Control

Motion Primitive

A motion primitive is a parameterized, reusable unit of movement from which longer behaviors are composed, ranging from simple point-to-point segments to dynamic movement primitives (DMPs), which encode demonstrated trajectories as stable dynamical systems modulated by learned forcing terms. Primitives can be retimed, re-targeted to new goals, and sequenced or blended, providing a compact action vocabulary between raw joint commands and full task policies.

Why it matters for physical AI

Structured action spaces built from primitives shrink exploration and improve safety for skill learning, and primitive libraries remain a practical middle ground where end-to-end policies are too data-hungry.