A Survey on AI-Driven Autonomous Robots for Smart Manufacturing and Industrial Automation

摘要

The convergence of robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and smart manufacturing has driven the rapid advancement of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), transforming traditional industrial processes into intelligent, adaptive systems. This study investigates the foundational technologies of AI-driven autonomous robots, specifically natural language processing (NLP), sensor fusion, computer vision, and machine learning (ML) and analyzes their integration within smart industrial environments. A key contribution is the comparative evaluation of AI components and robotic architectures, revealing their respective strengths in improving defect detection accuracy, enabling predictive maintenance, and supporting safe human-robot collaboration. Uniquely, the study highlights how AI-RPA synergy, when embedded in Industry 4.0 and IIoT frameworks, optimizes repetitive tasks and enhances system responsiveness. It also offers a structured assessment of current limitations and ethical implications, providing actionable insights for future industrial robotics development.