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Image‐based localisation has been widely investigated in mobile robotics. However, traditional image‐based localisation approaches do not work when the environment appearance changes. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new system for image‐based localisation, which enables the approach to work also in highly dynamic environments.

The proposed technique is based on the use of a distributed vision system (DVS) composed of a set of cameras installed in the environment and of a camera mounted on a mobile robot. The localisation of the robot is achieved by comparing the current image grabbed by the robot with the images grabbed, at the same time, by the DVS. Finding the DVS's image, most similar to the robot's image, gives a topological localisation of the robot.

Experiments reported in the paper proved the system to be effective, even exploiting a pre‐existent DVS not designed for this application.

Whilst, aware that DVSs, as the one used in this work, are not diffuse nowadays, this work is significant because a novel idea is proposed for dealing with dynamic environments in the image‐based localisation approach and the idea is validated with experiments. Camera Sensor networks currently are an emerging technology and they may be introduced in several daily environments in the future.

This paper is devoted to a manipulation theory for industrial robots. The proposed knowledge representation model is based on a simple algebraic formalism and is shown to be adequate and suitable for actual applications in the field of assembly robots and manipulators. A FORTRAN system is illustrated which supports the proposed model and is implemented on a LABEN 70 minicomputer used for on‐line control of the SUPERSIGMA multipurpose assembly robot developed at the Milan Polytechnic Artificial Intelligence Project. The experimental work done is reported.

This paper aims to develop path‐planning techniques that support a general selective disassembly planner in a virtual reality environment.

The paper presents an automatic selective disassembly planning and two path‐planning techniques that support it. The first one is based on single translations, while the second is based on the generation of a random search tree. The methods used have been adapted and modified from available robotic path‐planning methods for their use in disassembly path planning.

The paper finds that the proposed techniques are applicable to the automatic generation of disassembly sequences.

The paper provides an automatic tool that can be integrated in simulation software for the analysis and validation of disassembly operation.

Maintenance operations have a great impact in the security and life expectancy of any product. This is especially true for some applications such as aerospace that must pass rigorous security checking procedures. Geometric reasoning and virtual reality can help in reducing costs and design time by moving testing from physical mock‐ups to virtual ones.

The paper shows the integration of path‐planning techniques in automatic disassembly‐planning methods.

Aims to develop a selective disassembly methodology for generating an optimum disassembly sequence for end‐of‐life (EOL) products.

The paper presents a selective disassembly methodology for EOL products. In order to achieve this, Nevins and Whitney's methodology for assembly was modified. In addition, a Java‐based software was developed to speed up the generation of all possible disassembly sequences.

Finds that the methodology developed by Nevins and Whitney for assembly is applicable to disassembly process. In addition, the winnowing process for disassembly is much easier than for assembly because of the selective disassembly approach, which automatically provides a significant constraint on possible sequences.

Provides an easy to use and visual disassembly sequence generation tool for end‐of‐life products.

Disassembly is one of the significant cost drivers in achieving close loop manufacturing. Application of the methodology proposed in this paper will significantly reduce the disassembly time by providing a disassembly sequence for the selected components with reuse potential.

Provides a graphical representation of disassembly sequences at different stages of the process, which allows the user to visualize the disassembly process.

This paper aims to develop a service‐oriented distributed multi‐robot system based on manufacturing message specification (MMS) and new‐generation distributed object technology – web services for realizing remotely monitoring and controlling multiple heterogeneous robots in the internet environment.

The study presents robot communication model and distributed multi‐robot monitoring and control software structure based on MMS and web services. In particular, monitoring and control software design of MMS concepts in web services environment using Unified Modeling Language model is discussed in detail. In addition, to verify the validity of the proposed design method, a multi‐robot prototype system for robot flexible assemble cell has been achieved. Its Server software is implemented in C++ with Visual Studio.NET being the development environment and Client software is programmed in Java with Borland JBuilder 9 being the development tool.

Finds that the communication structure following MMS can make the multi‐robot monitoring and control system have perfect robustness, interoperability and reconfigurability. Besides, web services technology can conveniently realize MMS services, also can successfully resolve the remote multi‐robot monitoring and control problem among cross‐network, cross‐platform and heterogeneous systems.

Provides an easy and low‐cost method for realizing heterogeneous multi‐robot remote driving. The web‐based distribution of the presented system is critical in enabling capabilities such as e‐manufacturing, e‐diagnostics and e‐maintenance.

The proposed system can be seamlessly integrated into other automated manufacturing systems or management systems in plug‐and‐play fashion. The combination of MMS and web services is in favor of real manufacturing equipments being embedded in the network, so the presented systematic methodology can be a useful reference for constructing web‐based reconfigurable manufacturing systems.

Provides robot communication model based on MMS and web services and presents service‐oriented distributed remote multi‐robot monitoring and control software architecture.

This paper aims to propose and formulate a complicated routing/scheduling problem for multiple automated guided vehicles (AGVs) in a manufacturing system.

Considering the due date of AGVs requiring for material handling among shops in a jobshop layout, their earliness and tardiness are significant in satisfying the expected cycle time and from an economic view point. Therefore, the authors propose a mathematical program to minimize the penalized earliness and tardiness for a conflict-free and just-in-time production.

The model considers a new concept of turning point for deadlock resolution. As the mathematical program is difficult to solve with a conventional method, an optimization method in two stages, namely, searching the solution space and finding optimal solutions are proposed. The performance of the proposed mathematical model is tested in a numerical example.

A case study in real industrial environment is conducted. The findings lead the decision-makers to develop a user interface decision support as a simulator to plan the AGVs’ movement through the manufacturing network and help AGVs to prevent deadlock trap or conflicts. The proposed decision support can easily be commercialized.

The benefits of such commercialization are increase in the quality of material handling, improve the delivery time and prevent delays, decrease the cost of traditional handling, capability of computerized planning and control, intelligent tracking and validation experiments in simulation environment.

We describe the first prototypes of an inter‐robot infrared localisation and communication system. The system detects the relative positions (both range and bearing) of autonomous mobile robots with an update rate of up to 20 Hz, a range of up to 3 m and an accuracy of 40 cm for range and 45° for bearing. In addition, each robot can send at least 1 byte of data to all the other robots within the range per update cycle. Flocking on a group of eight robots is used as a non‐trivial real‐world test of this system. We conclude the paper by discussing advantages, limitations, and future improvements of the system.

3D printing for objects whose size exceeds the scope of the printer is still a tough challenge in application. The purpose of this paper is to propose a visual stitching large-scale (VSLS) 3D-printing method to solve this problem.

The single segmentation point method and multiple segmentation point method are proposed to adaptively divide each slice of the model into several segments. For each layer, the mobile robot will move to different positions to print each segment, and every time it arrives at the planned location, the contours of the printed segments are captured with a high-definition camera by the feature point recognition algorithm. Then, the coordinate transformation is implemented to adjust the printing codes of the next segment so that each part can be perfectly aligned. The authors print up layer by layer in this manner until the model is complete.

In Section 3, two specimens, whose sizes are 166 per cent and 252 per cent of the scope of the 3D-printing robot, are successfully printed. Meanwhile, the completed models of the specimens are printed using a suitable traditional printer for comparison. The result shows that the specimens in the test group have basically identical sizes to those in the control group, which verifies the feasibility of the VSLS method.

Unlike most of the current solutions that demand harsh requirement for positioning accuracy of the mobile robots, the authors use a camera to compensate for the lost positioning accuracy of the device during movement, thereby avoiding precise control to the device’s location. And the coordinate transformation is implemented to adjust the printing codes of the next sub-models so that each part can be aligned perfectly.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how the authors designed a small satellite formation ground test bed in order to study the small satellite formation flying technologies, such as autonomous formation control and network communication. As one of the subsystems, the vision detection system is responsible for the pose (position and orientation) detection of the three small satellite simulators, each of which is composed of a wheeled mobile robot and an on‐board micro control unit. In this paper, the rapid vision locating of the three small satellite simulators in the wide field is discussed.

The scene size required by the test bed has exceeded the scope of one camera, thus how to obtain the complete scene becomes a difficulty. On the base of image mosaic, a vision system composed of two cameras is designed to capture the scene simultaneously. After the two overlapped images are rapidly stitched, the real‐time view of the big scene is attained. Second, the new color tag representing the pose of small satellite simulators is designed, which can be easily identified.

A real‐time multiple mobile robots visual locating system is introduced, in which the global search algorithm and track search algorithm are combined together to identify the real‐time pose of multiple mobile robots. The switching strategy between the two algorithms is given to ensure the accuracy and improve retrieval speed.

The paper shows how, without camera calibration, the pose of each small satellite simulator in the world coordinate system can be directly calculated by the coordinate transformation from the image coordinate system to the world coordinate system based on relative measurement. The accuracy and real‐time performance of the vision detection system have been validated by experiments on locating static tags and dynamic tracking three small satellite simulators.

Se Heine non giunse fino a Roma, in compenso vi arrivarono altri non meno illustri tedeschi, il cui genio si immortalò nel campo musicale. Per non parlare di Händel, che visitò Roma nel 1707, nè di Gluck, che vi venne nel 1756, ricorderemoper il'700 — Wolfango Amedeo Mozart e — per 1'800 — Riccardo Wagner.