Should I use commas or semi-colons in this multi-item list within a sentence?

Solution 1:

With commas instead of semicolons, it would not be clear that item 2, sensing and perception, is not a subsection of science and technology of robots or not a continuation of the motion-planning and control list. As it happens, that is not made clear with semicolons either; here is a possible interpretation of the original version:

...requiring knowledge in a number of key robotics science and technology areas, including robotics motion-planning and control; robotic sensing and perception; and robotic artificial intelligence.

By changing the order of the list you can avoid that problem:

...requiring knowledge in a number of key areas, including artificial intelligence, sensing and perception, and robot motion-planning and control.

Note, I shortened “science and technology of robot motion-planning and control” to “robot motion-planning and control”.