When people think of artificial intelligence robots examples, they imagine a robot sliding on the floor that replies mechanically.
And yes, the humanoid robot is popular and exciting. However, there are many other types, forms, and applications of artificial intelligence in robotics that are changing our business environment. Let’s see how.
On this page:
- Difference between AI (Artificial Intelligence) and robots
- What is an AI robot?
- 10 Impressive real-world uses and examples of AI robots in business
- Infographic in PDF
Difference Between AI And Robots
Artificial intelligence and robotics are two separate fields of technology.
What is a robot?
A robot is an autonomous physical machine designed to perform actions automatically with speed and accuracy.
Robots that resemble the human body are called androids.
However, many robots don’t have human-like construction. For example, pick-and-place robots in manufacturing don’t look like a human at all.
What is artificial intelligence (AI)?
Artificial Intelligence is the ability of computers/machines to perform tasks that usually people perform. For example, the ability to learn, make decisions, and solve problems.
AI works via special software and includes algorithms and technologies (such as supervised and unsupervised machine learning) that allow machines to learn from experience and adjust their actions without human intervention.
The purpose of artificial intelligence is to take actions that have the best chance of achieving a specific goal.
The key difference between robots and artificial intelligence
A robot has a physical form and may or may not require artificial intelligence to achieve specific tasks.
In contrast, AI is a software program so it doesn’t need to be physical.
As a type of software, AI can function in different devices or machines such as cell phones, laptops, tablets, and even in robots.
However, many robots are not artificially intelligent.
So, What Is An Artificial Intelligence Robot?
Artificial intelligence robots are a combination of AI and robotics, where AI software is embedded in robot systems.
In other words, AI has a key place in making robots intelligent.
The most advanced robots are those controlled by AI that can learn from their environment and experience and then build on their capabilities based on that knowledge.
Now, let’s see some great examples of artificial intelligence robots.
Artificial Intelligence Robots Examples
1. Starship Delivery Robots
Robotic delivery is a hot trending area and some of the most popular delivery robots are those provided by Starship Technologies company.
Starship robots can carry items within a 4-mile (6km) radius, navigate streets autonomously, and provide package delivery for consumers and businesses.
The robots are equipped with sensors, AI, and mapping system to understand their location and the world around them. They have a pedestrian speed and weigh no more than 100 pounds.
With partnerships with many stores and restaurants, the robots make local delivery faster and more cost-efficient.
Parcels and food are directly delivered from stores, on customer requests via a mobile app. Once ordered the robots’ location and path can be monitored on a smartphone.
2. Pepper Humanoid Robot
Pepper is a humanoid robot designed to interact with people – assist them, share information with them, and help customers at retail stores.
Pepper is about four feet tall, has a tablet (that displays information) in the center of its chest, can gesticulate and talk in several languages.
The robot uses emotion recognition AI to interpret and respond to human activity. It can recognize human emotions like joy and respond accordingly with a smile, for example.
In a store, Pepper can make personalized recommendations and help customers find the products they’re looking for. Moreover, it can sell, cross-sell, and communicate with the human team.
Pepper operates in environments like banks, hotels, pizzas, and hospitals to improve customer experience and help organizations lower costs.
3. Penny Restaurant Robot
Penny is a bowling pin-shaped food-service robot enabled by artificial intelligence. It can autonomously shuttle food and drinks from a restaurant kitchen out to tables and bring dishes back for a cleaning.
Penny can run in different food service environments such as dining rooms, pizzerias, large banquet halls, casino gaming floors, restaurants, cafés, etc.
This self-driving robot can seamlessly deliver several beverages at once. It is powered by a long-lasting battery (with life 8 – 12hrs), which allows it to operate on night shifts or peak hours.
The goal is Penny to take the plates to the bussing station and reduce the waiting time.
Thus, the servers can focus more on improving customer experience, address diner’s needs, and ask how the table enjoyed the meal, for example.
4. Nimbo Security Robot
Nimbo is a robot security guard based on cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology and has a range of security applications and asset protection.
The robot explores and patrols specific spaces, routes, or self-optimized routes while analyzing human activities and the surrounding area.
Nimbo can detect security violations and approach the area with light, audio, and video warnings. It gathers video evidence and sends real-time alerts to the human guard.
The human security staff can also select spots for patrol. Then the robot will travel from spot to spot while continually scanning the area.
Nimbo seamlessly integrates with VMSs (Video Monitoring Systems) and works in locations such as shopping centers, warehouses, offices, educational facilities, etc.
5. Shadow Dexterous Hand
The Shadow Dexterous Hand is a humanoid robot hand that is similar to the average human male hand in size and shape. It has movements equivalent to the typical human hand.
It has 20 degrees of freedom (greater than that of our hands) and can resolve problems that require the closest approximation of the human hand.
The hand has a variety of sensors such as force sensors and ultra-sensitive touch sensors on the fingertips. It is used as a teleoperation tool and also can be mounted on different robot arms to extend robot capabilities.
Shadow Dexterous Hand has many different applications in many different sectors.
For example, it is perfect for product testing. With its highly detailed sensing capabilities, the hand can detect and monitor a full range of sensory information such as force, micro-vibration, and temperature.
In manufacturing, the hand can perform more nimble and intricate work and grasp, lift, and move objects with total accuracy and efficiency.
In the agri-tech business, the robot hand can help in soft fruit picking (such as strawberries), for instance. And, in the pharmaceutical industry, it can perform intricate work in environments where it may not be safe for humans.
6. Moley Robotic Kitchen System
Moley Robotics is a company that created the world’s first robotic kitchen – a fully-automated and intelligent cooking robot system.
The robotic kitchen system includes a full suite of appliances, cabinetry, computing, safety features, and robotic arms. It cooks with the skill of a master chef, using pre-set recipes from top chefs around the world.
With a pair of fully articulated robotics hands that reproduce the human hand movements, the system can mimic the actions of a master chef precisely, cook delicious dishes, and clean up after itself!
Moreover, it can learn recipes, produce meals from around the world, or even cook your own recipes. All alone.
The robot kitchen is controlled by own touch screen or remotely via smartphone. When not in use, the robotic arms retract from view.
Moley is used by major players in the restaurant industry, airlines, kitchen developers, and even chef training schools.
7. Flippy Robotic Kitchen Assistant
Flippy is an autonomous robotic kitchen assistant that can assist chefs in preparing freshly cooked burgers and fried foods such as crispy chicken tenders and tater tots.
Flippy works at the grill and at the fryer. For example, while cooking at the grill, it can automatically detect when raw burger patties are placed, monitor each patty in real-time, and switch between spatulas for raw and cooked meat.
When cooking at the fryer, it can pick up baskets and places them in the fryer, shakes baskets gently while frying the food, monitors the cooking time, etc.
Powered by cloud-connected artificial intelligence for its brain, Flippy can learn from its surroundings and acquire new skills over time.
8. Nomagic Pick-And-Place Robot
Nomagic pick-and-place robot has the ability to take an item from a box, scan it, and place it in another box or sorting system.
The robot can autonomously identify and select an item from an unstructured group of objects before placing it into another box.
The pick-and-placing task is one of the repetitive jobs in warehouses that are still carried out by humans. And the Nomadic robot automates that task and can make hundreds of cycles per hour, 24 hours a day.
Powered by artificial intelligence, the robot can analyze the position, shape, and characteristics of each item, inspect it, and processes it.
To identify items, the robot uses barcodes, RFID, or pictures of items. And for the inspection task, it analyzes shape, weight, and movements to detect any anomaly or quality issue.
The Nomagic robot integrates with your Warehouse Management System (WMS), Warehouse Control System (WCS) or proprietary control software to ensure end-to-end efficiency in the warehouse operations.
9. Construction Site Monitoring Robots By Scaled Robotics
Site Monitoring Robot by Scaled Robotics company is a spectacular robot that tracks the progress of a construction project.
Powered by AI, this autonomous robot can move through construction sites, conduct precision scans of construction projects, then analyze the data to spot quality issues, and monitor the overall progress.
The robot sends the collected data to the cloud platform for further processing. Users can examine the issues on a special color-coded 3D model.
This process helps you prevent costly errors and even shows you Health or Safety problems, such as holes in edge protection.
Collecting such data from across a building site is a time-consuming task. This artificial intelligence robot not only saves time and lowers both rework and waste but ensures the high quality of construction.
Promobot is a robot for business that moves autonomously and communicates with people, using artificial intelligence.
It is able to answer questions, recognize faces, give information on the company’s services, scan and fill in the documents, accept payment, and show promotional information.
Promobot seamlessly connects with third-party services and external systems such as databases, websites, and online services.
The robot has various applications and can act as a consultant, promoter, building manager, tour guide, navigation assistant, and an assessor who measure health indicators such as lung capacity, temperature, and blood sugar.
Need more artificial intelligence robots examples? Check the list below.
Other Artificial Intelligence Robots Examples:
- Nuro Self-driving Vehicle – a fully autonomous vehicle that transports goods quickly and safely.
- Knightscope Autonomous Security Robots – suitable for outdoor or indoor environments.
- REV-1 Delivery Robot – provides last-mile goods delivery in urban areas and can operate in all weather conditions.
- Picnic Autonomous System can make a wide variety of foods including sandwiches, pizzas, salads, bowls, and more.
- Vicarious company provides intelligent robotics for manufacturing, including kitting, palletizing, packing, bin picking, and sorting AI robots.
- AMP Cortex Intelligent Robots for high-speed recycling.
- Zenrobotics provides artificial intelligence robots for recycling and diverse sorting.
- Covariant offers picking and sorting artificial intelligence robots.
AI Robots Applications And Uses In Business
Robots are built to take a range of roles across many industries and business areas.
While artificial intelligence robots are now a common help in sectors such as manufacturing and automobile, their adoption also is increasing across food processing, retail, construction, and distribution.
Below infographic show some examples of robot applications in a variety of business fields.
I hope the above examples of artificial intelligence robots help you better understand their role, applications, and use in business.
Many industries use robots on a high scale.
Some of the hottest categories of robots include collaborative robots, warehousing and logistics automation, agriculture robots, and self-driving vehicles.
The key benefit of AI robots is automating repetitive tasks that people don’t like to do, ensuring more opportunities and time to focus on valuable work.
AI robots are changing our world and businesses need to embrace these new technologies while enhancing and complementing human intelligence.
It’s your turn. Show us some interesting examples of AI robots. Share your thoughts with us in the comment section.