artificial intelligence: A type of knowledge-based decision-making exhibited by machines or computers. The term also refers to the field of study in which scientists try to create machines or computer software capable of intelligent behavior.
average: (in science) A term for the arithmetic mean, which is the sum of a group of numbers that is then divided by the size of the group.
behavior: The way something, often a person or other organism, acts towards others, or conducts itself.
computer model: A program that runs on a computer that creates a model, or simulation, of a real-world feature, phenomenon or event.
data: Facts and/or statistics collected together for analysis but not necessarily organized in a way that gives them meaning. For digital information (the type stored by computers), those data typically are numbers stored in a binary code, portrayed as strings of zeros and ones.
information: (as opposed to data) Facts provided or trends learned about something or someone, often as a result of studying data.
reinforcement: Some consequence that guides the future behavior of an animal or person. If a rat presses a lever and receives a food pellet, that food pellet becomes a reinforcement of lever-pushing — it’s the reward that will teach the rat to press the lever again.
reinforcement learning: An approach to teaching in which an animal or a person learns to perform a specific task to achieve a desired reward.
robot: A machine that can sense its environment, process information and respond with specific actions. Some robots can act without any human input, while others are guided by a human.
strategy: A thoughtful and clever plan for achieving some difficult or challenging goal.
system: A network of parts that together work to achieve some function. For instance, the blood, vessels and heart are primary components of the human body’s circulatory system. Similarly, trains, platforms, tracks, roadway signals and overpasses are among the potential components of a nation’s railway system. System can even be applied to the processes or ideas that are part of some method or ordered set of procedures for getting a task done.
tool: An object that a person or other animal makes or obtains and then uses to carry out some purpose such as reaching food, defending itself or grooming.