ABSTRACT
The meanings of common terms like ‘robots’, ‘robotics’, ‘AI-robots’, and ‘AI-robotics’ are explained. Chronologically, five generations of robotics are distinguishable. The primary components of an artificial intelligence (AI) robot are sensors, actuators, arms or manipulators, end effectors, controllers, and AI processors. Important AI processor chips used in robotics include the central processing unit, the graphical processing unit, the tensor processing unit, the vision processing unit, the neural processing unit, the associative-in-memory unit, the graph analytics processor, and the quantum processing unit. A classification of robots is made according to size, by the type of control system used, by mobility, and from an applications viewpoint. Robotics is an emerging scientific discipline in which physics methods are applied to enhance robot movement and behavior. The analogy of robotics with biophysics is drawn. Principles of robophysics studies are described. Its significance and applications are mentioned. Roboethics addresses the ethical, social, and humanitarian implications of robotics. Isaac Asimov’s laws of robotics are enunciated, followed by an understanding of the order in which obedience to the rules is prioritized. The interrelationship among robotics, AI robotics, robophysics, and roboethics is illustrated by breaking them down into subdomains with an example.
