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Core Concepts of Physical AI

These are the pillars of Physical AI. If any of these are missing, your "robot" is just a stupid metal sculpture.

1. Perception​

Perception is how an agent understands the world. No perception = blind, deaf, clueless bot.

What it includes:​

  • Vision (camera feeds, object detection, depth estimation)
  • Auditory sensing (microphones, sound localization)
  • Touch & force sensing
  • Proprioception (knowing the robot’s own body state)
  • State estimation (filtering noisy sensor data, e.g., Kalman filter)

Why it matters:​

If the robot misreads its environment, everything downstream collapses. Planning becomes fantasy. Control becomes chaos.

2. Planning​

Planning is how a robot decides what to do.
It's the brain, not the muscles.

What it includes:​

  • Path planning (A*, RRT, trajectory optimization)
  • Task planning (sequence of actions to achieve a goal)
  • Decision-making under uncertainty
  • Goal reasoning

Why it matters:​

You can't brute-force your way through a dynamic environment. You need decisions that aren’t random.

3. Control​

Control is about execution — moving the body in reality, not theory.

What it includes:​

  • PID controllers
  • Feedback loops
  • Kinematics & dynamics
  • Motor commands
  • Stability control

Why it matters:​

Planning is useless trash if your robot can't physically perform the action without wobbling like a drunk toddler.

4. Embodiment​

Embodiment is the physical body itself — the structure that makes intelligent behavior possible.

What it includes:​

  • Body structure (wheels, legs, arms)
  • Sensors & actuators layout
  • Energy constraints
  • Mechanical limits
  • Interaction with physics

Why it matters:​

Intelligence without a body is ChatGPT.
Physical AI demands a body that enables action, not restricts it.

How These Fit Together​

Physical AI = Perception → Planning → Control, all grounded in a real physical body.

If one part breaks:

  • Perception fails → agent crashes
  • Planning fails → agent stalls
  • Control fails → agent shakes itself to death
  • Embodiment is poorly designed → everything becomes a nightmare

That’s the reality of Physical AI.