Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the advantages of two‐arm robots in the industrial environment. Design/methodology/approach – The innovative thinking behind Motoman's dual arm humanoid robot is presented. Then, its technical design and its industrial applications are...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review recent developments in exoskeletons and robotic prosthetics. Design/methodology/approach – This paper first describes a number of recently developed exoskeletons for military, civil and medical applications. It then discusses robotic...

Purpose – Autonomous mobile manipulation depends on a lot of effort at various levels. In general, the hardware design is as important as algorithm (or software) design. In particular, the absence of certain capabilities of hardware can seriously affect the feasibility and performance of...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe a project which seeks to develop a new generation of powered prostheses based on lightweight, uniquely tuned, energy‐storing elastic elements in series with optimal actuator systems that will significantly reduce the peak power requirement...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a new wheel control scheme for wheeled vehicle with passive linkage mechanism which realizes high step‐overcoming performance. Design/methodology/approach – Developing wheeled vehicle realizes omni‐directional motion on flat floor using...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to clarify the underlying hazards of human‐mimic human‐collaborative industrial robots. Design/methodology/approach – Preliminary hazard analysis is applied to a new industrial upper‐body‐humanoid under development. The result of the analysis is...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a suitable motion planning for omni‐directional mobile robots (OMRs) by taking into account the motion characteristics. Design/methodology/approach – Based on the kinematic and dynamic constraints, the maximum velocity, motion stability and...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a flexible automation system for the manipulation of fabrics lying on a work table and focuses on the design of a robot control system based on visual servoing and fuzzy logic for handling flexible sheets lying on a table. The main contribution...

Purpose – Path planning approaches based on conventional occupancy grid maps are problematic in off‐road environment because impossible areas include not only obstacles but also landscapes like ramps and pits. The purpose of this paper is to develop a path planning method in a hybrid grid...