IB Digital Society 3.7 Robots and Autonomous Technologies Key Definitions

A component that turns a system's decisions into physical action, such as a motor, wheel, or robotic gripper that moves or manipulates the world.

The laws, rules, standards, and oversight that guide how AI is developed and used. Because it varies widely between countries and is often slower than the technology, governance of AI is uneven and incomplete.

The tendency to attribute human traits, feelings, or intentions to a machine. It can make robots easier to interact with, but can also mislead people about what a machine really understands.

The use of technology to perform tasks without human intervention.

An early self-operating machine, often mechanical, that performs a fixed sequence of movements on its own. Automata were forerunners of modern robots but had no sensing or real decision-making.

A digital system that can sense its environment and act to reach a goal with little or no human control. It need not have a physical body, so it is a broader category than a robot.

A vehicle that can sense its surroundings and drive itself with little or no human input, using sensors, cameras, and AI to navigate.

The degree to which a system can operate and make decisions on its own, without human control. Autonomy is a spectrum, from simple assistance to full independence.

The mid-twentieth-century study of control and communication in animals and machines, especially feedback loops. It helped lay the groundwork for artificial intelligence by treating thinking as information processing.

An uncrewed aircraft or vehicle that is flown or driven remotely or autonomously, used for tasks such as photography, delivery, surveying, or military operations.

A machine learning application that identifies or verifies a person from an image or video by comparing patterns in their facial features against stored data.

The study and design of how people and robots share space and work together. It is hard because human environments are messy and unpredictable, and small misjudgements can cause real harm.

A programmable machine used in manufacturing to perform repetitive physical tasks such as welding, assembly, or packing, usually with speed and precision beyond a human worker.

The extension of internet connectivity to everyday physical objects such as lights, watches, and sensors, so they can collect data and be monitored or controlled over the network.

The hypothetical idea that a machine could have genuine subjective experience or self-awareness, rather than only simulating it. No machine is known to be conscious, and whether it is even possible is debated.

The processing stage in which a robot or autonomous system uses its sensor data, along with rules or learned models, to decide what to do next.

A programmable machine that can complete a set task with little or no human intervention.

The contested idea that sufficiently advanced robots or AI might deserve some moral or legal protections. It is a speculative debate about the status we owe to machines.

The basic cycle that lets a robot or autonomous technology operate: it senses its environment, reasons about what to do, then acts on the world, repeating continuously.

A device that detects something about the physical world, such as light, sound, distance, or temperature, and converts it into data a system can process.

A robot that performs useful tasks for people outside of manufacturing, such as cleaning, delivery, or surgery, often in homes, hospitals, or public spaces.

A robot designed to interact with people in a social way, using cues like speech, expression, or movement, for example in care, education, or companionship.

The systematic monitoring of people's behaviour, often through digital data, by a state or company, whether or not those being watched are aware of it.

The unsettling feeling people get when a robot or image looks almost, but not quite, human. As likeness increases, comfort rises, then drops sharply into discomfort before rising again for a truly human appearance.