Robots use feedback control algorithms which compute commands to the actuators based upon the error between the current state of the robot and its target state. The magnitudes of the commands can be proportional to the error, obtained by integrating or differentiating the error, or some combination of these functions. The goal is to reach the target state, to reach it quickly and to avoid instability such as oscillations. The performance of a control system depends on parameters called gains, which can be determined by experimentation.