Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to establish a paint deposition pattern model applied to robotic air spray painting in order to achieve the accuracy and uniformity of paint film thickness on free‐form surface. Design/methodology/approach – The paper opts for an exploratory study...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo, Japan 2009, with emphasis on new trend of Japanese robot industry. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on in‐depth interviews with exhibitors and the reporter's insight in Japanese...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the 2009 AUVSI Conference and Show held in Washington, DC with emphasis on unmanned vehicles or service robots, their application on the ground, in the air, and in the water. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is of in‐depth interviews...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and prototype implementation of a miniature climbing robot with magnetic adhesion, developed for the inspection of gas turbines and other environments that require vertical mobility along curved steel surfaces, but only offer very...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on an engineering application of the vertebrate musculoskeletal system. The musculoskeletal system has unique mechanisms such as bi‐articular muscle, antagonistic muscle pairs and muscle‐tendon elasticity. The “artificial musculoskeletal...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and prototype implementation of the “Cable Crawler”, a mobile teleoperated robot for the inspection of high‐voltage power lines which rides on the topmost ground cable. By not being limited to just moving from mast to mast, it...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare the maneuverability of flexible mono‐tread mobile track (FMT) and usual differential‐type tracked vehicle (DTV) through some experiments. A new mobile mechanism: FMT has been proposed which is employing “flexible chain” and vertebral...

Purpose – Lane tracking is one of the most important processes for autonomous vehicles because the navigable region usually stands between the lanes, especially in urban environments. A robust lane tracking method is also required for reducing the effect of the noise and the required...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to design and implement a team of middle size soccer robots to conform RoboCup middle‐size league. Design/methodology/approach – First, according to the rules of RoboCup, a middle size soccer robot was designed. The proposed autonomous soccer robot...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe designing Pobot V2, a robot capable to climb poles with a cylindrical or conical shape. Design/methodology/approach – This paper describes the design of the pole‐climbing robot Pobot V2, based on the innovative principle of rolling...