Describes general considerations for the design of robots for use in the food industry and gives application examples for food handling and bag packing. Also discusses gripper designs.

This paper presents the real‐time visual servoing of a manipulator and its tracking strategy of a fish, by employing a genetic algorithm (GA) and the unprocessed gray‐scale image termed here as “raw‐image”. The raw‐image is employed to shorten the control period, since it has more...

Over the last five years we have successfully researched, designed, developed and commercialised the world’s first lamb and sheep dressing robots. Two have already been sold to commercial concerns. This has caused a paradigm shift in the way automation in meat processing can be viewed. In this...

Collaborative robots – “cobots” – are intended for direct interaction with a human worker, handling a shared payload. They are a marked departure from autonomous industrial robots which must be isolated from people for safety reasons. Cobots are also distinct from teleoperators, in which...

Highlights the investment made by Rover for the launch of its new executive car, the Rover 75. Discusses the reasoning behind the building of a completely new factory on the existing Oxford site that has double the output capacity of the one it replaces. It also has a much better quality...

Reviews new applications of robots in the automotive industry. Describes new compact robot designs which can fit into very small spaces and provide greater flexibility in the body shop. Outlines how paint shop technology is evolving to make greater use of robots. Highlights pioneering...

Discusses the application of low cost laser based seam tracking systems to welding robots in the automotive industry.

Describes the robotization of the Japanese automotive industry. The automotive industry is still the major segment of the industrial robot market in Japan. At the moment, however, annual shipments of industrial robots to the industry are at only 60 per cent of the peak in 1991. This reflects the...

This article reviews the Industry Fair in Hanover and the International Robots & Vision Show in Detroit. Outlines two new assembly applications being performed by robot. Describes the latest robot technology to be introduced to the market. Highlights new control technology and simulation tools.

The annual statistical report of investment in robot automation in UK manufacturing industry during 1998 shows some slippage since the record level of 1997, though the total of installations during the year was still higher than in earlier years. The decline was mainly attributable to a sharp...