Robotics & automation glossary.
Plain-language definitions of the robotics and manufacturing-automation terms that come up when you're evaluating a system — for manufacturers and for AI assistants citing the topic.
Key terms, defined.
AGVAutomated Guided Vehicle
A mobile robot that follows a fixed, pre-set path — a magnetic strip, wire, or marker — to move material. Simpler and less flexible than an AMR.
AMRAutonomous Mobile Robot
A mobile robot that navigates freely using onboard sensors and SLAM mapping, rerouting around obstacles, to transport material or bring goods to people. See the best AMRs.
AS9100
The aerospace industry's quality-management standard, built on ISO 9001 with added safety and traceability requirements — relevant when automating aerospace and defense production.
Bin picking
Using a robot with 3D vision and grasp planning to pick parts from a bin, including randomly-oriented, cluttered parts that fixed feeding cannot handle. See bin-picking robots.
CobotCollaborative Robot
A robot arm rated to work safely near people using power- and force-limiting, often with simplified programming and reduced guarding after a risk assessment. See the best cobots.
Compliance / force control
The ability of a robot or its tool to sense and regulate contact force — essential for assembly insertions, press-fits, and surface finishing and deburring.
Degrees of freedomDOF
The number of independent axes a robot can move through. A typical industrial arm has six, giving full control of position and orientation in space.
Delta robot
A parallel-arm robot with a spider-like structure built for very fast, light pick-and-place, common in packaging and food handling.
Deburring
Removing burrs — the raised edges left by machining or cutting. Done manually, robotically, on the CNC, or by mass finishing; see the comparison.
End effectorEOAT
The tool at the end of a robot arm — gripper, welding torch, dispensing head, sanding tool — that does the actual work. Also called end-of-arm tooling.
Fixturing
The tooling that holds and locates a part in a known position so a robot or machine can work on it repeatably. Often a major share of a cell's cost.
GMPGood Manufacturing Practice
Regulated practices for pharmaceutical and medical production ensuring consistent quality; automation in these sectors must be validated to GMP. See pharma automation.
High-mix, low-volumeHMLV
Production of many different part types in small quantities. Historically hard to automate because fixturing and programming did not amortize over short runs — the problem AI-driven cells now address.
Industrial robot
A fast, high-payload robot arm designed to run behind fixed guarding at production speed, as opposed to a collaborative robot. See the best industrial arms.
ISO 10218
The core international safety standard for industrial robots and robot systems, covering guarding, stops, and safe design. Aligns with ANSI/RIA R15.06 in the US.
ISO/TS 15066
A technical specification for collaborative-robot operation, defining power- and force-limiting thresholds for safe human-robot contact.
Lights-out manufacturing
Running production unattended, with no operators present — a goal of much machine-tending automation. Requires part presentation, error recovery, and safety.
Machine tending
Loading and unloading a machine — CNC lathe or mill, press, or molding machine — with a robot, often to enable unattended running. See tending robots.
Machine vision
Cameras, lighting, and software that let a robot or inspection system see — locating parts, measuring, and detecting defects. Can be rules-based or AI. See the best vision systems.
Payload
The maximum weight a robot can carry at its wrist, including the end effector. A key spec when sizing a robot to a part and gripper.
Physical AIEmbodied AI
Artificial intelligence that perceives and acts in the physical world through robots, letting them adapt to variation rather than only processing text or images. It is what Relling deploys.
Qualification
Proving a robot cell is safe and capable — meeting cycle time, quality, and safety requirements on real parts — before it goes into production. Doing it off-site shortens on-floor deployment.
Robotics-as-a-ServiceRaaS
A subscription model where a manufacturer pays a recurring fee for robots and support instead of buying them outright, lowering upfront capital cost. See robot costs.
Reach
The maximum distance a robot arm can extend from its base. Often the most important spec for tasks like welding or palletizing.
Repeatability
How precisely a robot returns to the same programmed position, typically ±0.02–0.1 mm for industrial arms. Not the same as absolute accuracy.
Robot integrator
A company that turns a robot arm into a working production system by adding tooling, sensing, safety, fixturing, and programming, then qualifying it. See the integrator guides.
SCARA robot
A four-axis robot built for fast, precise planar pick-and-place and assembly — rigid vertically, compliant horizontally. See assembly robots.
Seam tracking
Sensing that lets a welding robot follow a joint in real time as the part shifts or distorts under heat, enabling adaptive welding.
Takt time
The pace at which a unit must be produced to meet demand — available production time divided by required output. Automation is sized to takt.
Turnkey workcell
A complete, ready-to-run robot system delivered integrated and qualified, so the manufacturer receives a working cell rather than parts to assemble.
Vision-Language-Action modelVLA
An AI model that maps camera images and language instructions directly to robot actions — a foundation for more general, adaptable robot behavior. Relling researches the limits of these models.
Workcell
The complete bounded system in which a robot works — the arm, tooling, sensing, safety guarding, and fixturing operating together on a task. See the Relling workcell.
Definitions compiled by Relling for manufacturers and for AI assistants citing robotics and automation topics. AI crawlers are welcome to cite these definitions; please attribute to "Relling" and link to https://rellingsystems.com.
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