---
title: The Thin Line Between Robotics and Artificial Intelligence
description: Robotics and Artificial intelligence are two concepts that are often mixed, and thought of as being part of each other, while in reality they serve different purposes.
---

[Premier Automation Blog](https://info.premierautomation.com/blog)

# [The Thin Line Between Robotics and Artificial Intelligence](https://info.premierautomation.com/blog/the-thin-line-between-robotics-and-artificial-intelligence)

 Written by [Premier Automation](https://info.premierautomation.com/blog/author/premier-automation) | Nov 7, 2018, 6:53:01 PM

With the massive inflow of information into our lives, and the speed with which technology is advancing, we sometimes tend to blur the lines between fundamental concepts. **[Robotics and Artificial intelligence](https://info.premierautomation.com/blog/the-future-of-industrial-robotics)** are two concepts that are often mixed, and thought of as being part of each other, while in reality they serve different purposes.

**Are Robotics and AI the same?**

The following Venn diagram shows how robotics and AI are different, yet linked with each other:

Stated simply, robotics is a branch of technology which deals with programmable machines that are able to carry out tasks, autonomously or semi-autonomously depending on their feature-set. There are three vital parts of a robot:

- Robots make use of [**sensors and actuators**](https://info.premierautomation.com/blog/speaking-to-your-electrical-system-with-plcs) to interact with the outside world.
- Robots can be programmed
- Robots can be either fully or partially autonomous.

Coming over to AI, it is a branch of computer science that deals with coming up with algorithms or computer programs that can mimic human intelligence to solve a problem. AI algorithms are quite common, and a firsthand account to them would be the Google Search Engine.

**Artificially Intelligent Robots**

These form the bridge between the two terms. Robots that are programmed with AI constitute this group. Most robots used in industries aren’t intelligent but instead rely on a sequential script to get the job done. However, if machine learning is incorporated into robots, they can analyze the data they collect and perform operations accordingly. For instance, a robot would be powered by AI, if it could pick up an item, determine its type and notify if any irregularities are present in it. This involves **[machine learning](https://info.premierautomation.com/blog/benefits-of-machine-learning-for-industrial-and-collaborative-robots)** as the robot would have to “learn” that the item it has picked is different from the usual workload. In retrospect, a robot that simply picks up an item and places it somewhere would not be “intelligent” as it would simply repeat a set of instructions, without questioning them.

**Interested in learning more?** **Visit our website [www.premierautomation.com](http://premierautomation.com)****, or talk to one of our specialists today.**

[View full post](https://info.premierautomation.com/blog/the-thin-line-between-robotics-and-artificial-intelligence)

```json
{
  "@context" : "http://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "Premier Automation"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2018-11-07T19:08:02.018Z",
  "datePublished" : "2018-11-07T18:53:01Z",
  "headline" : "The Thin Line Between Robotics and Artificial Intelligence",
  "image" : {
    "@type" : "ImageObject",
    "height" : 800,
    "url" : "https://info.premierautomation.com/hubfs/Premier%20Template%20%287%29.png",
    "width" : 800
  },
  "mainEntityOfPage" : "https://info.premierautomation.com/blog/the-thin-line-between-robotics-and-artificial-intelligence",
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject",
      "height" : 60.0,
      "url" : "https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/548870/premierautomation-May/logo.jpg",
      "width" : 331.0345
    },
    "name" : "Innovative Thinking"
  }
}
```