Purpose – A review of safety‐technology, applicable safety‐related standards and the impact on the use of robots in industrial environments. Design/methodology/approach – Technological developments are presented in safety‐related control technology, including programmable safety...

Purpose – Describes how BMW is investing in new body‐in‐white capital equipment to make a new version of the Mini due out in 2007. Design/methodology/approach – Describes the major production line technologies that are under close scrutiny to manufacture the body shell of the next...

Purpose – In this paper a solution capable of extracting robot motion information from CAD data is briefly presented and explored. Design/methodology/approach – The motion information is added by the user to the CAD file, defining in this way the approach, fly‐by and welding trajectories....

Purpose – Aims to determine how BMW's use of robots in car manufacturing is evolving. Design/methodology/approach – Presents the latest applications of robots at BMW's Regensburg plant where the new small 1‐series car started production in 2004. Findings – Finds that robots are being...

Purpose – This work demonstrates the development of a robot, which was designed for the orbital welding of pipes. Design/methodology/approach – The robot consists of a small car pressed against the pipe by means of chains, which are used by the robot to move around it. To provide all...