Automation and Robotics. What's the difference?

Concepts involving industrial robots can be rather confusing, and sometimes, automation is said to be only about high-tech machines in big fabrics worldwide. So, is that correct? Yes and No.

Automation and robotics usually walk the same path, when it comes to, for example, car-building processes. Ford, Honda, Toyota, and all those big automobilists companies use enormous robots to automatize the old manual work. This is robotics with automation.

Now, when we talk about chatbots - robots, in this case, are defined as physical machines - there's only automation involved. No robotics pieces are used or constructed for us to talk with a website's chatbot, as it's built with programming and software.

And when robots are used for personal purposes only, there not 'automatizing' anything at all. It's the case of robot pets.

With that said, is interesting to bring the real definition of automation and robotics from the dictionary:

Robotics: the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, and application of robots.

Automation: the use of largely automatic equipment in a system of manufacturing or other production processes.

Source: https://www.workfusion.com/blog/the-difference-between-robotics-and-automation/

Helena Scussel Rosa - 12/16/2021