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 provide details of European research projects and product developments involving robots that can assist the ageing population. Design/methodology/approach Following an introduction, the role of assistive robots and research into the nature of the human–robot...

Purpose This paper aims to provide details of the use of sensing skins by robots through reference to commercial products and recent research. Design/methodology/approach Following an introduction, this paper first summarises the commercial status of robotic sensing skins. It then provides...

Purpose – This article aims to provide details of recent developments in robots that can change shape and self-reconfigure. Design/methodology/approach – Following an introduction, this article first describes some recent developments in shape-changing materials and then considers a...

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...

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 a background to the use of robots by the automotive industry and describe a number of applications which illustrate the capabilities and importance of robotic machine vision technology. Design/methodology/approach – Following an historical background to...

Purpose – This first part of a two-part paper aims to provide an insight into the ethical and legal issues associated with certain classes of robot. This part is concerned with ethics. Design/methodology/approach – Following an introduction, this paper first considers the ethical...

Purpose – This is the second part of a two-part paper which aims to provide an insight into the ethical and legal issues surrounding certain classes of robot. This part is concerned with law. Design/methodology/approach – Following an introduction, this paper first describes the European...

Purpose This paper aims to provide details of the safety considerations, technologies and standards associated with robots that interact with, or operate in proximity to, humans. Design/methodology/approach Following an introduction, this paper first considers collaborative robots and discusses...