Robotics and Artificial Intelligence
Robotics and Artificial Intelligence
Robotics and Artificial Intelligence
ME 19
Roll No.25
Abdullah Saleem
What Is Robotics?
Robotics is a branch of engineering that involves the conception, design, manufacture, and
operation of robots. This field overlaps with electronics, computer science, artificial
intelligence, mechatronics, nanotechnology and bioengineering.
Historical Background:
The word Robotics was derived from the word Robot while the word robot comes from the Slavic
word Robota which means labor or work. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the
word robotics was first used in print by Isaac Asimov. In 1948, Norbert Wiener formulated the
principles of Cybernetics (scientific study of how humans, animals and machines control and
communicate with each other.), the basis of practical robotics.
Artificial Intelligence:
Artificial Intelligence (AI), sometimes called Machine Intelligence, is intelligence demonstrated
by machines, in contrast to the Natural Intelligence displayed by humans. We can define Artificial
Intelligence as ability of any device to perceive its environment and take actions to maximize its
chance of successfully achieving its goals. In other words, System’s ability to correctly interpret
external data, to learn from such data, and to use those learnings to achieve specific goals and tasks
through flexible adaptation
Limited Memory:
Limited memory machines are machines that, in addition to having the capabilities of purely reactive
machines, are also capable of learning from historical data to make decisions. Nearly all existing
applications that we know of come under this category of AI. All present-day AI systems, such as
those using deep learning, are trained by large volumes of training data that they store in their
memory to form a reference model for solving future problems.
For instance, an image recognition AI is trained using thousands of pictures and their labels to teach
it to name objects it scans. When an image is scanned by such an AI, it uses the training images as
references to understand the contents of the image presented to it, and based on its “learning
experience” it labels new images with increasing accuracy.
Theory of Mind:
Theory of mind AI is the next level of AI systems that researchers are currently engaged in
innovating. A theory of mind level AI will be able to better understand the entities it is interacting with
by discerning their needs, emotions, beliefs, and thought processes. While artificial emotional
intelligence is already a budding industry and an area of interest for leading AI researchers,
achieving Theory of mind level of AI will require development in other branches of AI as well. This is
because to truly understand human needs, AI machines will have to perceive humans as individuals
whose minds can be shaped by multiple factors, essentially “understanding” humans.
Self-Aware:
This is the final stage of AI development which currently exists only hypothetically. Self-aware AI,
which, self explanatorily, is an AI that has evolved to be so akin to the human brain that it has
developed self-awareness. Creating this type of Ai, which is decades, if not centuries away from
materializing, is and will always be the ultimate objective of all AI research. This type of AI will not
only be able to understand and evoke emotions in those it interacts with, but also have emotions,
needs, beliefs, and potentially desires of its own. And this is the type of AI that doomsayers of the
technology are wary of. Although the development of self-aware can potentially boost our progress
as a civilization by leaps and bounds, it can also potentially lead to catastrophe. This is because
once self-aware, the AI would be capable of having ideas like self-preservation which may directly or
indirectly spell the end for humanity, as such an entity could easily outmaneuver the intellect of any
human being and plot elaborate schemes to take over humanity.
The alternate system of classification that is more generally used in tech parlance is
the classification of the technology into Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI),
Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), and Artificial Superintelligence (ASI)
It helps a robot to
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning involves software programs classifying data and
making decisions about things in the real world. Robotics involves manipulating objects in the real
world. This creates the ability to manipulate the real world using a combination of machine learning
and robotics.
At the same time, artificial intelligence programs can use data from the real world acquired through
robotics to improve their performance. AI/machine learning have a symbiotic relationship.
One obvious application of AI to robotics is in Computer Vision. Computer vision allows robots and
drones to navigate the real world more accurately. This has other applications for people: One
experimental robot could remind people about ordinary things such as leaving milk outside of the
refrigerator.
Robots are already used in manufacturing, but usually in preprogrammed tasks. Robots could learn
tasks with machine learning by being shown by humans or through Unsupervised Machine
Learning. That means they could be moved to new jobs without a person having to reprogram them.
While there is concern that robots like these could replace people in manufacturing jobs, these
robots could work alongside humans as Cobots where they collaborate with people instead of taking
over their jobs.
Another major application of AI to robotics that has gotten attention in recent years is Self-Driving
Cars This kind of application is attractive because human driver error is the most common cause of
accidents. A robotic car won’t get tired, impaired, or inattentive the way a human driver can. While
there have been a few high-profile accidents involving autonomous vehicles, they have a lot of
potential to be safer than human-driven vehicles.
A major research area involving robots and AI is in medical technologies. Robots in the future could
perform surgery without intervention from a human doctor. As with autonomous vehicles, robotic
surgeons could perform delicate operations for longer than human doctors can, without getting tired
or making mistakes.