Cambridge O Level Computer Science · Syllabus 2210 · Automated and Emerging Technologies
Robotics
What is Robotics?
A branch of computer science that incorporates the design, construction and operation of robots; examples of robots include factory equipment, domestic robots and drones.
This definition is part of the Automated and Emerging Technologies chapter in Cambridge O Level Computer Science.
Robotics in context
An automated system is a system in which sensors, a microprocessor and — where the task requires them — actuators work together so that a process is monitored, and often controlled, with limited or no continuous human intervention. Robotics is a branch of computer science that covers the design, construction and operation of robots — machines that have a mechanical structure, electrical components and a program that can be changed. Artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science concerned with the simulation of intelligent behaviours by computers, and at this level it means two things only: expert systems and machine learning. The three ideas overlap in real products, but they are three separate tests, and an answer that treats them as one loses marks.
Robotics is a branch of computer science that incorporates the design, construction and operation of robots. That is the definition to learn, and the three activities in it — design, construction, operation — are what make it a field of study rather than a machine. The syllabus gives three examples of robots: factory equipment, domestic robots and drones. Notice at once how little those three have in common visually: a bolted-down welding arm, a disc that crosses a carpet, and something that flies. That is deliberate. A robot is defined by its characteristics, never by its shape.
Common mistakes with Robotics
- M15. “Robotics and AI mean the same thing.” Why wrong Robotics is a branch of computer science covering the design, construction and operation of physical machines. AI is the simulation of intelligent behaviour, and needs no body. Say instead “An expert system is AI but is not robotics; a fixed-sequence welding arm is robotics but is not AI.”
Questions students ask about Robotics
Does a robot have to be intelligent?
No. Intelligence is not one of the three characteristics. A welding arm that repeats stored coordinates for ten years is a robot and contains no AI at all. Robotics and AI are separate fields that sometimes overlap in the same machine.