Climbing and walking robots gain respectability

There has been a considerable growth of interest in climbing and walking robots since the first international conference in Brussels last year. The two‐day event at Portsmouth University attracted speakers from 20 countries, a number of whom were able to report on machines that have been built and successfully tested, and in some cases are under evaluation in industry. Supporting these from the end of academic research were papers dealing with simulation, control, locomotion, teleoperation, navigation, sensing and other aspects. Much of the work is being funded by the European Commission under the Brite‐Euram programme. The conference was preceded by a workshop day and included a small industrial exhibition.