Purpose – This paper seeks to review the Assembly and Automation Expo in Chicago with emphasis on new robot innovations and applications on display. Design/methodology/approach – The paper includes in‐depth interviews with exhibitors of robots as well as system integrators who apply robots...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the design and analysis of a robotic finger mechanism for robust industrial applications. Design/methodology/approach – The resultant design is a compact rigid link finger, which is adaptive to different shapes and sizes providing necessary...

Purpose – This study seeks to develop a novel eight‐legged robot. Additionally, this study defines design and control of an eight‐legged single actuator walking ROBOTURK SA‐2 spider robot based on the features of a creatural spider. Design/methodology/approach – First, the single...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe a new solution for wheel‐robot's adhesion and passing‐obstacles mechanism and the optimal design of magnetic adhesion unit with finite element methods. The new mechanism makes the robot have a simpler structure, finer passing obstacles and...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a robot vision system for surface defect detection of 3D objects. It aims at the ill‐defined qualitative items such as stains and scratches. Design/methodology/approach – A robot vision system for surface defect detection may counter: high...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe a new slaughter line for industrial slaughtering of salmonid fish. Traditionally, slaughtering of farmed salmonids – salmon and rainbow trout – was done manually by bleed cutting with knives. Using the new slaughter line that includes 3D...

Purpose – Angular errors in the robot axes can make a significant contribution to robot positioning accuracy. This paper seeks to propose a new measuring method for measuring angular errors. Design/methodology/approach – New techniques were devised for the detailed investigation of joint...

Purpose – The paper aims to discuss a new direction of design outline of four‐axis machine with multi‐dimensional motors. It proposes an integrated, direct‐drive machine based on switched reluctance (SR) principles. This includes how the machine is constructed and the structure of each...

Purpose – This paper aims to develop a new real‐time effective method for solving the inverse kinematics (IK) problem, especially for those manipulators with high‐dimensional nonlinear kinematic equations. Design/methodology/approach – The paper transforms the IKs problem into a...

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the present‐day use of, and future prospects for, robots for detecting mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs), with an emphasis on the key operational requirements. Design/methodology/approach – Following an introduction to the impact of mines...