Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the innovative design of prosthetic hands now in production from a Scottish spin‐off company. Design/methodology/approach – The novel features are described, followed by the details of the mechanical construction and the available grip...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of recent progress in the development of medical microrobots. Design/methodology/approach – The paper first considers some of the critical aspects of medical microrobot design and then illustrates the present state of development...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the iREX2007, the International Robot Exhibition 2007 held in Tokyo, Japan, with emphasis on new trends in the Japanese robot industry. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on in‐depth interviews with exhibitors and also major...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the robots at the 2007 ATExpo Show and related Electronics Assembly Show, Quality, PlasTec and National Manufacturing Week Shows, as well as at the FABTECH Show and the Rockwell Automation Show held in Chicago. Design/methodology/approach –...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a novel microbiological lab robot that facilitates high through‐put sample preparation for rapid state‐of‐the‐art identification. Design/methodology/approach – Development concentrated on two main points: research initially focused on...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology for medical robot kinematics design developed using a knowledge‐management approach. Design/methodology/approach – A classification of medical robots is proposed based on their kinematic characteristics and 76 robot...

Purpose – Surgical robotics can be divided into two groups: specialized and versatile systems. Versatile systems can be used in different surgical applications, control architectures and operating room set‐ups, but often still based on the adaptation of industrial robots. Space consumption,...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a design and verification through experiments of teleoperation of the 3 degrees‐of‐freedom micromanipulation system (MMS), in laboratory conditions. Design/methodology/approach – The MMS is constructed from piezoelectric actuators sited...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider surgical robotics, with a focus on technology and design issues for remote‐mode operation assistance. The investigation leads to the definition of the technical characteristics of a co‐robotic positioning device (CRPD), to be developed in...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze surface deformations caused by shear and moment forces on tactile materials and present a method to detect and reduce the risk of slippage by controlling the normal force as measured by tactile sensor arrays. Design/methodology/approach – A...