Purpose – This paper aims to investigate a high‐profile marketing stratagem staged by a robot manufacturer. Design/methodology/approach – The exhibition, press release and video are described. The relevant technical details of the KUKA robot and controller are presented, followed by those...

Purpose – This paper aims to review the 2007 Bi‐Annual International Robotics and Vision Show in Chicago. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents in‐depth interviews with exhibitors of robots and robotic vision systems. Findings – The marriage of vision and robotics is...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the 2007 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 – In‐depth interviews with exhibitors of...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on new technology concerning multi‐arm robots. Design/methodology/approach – The operating details of tread base multi‐arm robots are discussed. Comparisons to traditional robot are made. Application areas are outlined. Findings – Tread...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the advantages of a robotic time‐lapsed microscopic imaging system for tracking stem cells in in vitro biological assays which measure stem cell activities. Design/methodology/approach – The unique aspects of the system include robotic...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the control of a six degrees of freedom (DOF) robot arm (PUMA robot) using fuzzy PD + I controller. Numerical simulation using the dynamic model of six DOF robot arm shows the effectiveness of the approach in trajectory tracking problems....

Purpose – Humanitarian de‐mining tasks require the use of specific detecting sets to detect landmines. These sets are normally based on a one‐point sensor, which must be moved over the infested terrain by a combination of a scanning manipulator and a mobile platform. The purpose of this...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of passive radio frequency identification (RFID) technology for environment mapping and surveillance by an autonomous mobile robot. Design/methodology/approach – Proposes a fuzzy inference method to localize RFID tags in the...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a novel localization scheme using infrared identification (IRID) fused with encoder information. Design/methodology/approach – IRID emitters are mounted on the ceiling in order to divide the floor workspace into sectors. Encoding the IRID...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to build up a parallel robot for assembling, machining and repairing of the vacuum vessel of the international thermonuclear experimental reactor (ITER). Design/methodology/approach – The process of assembling and machining of the vacuum vessel need a...