Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide details of recent developments in human‐robot interfacing technologies. Design/methodology/approach – This paper considers recently developed or emerging technologies which allow humans to interact with robots in novel ways. It first...

Purpose – Path planning in unknown or partly unknown environment is a quite complex task, partly because it is an evolving globally optimal path affected by the motion of the robot and the changing of environmental information. The purpose of this paper is to propose an online path planning...

Purpose – The use of thin sheets with 3D geometries is growing in quantity, due to current progress towards life‐cycle design and sustainable production, and growing in geometrical complexity, due to aesthetic and quality concerns. The growth in manufacturing equipment flexibility has not...

Purpose – Machining fixtures must fit exactly the work piece to support it appropriately. Even slight change in the design of the work piece renders the costly fixture useless. Substitution of traditional fixtures by a programmable multi‐robot system supporting the work pieces requires a...

Purpose – Adaptive grippers are versatile end effectors that mechanically adapt their shapes to the objects they seize, allowing for soft and delicate grasps while still allowing for strong contact forces if needed and therefore they are well suited for industrial applications. The purpose of...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe a mechanical equilibrium model of a one‐end‐fixed type rubberless artificial muscle and the feasibility of this model for control of the rubberless artificial muscle. This mechanical equilibrium model expresses the relation between inner...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a robotic tooth brushing simulator mimicking realistic tooth brushing motions, thereby facilitating greater understanding of the generation of realistic tooth brushing motion for optimal design of toothbrushes. Design/methodology/approach –...

Purpose – Currently, the majority of designed robots are not well‐matched to their applications because designers do not employ a clear and organized design process. Additionally, the high cost of robotic systems makes it difficult to financially justify the use of this technology. The...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a spatial six‐link RRCCRR (where R denotes a revolute joint, and C denotes a cylindric joint) mechanism to be used as the mechanism body of a biped robot with three translations (3T) manipulation ability. Design/methodology/approach – This...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe a new multi‐sensor robotic system designed for riser, mooring lines and umbilical cables in situ underwater inspection. Due to the aggressive operation environment, such structures are susceptible to a broad spectrum of failure causes, such...