Robotics and automation? IEEE RAS experts offer informal reflections on familiar terms

At the close of an IEEE RAS Communications Committee meeting, several IEEE experts held an informal reflection on the terms "robotics" and "automation": automation makes processes repeatable, efficient, and predictable, while robots come into play when automation requires a physical presence. The experts noted that not all robots involve automation—some can be fully teleoperated by a person—and that not all automation involves robots, and can even be done purely in software. Differences in how the terms are defined can also affect cross-country statistics for products such as robot vacuum cleaners, perceptions of technological strength, and the examples available in education.