Articulated Robot - A robot has a number of rotational joints along a serial kinematic linkage. This manipulator has one end fixed, and the other end free.
Backpropagation - A learning rule used for neural networks, which is used in this thesis.
Controller - A Controller applies a control action to a system based on the current system state and the desired system behaviour.
End Effector - The tool or gripper of the robot, typically used for manipulating objects in space.
Manipulator - Used interchangeably with the term ‘robot’ in this thesis.
Motion Planning - A combination of both Trajectory Planning and Path Planning.
Neural Network - A computer consisting a connected network of many simple processing units modelled on neurons in the human brain.
Optimization - The determination of optimal values (i.e., minimum or maximum) of a function, often subject to constraints.
Path Planning - Given points at the end, or along a path, determine a continuous set of points in space that describe a path through space.
Robot - A robot is a general-purpose machine system that, like a human, can perform a variety of different tasks under conditions that may not be known a priori. In this thesis, the robot will have two links, and is intended for manipulating objects in a workspace.
Spline - A method for approximating a mathematical function by using simple equations to do a piecewise approximation.
Trajectory Planning - Given a set of positions making up a path, determine velocities and accelerations to follow the path.