Purpose – The Joint European Torus (JET) is the flagship for European Fusion Research. This study seeks to address the issue of the need for remote handling in the process of recreating nuclear fusion as a limitless source of clean energy. Design/methodology/approach – Describes in detail...

Purpose – Sets out to discuss lessons learned from the creation and use of an over‐the‐internet teleoperation testbed. Design/methodology/approach – Seven lessons learned from the testbed are presented. Findings – This teleoperation interface improves task performance, as proved by a...

Purpose – Aims to report on the various types of tele‐operated mobile service robots for remote inspection and maintenance, especially in the field of nuclear industry. Design/methodology/approach – Describes nuclear electric robot operator (NERO), Sizewell A duct inspection equipment...

Purpose – Seeks to present a new method of trajectory planning, i.e. genetic algorithms (GA), for six‐degree‐of‐freedom (DOF) industrial robots. Design/methodology/approach – Describes the effects of the GA method with the advantage of quaternion algebra and by a process of elimination...

Purpose – According to UN estimates more than 2,000 people are killed or maimed every month by land‐mines. Although some mechanical solutions to their removal have been proposed, this is still heavily dependent on human manipulation. This study seeks to posit a robotic solution to this...

Purpose – To present a new special explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) robot designed to operate onboard airplanes. Design/methodology/approach – The design approach adopted is multidisciplinary: mechanical and control architectures are conceived simultaneously. Modularity and lifecycle are...

Purpose – Discusses development of an open architecture multi‐robot system that can be used for training engineers in the area of networked‐based multi‐robot programming. Design/methodology/approach – The robots are operated under their original controllers connected together through a...

Purpose – To review the capabilities, features and uses of a robotic simulation package. Design/methodology/approach – Describes some applications within the nuclear industry. Gives an overview of the latest version of the software, and a detailed description of the procedure for modelling...

Purpose – Introduces the Lemur IIb robot which allows the investigation of the technical hurdles associated with free climbing in steep terrain. These include controlling the distribution of contact forces during motion to ensure holds remain intact and to enable mobility through over‐hangs....

Purpose – Robots operating in the real world should be able to make decisions and plan ahead their actions. We argue that learning using generalized representations of the robot's experience can assist such a ability. Design/methodology/approach – We present results from our research on...