Industrial robots play an important role in industry, due to their flexibility. Many applications (almost all that require human intervention) may be performed with advantages by robots. Nevertheless, set‐up operations, necessary when changing production models, are still tricky and...

The France‐based vehicle maker, PSA Group, is preparing for the next round of new model introductions. So it is making an in‐depth assessment of which robots to purchase. Meanwhile, the company's plant in Britain is gearing up for its own compliment of new robots.

BMW axle design has evolved considerably in recent years to reduce weight and increase performance. The latest developments have created the need for a relatively precise finish machining operation on axle carriers. To perform this machining, BMW uses innovative Tricept robots due to the high...

This paper presents the EC funded Climbing and walking robotics project and its activities to encourage the development of a common framework to assist researchers and companies to focus at the component level to make the required innovations. An open modular philosophy is felt to be needed to...

This paper reviews the Weldex exhibition held at the NEC in Birmingham in November 2003. Highlights of the show included VirtualArc from ABB, which is able to predict weld conditions using physics of the arc, the hybrid MSG‐laser welding process from Cloos and a new spot weld‐specific...

The report details work carried out by the Hong Kong Technical College for a feasibility and implementation study for a robotically serviced turning cell for the manufacture of automotive pump rotors.

The system proposed in this paper is the Alicia 3 robot, which is based on the Alicia II module. Its aim is to inspect non‐porous vertical walls like those of aboveground petrochemical tanks, with a wide range of surface materials and cleanliness levels. To meet this aim, pneumatic‐like...

In order to bridge the increasing gap between the micro‐ and nanotechnologies, a European consortium is currently developing and investigating a cluster of mobile, wireless cubic centimetre‐sized microrobots. The control and sensor issues which are to be solved for such a robot system are...

The prospect of using humanoid robots in practical applications attracts an important research effort and the latest steps forward in robot technology show many remarkable achievements where design aspects, control systems and software evolution regarding humanoid machines have been realised....

This paper presents the development of the user interface for the Robovolc volcano exploration robot. The discussion examines the important issues, concepts that need to be considered and the lessons learnt during the overall development phase. The process by which the final user interface was...