Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to design the localization and tracking algorithms for our mobile welding robot to carry out the large steel structure welding operations in industrial environment. Design/methodology/approach – Extended Kalman filter, considering the bicycle-modeled...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a Rao–Blackwellized particle filter (RBPF) approach for the visual simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Design/methodology/approach – Measurements from inertial measurement unit, barometric...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a new algorithm based on programming by demonstration and exception strategies to solve assembly tasks such as peg-in-hole. Design/methodology/approach – Data describing the demonstrated tasks are obtained by kinesthetic guiding. The...

Purpose – This paper aims to provide details of a major new European robotic research programme and of a recent survey concerning the attitudes of Europeans to robotic technology. Design/methodology/approach – Following an introduction, this paper briefly summarises Europe’s position...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a method that calibrates the hand-eye relationship for eye-to-hand configuration and afterwards a rectification to improve the accuracy of general calibration. Design/methodology/approach – The hand-eye calibration of eye-to-hand...

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to present a “Q&A interview” conducted by Joanne Pransky of the Industrial Robot Journal as a method to impart the combined technological, business and personal experience of a prominent, robotic industry engineer-turned entrepreneur regarding the...

Purpose – The aim of the research is to achieve a robot skin which is easy to use, and can detect both position and force interacted between robot and environments. Design/methodology/approach – The new type of robot skin proposed in this paper includes two functional modules – contact...

Purpose – In this article, a detailed design of a novel power line inspection robot is studied. This robot can be used to move on ground wires for special purposes such as inspection and fault detection of electric power lines. The paper aims to discuss these issues....

Purpose – This paper aims to review the dramatic entry of robotics into the field of agriculture. Design/methodology/approach – Research of efforts around the world to apply robots to agricultural needs and participation in webcasts of the latest in agricultural robotic development projects....

Purpose – This paper aims to present a new intelligent wall-climbing welding robot system for large-scale steel structure manufacture, which is composed of robot body, control system and welding system. Design/methodology/approach – The authors design the robot system according to...