Industrial mobile robots: the future

Abstract

Presents the state‐of‐the‐art in industrial mobile robotics within Europe and how the future industrial requirements can best be satisfied. States that the focus for the development of mobile robotic vehicles has been in hazardous applications such as the nuclear industry, petrochemical plants and offshore operations, but the same technology has potential for use in other areas ranging from construction, outdoor applications (forestry, anti‐personnel mine clearing), mining and leisure. Presents the results of the investigations carried out for the Brite Euram Thematic Network on climbing and walking robots where most of the countries in the European Union have been considered in the studies. Reports a major finding that mobile robots have an enormous potential for commercial exploitation but first some fundamental problems need to be solved; these concern improvements in sensors, actuators and powering technologies. Argues that the robots of the future also need to have strong autonomous capabilities, must be able to self‐learn as well as be reliable for continuous operation. Identifies modularity as a key feature requiring careful attention so that future machines can be easily and rapidly prototyped for new applications.