Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of finishing robot technology and its applications. Design/methodology/approach – The paper initially considers the development of automated finishing technologies and then discusses robotic systems. The uses of robotic finishing are...

Purpose – This paper aims to provide details of recent snake robot research, products and applications. Design/methodology/approach – Following a short introduction to snake robots, this paper considers a selection of key research activities and then describes a number of commercial...

Purpose This paper aims to illustrate the growing role of drones in applications involving physical tasks. Design/methodology/approach Following a short introduction, this first provides a brief introduction to drone technology. It then describes and discusses products and applications involving...

Purpose This paper aims to provide an insight into recent developments in the robotic exoskeleton business by considering research, corporate activities, products and emerging applications. Design/methodology/approach Following a short introduction, this first provides examples of exoskeleton...

Purpose This paper aims to provide technical details of humanoid robot developments from the 1970s to the present day and to consider their potential applications and prospects. Design/methodology/approach Following an introduction, this first identifies the motivations for developing humanoid...

Purpose This paper aims to provide an insight into China’s rapidly developing robot industry. Design/methodology/approach Following a short introduction, this paper first provides a market perspective and then identifies the key user industries and gives examples of applications. The robot...

Purpose – This paper aims to provide a European perspective on the collaborative robot business and to consider the factors governing future market development. Design/methodology/approach – Following an introduction, this first describes the collaborative robots launched recently by...