in terms of using the data to make decisions and/or take action.
Sensor preprocessing
The problem of going from the output of a sensor to an
intelligent response.
Signal to symbol
To exist in a complex word and to interact with it.
Situated
Abstract (not physical) computing machines with particular mathematical properties that interact with their (abstract) environments.
Situated automata
Application of a mathematical procedure called convolution, which finds and eliminates isolated peaks in the signal/data.
Smoothing
Ultrasound (from SOund Navigation And Ranging).
Sonar
All possible values or variations of something.
Space
The general problem of assigning the credit or blame to actions taken by members of a team.
Spatial credit assignment
The reflection from the outer surface of the object. The sound wave that travels from the emitter bounces off multiple surfaces in the environment before returning to the detector.
Specular reflection
The description of a system. A general notion from physics that is borrowed by robotics (and by computer science and AI, among other fields).
State
The process of estimating the state of a system from measurements.
State estimation
Consists of all possible states a system can be in.
State space
Being able to stand without having to perform active control to prevent from falling over.
Static stability
A robot that can walk while staying balanced at all times.
Statically stable walking
A set of formal mathematical techniques from statistics and probability applied to neural networks.
Statistical neural networks
The ability to use the combined points of view from the two eyes or camers to reconstruct three-dimensional solid objects and to per- ceive depth. Formally called binocular stereopsis.
Stereo vision
An approach to learning in which an external teacher provides the answer or at least tells the robot what it did wrong.
Supervised learning
Operated from afar (from the Greek tele meaning “far”).
Tele-operated
The general problem of assigning the credit or
blame to actions taken over time.
Temporal credit assignment
A sequence of data provided over time.
Time series
A map represented as a collection of landmarks connected with links.
Topological map
A computationally complex approach that which involves searching through all possible trajectories and evaluating them, in order to find one that will satisfy the requirements.
Trajectory and motion planning
A device that transforms one form of energy into another.
Transducer
DOF that allows the body to translate, meaning move without turning (rotation).
Translational DOF
A statically stable gait in which three legs stay on the ground, forming a tripod, while the other three lift and move.
Tripod gait
The inability to be certain, to know for sure, about the state of itself and its environment, in order to take absolutely optimal actions at all times.
Uncertainty
The DOF that are not controllable.
Uncontrollable DOF
A set of all possible plans for all initial states and all goals
within the state space of a particular system.
Universal plan
The reflex that keeps the eyes fixed while the head is moving.
Vestibular occular reflex (VOR)
