Some scholars and philosophers of artificial intelligence insist there is no sharp line between human and nonhuman acts of judging, recognizing and learning by means of sensing, memory and ''other capabilities.'' However, the critical distinction in the committee's definition is its statement that the robots ''operate in compliance with human request.'' Somewhat cautiously, the Japanese did not say that the robots ''must'' operate but only ''can'' operate in compliance with human request.

The big issue for the future is what humans will ask of the robots. That will depend, in turn, on which specific groups of human beings have the power to do the requesting - and how intelligent or foolish they are in dealing with other human beings.

The complexity of these problems can be seen in the struggle at Fujitsu Fanuc's automated robot-making plant, where robots make robots, a genetic function not covered by the standardization committee's standard definition of robotic activity. The plant's substitution of robots for humans was depleting the local union's finances. As a recent report to this newspaper noted, the company offered to pay union dues for the robots. But the Japanese Labor Ministry rejected the proposal, declaring, ''Robots cannot join a union like human workers.'' The union then decided to accept the company offer. ''We want to see robots join the union,'' said Takatoku Suzuki, the union leader.

That the Fujitsu Fanuc union is ready to join hands with the company in accepting the robots is testimony to the workers' recognition that, if appropriate terms are set, the robots will be beneficial to labor, management and the society at large. The Japan Management Association sees among the benefits ''improvement in productivity, greater humanization of working life, prevention of industrial accidents, improvement of product quality and early return on capital investments.'' It sees opportunities for the robots to take over dangerous, severe, trying and monotonous jobs ''disliked by workers.''

But what will the relieved humans then do? That depends chiefly on the total demand for labor - human and robotic. The reason Japan led the way in the introduction of robots was not that Japan invented them; on the contrary, most were imported from the United States. Rather, it was a shortage of labor, especially skilled labor, in Japan in the 1960's resulting from the nation's high economic growth that caused Japan to become the world leader in the use of robots.