The Robotics Software Glossary

24 guides on terminology & definitions, for people deciding what to build on.

• Edge vs Cloud for Robots: What Runs Where

  The deciding that moves a robot belongs on the robot, and the cloud gets training, logs and fleet data. Here is where the line sits, and when the cloud wins.

  Sep 5, 2026

• Embodied AI vs Agentic AI: Why the Distinction Matters

  Agentic AI plans where a retry is free, embodied AI acts where a retry breaks something, and that single gap decides what you build a robot on.

  Sep 5, 2026

• Embodied AI vs Embedded AI: Two Words, Two Fields

  Embedded AI asks whether a model fits on a small device; embodied AI asks whether it can act in a moving world. Different fields, different stacks.

  Sep 5, 2026

• Embodied AI vs Physical AI: What's the Actual Difference?

  Embodied AI and physical AI are two names for one pursuit. What decides your project is the software layer between your model and the motors, not the label.

  Sep 5, 2026

• Embodied AI vs Robotics: Same Thing or Not?

  Not the same thing. Embodied AI is where a robot's behaviour comes from; robotics is the whole machine underneath, and that half eats the calendar.

  Sep 5, 2026

• Humanoid, Android, Cobot: The Words People Mix Up

  Humanoid describes a body shape, android an appearance, cobot a safety rating. Only one of the three tells you what your software will have to survive.

  Sep 5, 2026

• Latency, Jitter and Determinism: Three Words, Explained Simply

  Latency is the delay, jitter is how much the delay varies, determinism is whether a run repeats. Jitter is the one that makes a working robot misbehave.

  Sep 5, 2026

• Physical AI vs World Models: What Each Term Is Claiming

  Physical AI names a category of product and a world model names a technique, so neither decides your stack. How data reaches the motors decides it.

  Sep 5, 2026

• Publish and Subscribe, Explained Without Jargon

  Publish and subscribe means programs post data under a name instead of calling each other, and a robot needs it once two jobs cannot wait in turn.

  Sep 5, 2026

• Teleoperation vs Autonomy: What You're Actually Watching in Robot Demos

  Most striking robot demos are teleoperated, and teleoperation is also the right first build. Add autonomy one task at a time, once that task repeats.

  Sep 5, 2026

• What Are Robot Behaviour Trees, and Why Do People Use Them?

  A behaviour tree writes robot decisions so retries and recovery stay readable. Use one when the robot must recover from failure, not when it does one job.

  Sep 5, 2026

• What Does "Real-Time" Really Mean in Robotics?

  Real-time means meeting a deadline every time, not being fast. Most robots need only the soft kind, and here is how to tell whether yours is the exception.

  Sep 5, 2026

• What Is a Digital Twin in Robotics, Really?

  A digital twin is a simulation tied to one specific robot. Most teams need a simulator and honest logs instead, and here is the test that tells you which.

  Sep 5, 2026

• What Is a Robot Node, and Why Does Everything Use That Word?

  A robot node is one program doing one job and swapping named messages with the rest, and here is when splitting a robot that way helps and when it hurts.

  Sep 5, 2026

• What Is a Robot Software Stack? Layer by Layer

  A robot software stack is every layer from firmware up to behaviour, and you write far less of it than you fear. Here is each layer and who supplies it.

  Sep 5, 2026

• What Is DDS, and Why Does ROS 2 Depend On It?

  DDS is the messaging standard ROS 2 was built on. What DDS does, why ROS 2 needs it, and the point where its network assumptions stop matching your robot.

  Sep 5, 2026

• What Is Localisation, and Why Do Robots Get Lost?

  Localisation is a robot's running answer to where am I, and drift is why it gets lost. Here is which method to pick, and when to design the question away.

  Sep 5, 2026

• What Is Manipulation, and Why Is It Harder Than Walking?

  Manipulation is changing the world by touching it, and it beats walking for difficulty because contact is unforgiving. Here is which approach to start from.

  Sep 5, 2026

• What Is Motion Planning, in Plain English?

  Motion planning is how a robot works out a way to move without hitting anything. Borrow a planner rather than write one, and skip planners while the world stays put.

  Sep 5, 2026

• What Is Physical AI? A 2026 Explainer

  Physical AI is industry's label for machines that sense, decide and move. The decision that matters is the software layer between your model and the motors.

  Sep 5, 2026

• What Is ROS 2's RMW Layer? A Non-Technical Explanation

  The RMW layer is the swappable delivery service under ROS 2. Leave the default alone unless a real symptom points at message delivery between machines.

  Sep 5, 2026

• What Is Sensor Fusion, Without the Maths?

  Sensor fusion merges sensors that disagree into one estimate a robot can act on. Borrow a filter, fix your timestamps first, and skip fusion if one sensor answers.

  Sep 5, 2026

• What Is Shared Memory, and Why Do Roboticists Keep Mentioning It?

  Shared memory lets two robot programs read one region of RAM instead of copying messages, which matters on one computer and does nothing across two.

  Sep 5, 2026

• What Is Sim-to-Real, and Why Does It Keep Failing?

  Sim-to-real means moving robot behaviour from a simulator onto hardware. It fails on contact, timing and sensing far more often than on how the scene looks.

  Sep 5, 2026