Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the uses of robots in the nuclear power industry, with an emphasis on newer developments and applications. Design/methodology/approach – Following an introduction to the nuclear industry, this paper considers robotic applications...

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the present‐day use of, and future prospects for, robots for detecting mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs), with an emphasis on the key operational requirements. Design/methodology/approach – Following an introduction to the impact of mines...

Purpose – This paper aims to provide a review of the role of robots for monitoring the environment. Design/methodology/approach – Following a short introduction, this paper discusses developments in aquatic, terrestrial and airborne robots for monitoring the environment. Brief conclusions...

Purpose – This paper aims to provide a review of the applications of robotic technology in laboratories. Design/methodology/approach – Following a short introduction, this paper discusses a range of key applications for laboratory robots and describes a number of products. Some recent...

Purpose – This paper aims to provide a technical description of the robots that have been deployed in space, primarily on the Moon and Mars. Design/methodology/approach – Following an introduction, this paper describes the robotic devices that have been deployed on the Moon and Mars. It also...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe a range of artificial muscle and soft gripping technologies for robotic applications. Design/methodology/approach – Following a short introduction, this paper first discusses the role of air muscles and other pneumatic actuation...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential of robots to contribute to producing food for the growing global population. Design/methodology/approach – Following an introduction which provides an historical background to agricultural production and strategies, this paper...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide details of recent developments in human‐robot interfacing technologies. Design/methodology/approach – This paper considers recently developed or emerging technologies which allow humans to interact with robots in novel ways. It first...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into how augmented reality (AR) technologies are being applied to robotics. Design/methodology/approach Following an introduction and a brief historical background to AR, this first provides examples of AR applications in robot...

Purpose This paper aims to provide an overview of robots presently in use by the military and an insight into some that are under development. Design/methodology/approach Following a short introduction, this paper first considers existing applications of robots in the military field, including...