Perception

Proprioception

Proprioception is a robot's sensing of its own internal state, including joint positions and velocities from encoders, actuator torques or motor currents, and base orientation and acceleration from an IMU. It contrasts with exteroception, the sensing of the external world. Proprioceptive signals are high-rate, low-latency, and reliable in conditions that defeat cameras, and histories of them implicitly encode contact events and terrain properties.

Why it matters for physical AI

Blind quadruped locomotion over rough terrain from proprioceptive history alone showed how much environmental information internal sensing carries, and virtually every learned policy consumes proprioception alongside vision.