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A six-wheeled rover sits on rocky ground beneath a three-part arrow loop: an eye examining a rock, a brain, and a robotic arm picking up the rock.
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RS Glossary

Autonomous System

An autonomous system is a software or physical system designed to perceive conditions, make decisions, and take actions for some period without continuous human control.

Review state
Reviewed in POC
Freshness
Current
Version
2
  • Autonomous System
  • Autonomous Systems

Remember it this wayAutonomy removes continuous control, not human responsibility.

In plain language

Autonomy is a matter of degree and scope. A system may operate independently for one bounded task while relying on people for goals, permissions, maintenance, exceptions, and accountability.

Why it matters

As continuous supervision decreases, the quality of boundaries, monitoring, fail-safe behavior, escalation, and recovery becomes more important.

Example

A warehouse vehicle navigates assigned routes and avoids obstacles on its own but stops and alerts an operator when conditions fall outside its approved envelope.

Common misconception

Autonomous does not mean unconstrained, independent of people, or responsible for its own consequences.

Related terms

Sources

  • NIST, Autonomous Systemsofficial definition describing systems that use robotic or automation capabilities and advanced algorithms to select and execute actions without human intervention.

Learn more

  • Define the operating boundary with [[guardrails|Guardrails]] and preserve [[human-ownership|Human Ownership]].

Public history

45 recorded events · 45 public summaries

  1. A potential shared concept was discussed and selected for initial glossary drafting.

  2. The captured candidate received a complete initial draft and entered section-level human review.

  3. Radar reviewed the initial definition draft for human consideration.

  4. Radar reviewed the initial plain-language-explanation draft for human consideration.

  5. Radar reviewed the initial why-it-matters draft for human consideration.

  6. Radar reviewed the initial example draft for human consideration.

  7. Radar reviewed the initial common-misconception draft for human consideration.

  8. Radar reviewed the initial remember-it-this-way draft for human consideration.

  9. Radar reviewed the initial related-terms draft for human consideration.

  10. Radar reviewed the initial sources draft for human consideration.

  11. Radar reviewed the initial learn-more draft for human consideration.

  12. A proposal was opened for section-level human review while preserving the current version.

  13. A human reviewer opened a proposed revision while preserving the current approved or captured version.

  14. definition approved by a human reviewer.

  15. plain-language-explanation approved by a human reviewer.

  16. why-it-matters approved by a human reviewer.

  17. example approved by a human reviewer.

  18. common-misconception approved by a human reviewer.

  19. remember-it-this-way approved by a human reviewer.

  20. related-terms approved by a human reviewer.

  21. sources returned for revision.

  22. Requested wording was prepared without changing approved or existing sections.

  23. Radar reviewed the pending sources section for human consideration.

  24. Radar must rereview the complete autonomous-system term after an accepted text change.

  25. Radar must rereview the complete autonomous-system term after an accepted text change.

  26. Radar must rereview the complete autonomous-system term after an accepted text change.

  27. Radar must rereview the complete autonomous-system term after an accepted text change.

  28. Radar must rereview the complete autonomous-system term after an accepted text change.

  29. Radar must rereview the complete autonomous-system term after an accepted text change.

  30. Radar must rereview the complete autonomous-system term after an accepted text change.

  31. Radar must rereview the complete autonomous-system term after an accepted text change.

  32. Radar must rereview the complete autonomous-system term after an accepted text change.

  33. sources approved by a human reviewer.

  34. learn-more approved by a human reviewer.

  35. sources approved wording became the current section text.

  36. All section gates are approved; content version 2 is now a fully approved term.

  37. Radar rereviewed the human-approved definition wording for this exact version.

  38. Radar rereviewed the human-approved plain-language-explanation wording for this exact version.

  39. Radar rereviewed the human-approved why-it-matters wording for this exact version.

  40. Radar rereviewed the human-approved example wording for this exact version.

  41. Radar rereviewed the human-approved common-misconception wording for this exact version.

  42. Radar rereviewed the human-approved remember-it-this-way wording for this exact version.

  43. Radar rereviewed the human-approved related-terms wording for this exact version.

  44. Radar rereviewed the human-approved sources wording for this exact version.

  45. Radar rereviewed the human-approved learn-more wording for this exact version.

Source: vault/Glossary/terms/autonomous-system/term.md · sha256:f8ae17a4f4c59d7f76e3bae31d4f199a80fec47ca8d8323577227f89004f6d7c · Release: rs-glossary-glossary-team-poc-0.5.5-2026-09-02