Many people think that Artificial Intelligence(AI) is synonymous with Robotics. Some people are confused whether artificial intelligence is a subset of robotics or it is the other way around. The truth is that robotics and artificial intelligence are different fields altogether. There are only a few similarities but the differences are endless. There is no doubt that both the fields are trending in the current years and sure to dominate the technology world for years to come. In such a scenario, you may be confused which field to pursue to get better career prospects. Well, there are ample companies available who are ready to hire freelancers in both the fields. Before going into their differences, it is important to understand the fields better.

A Brief Guide To Robotics –

Robotics deals with the complete creation of robots. Starting from its electronic configurations to its coding the instructions and actions, robotics is all about making the constructed machine operate autonomously. A robot requires guidance or instructions that could either be supplied by the program already stored inside it or by providing instructions in real time by a human handler or by AI-based guidance. It is important to notice that a robot cannot think but it can only make decisions based on the inputs from the outside world and matching them with the stored instructions. To make a robot think, artificial intelligence has to step in and this is where artificial intelligence and robotics intersect and create what is known as artificially intelligent robots.

A Brief Guide To Artificial Intelligence –

Artificial intelligence is all about performing tasks by machine that require human intelligence but without the presence of a human being. Artificial intelligence enable devices and not just robots to understand language, solve problems after analyzing it, provide logical reasoning like a human being could and all such possibilities that human beings are capable of. Artificial intelligence has great applications in the world rather than just robotics. For example, it is extensively used on the internet like in Google search to understand the behavior of the user and provide a different result that is suited for him. Similarly, Amazon is using artificial intelligence to provide recommendations after using machine learning technology to understand their customers better and provide personalized items for buying.

The Differences Between Robotics and Artificial Intelligence –

Conceptual Difference – The primary difference between robotics and artificial intelligence is that robotics is a branch of engineering and it involves not only the programs that drive it but also the mechanic parts like its design and construction. It requires people are different streams and skills to construct the complete concept of robotics. On the other hand, artificial intelligence has emerged from computer science. It is nothing but algorithms and programs. In other words, robotics involves both hardware and software aspects whereas artificial intelligence is all about software and coding.

Goals – The goal of robotics is to perform tasks physically and reach out to places where human beings cannot physically. The word ‘physically’ is important because the goal of robotics is to replace the use of human beings mechanically. On the other hand, the goal of artificial intelligence is to think like human beings so that the algorithms understand the external situation better and make decisions and act more like human beings. It is more like replacing the use of human beings mentally. Robotics can be autonomous or semi-autonomous depending on the presence of external controller but with artificial intelligence, it is completely autonomous.

Possibilities – The scope of artificial intelligence is vast and it can be understood from the fact that only a few percentage of the applications of AI in the industry is towards robotics while the rest of it is spread across online application and electronic devices. The possibilities are limitless as the machine can be programmed in such a way that it starts to understand the inputs and think of various possibilities before producing an output. Sometimes, it can yield results that are not efficient than human beings’ intelligence and most importantly, unpredictable. But in robotics(excluding AI), it is all about producing known results repeatedly. As a matter of fact, robots will fail when the external situation and scenarios change drastically especially when it is not programmed to respond accordingly.

Final Word –

Robotics and artificial intelligence are completely different and none of them is a subset of the other. It is true that artificial intelligence is used in robotics to make the robots smart but it is restricted to that only. There is nothing in common and robots may and may not use AI, hence, you can choose any of the above for your career and companies post freelance jobs all the time to hire skill people for these two buzzing fields. Even some companies hire freelancers who have knowledge in both the technologies to develop artificially intelligent robots.

Kitty Gupta
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