In robotics and computer vision, an affordance is an actionable feature of an object that tells the system what operations are possible. For example, a handle affords grasping, a flat surface affords resting or rolling, and a button affords pushing. Perception algorithms often map environments by these interaction possibilities rather than just identifying the objects themselves, allowing robots to manipulate novel items based on their geometry.
The vision model is struggling with the new mugs because the handle affordance is partially occluded by the rim.
When programming grasp planners, engineers often prioritize affordance detection over object recognition so the robot can handle items it has never seen before.
Related terms
Visual servoing
A control method that uses camera data in a closed feedback loop to guide a robot's motion.
Kidnapped robot problem
A theoretical scenario where an autonomous robot is moved to an unknown location without its knowledge.
Workspace
The complete set of spatial coordinates that a robot's end-effector can successfully reach.