The 1983 BRA Travel Award winner, Phillip Wadsworth of Loughborough University, attended the 12th International Symposium on Industrial Robots and the accompanying robot exhibition. He also participated in the study tour, in Northern France, that followed and reports here on his observations and...

More robots aimed at different jobs on offer as ‘robot fever’ subsides; more flexibility in assembly and welding.

The Metro production line at Longbridge is turning out more cars than had originally been planned. And the robots on the line are playing their part in helping to raise output.

Recently two surveys have been carried out in the United Kingdom looking at the current robotic scene. The British Robot Association has collected information on the number of robots in use and Messrs. King & Lau from Imperial College have been surveying the scene from the users' point of view.

The first application of robotic welding for assembly of commercial vehicles in the UK is claimed in this article. They were helped by using computer simulation graphics at the planning stage.

When several machine tools are serviced by one industrial robot their idle times should be kept as short as possible. In this paper, a deterministic model is developed to optimise the idle time, including the possibility of machine breakdowns.

The robot is proving itself to be a reliable and effective automation tool and users are finding them relatively easy to install. But the main problems surround the peripherals and the integration into the production system. This process can be eased by thoroughly studying potential applications...

A clutch of new robots has emerged from Japanese firms. They are aimed at assembly, loading and unloading machine tools and arc welding. John Hartley reports.

Years of research effort on artificial intelligence is now enabling the Industrial Automation Group at SRI International to tackle advanced industrial problems. This is particularly centred around vision and the development of a vision module is now finding its way to many commercial developments.

Europe's largest manufacturer ASEA of Sweden recently opened their third Industrial Robot Systems Centre at Milton Keynes in the UK This follows the opening of other Centres at Detroit in the US and at Frankfurt in Germany.