Robotics outside the metals industries

Purpose – To review presentations on robotics in “less familiar environments” given at a seminar, “The changing face of robotics: inside and outside the factory”, organised by the UK Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE). Design/methodology/approach – This paper covers the second part of the IEE seminar, which was concerned with robotics outside the traditional areas of “metal bashing”. Four diverse industries are covered: food, defence, construction and space. The presentation on “food”, by Bob Lloyd of AMTRI puts forward the concept of “a food factory in a pipe”, while that by Andy Cooke from BAE Systems, on “defence” describes R&D projects ranging from a crawler robot for wing skin drilling to a volcano‐exploring mobile robot. The “construction industry” presentation by John Riehl of Construction Robotics introduces START (safety through automated and robotic technologies), an organisation dedicated to improving safety in the industry by exploiting existing robotic technologies to remove operators from dangerous environments. The final presentation on “space robotics” by Dr Eddie Moxie of Surrey University, discusses “On‐Orbit Servicing” in which robotic arms handle satellites and their componentary, and the development of rover or mobile robot vehicles in “Planetary Exploration”. Findings – Robotics is spreading into a greater variety of industries, and in many cases the technology is similar to that used in conventional “metal industry” robot applications. Originality/value – Provides a review of robotic applications in the food, defence, construction and space exploration industries.