manipulator vs causal agent

manipulator and causal agent both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
manipulator	Yes	No	No	No
causal agent	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, causal agent is a hypernym of manipulator; that is, causal agent is a word with a broader meaning than manipulator:

manipulator: an agent that operates some apparatus or machine
causal agent: any entity that produces an effect or is responsible for events or results

Other hypernyms of manipulator include causal agency, cause.

manipulator (noun)	causal agent (noun)
an agent that operates some apparatus or machine	any entity that produces an effect or is responsible for events or results
a person who handles things manually