Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze the robot trends of the next generation. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is divided into two sections: the key modern technology on which Europe's robotics industry has built its foundation is described. Then, the next key megatrends were analyzed. Findings: Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are technologies of major importance for the development of humanity. This time is mature for the evolution of industrial and service robots. The perception of robot use has changed from threading to aiding. The cost of mass production of technological devices is decreasing, while a rich set of enabling technologies is under development. Soft mechanisms, 5G and AI have enabled us to address a wide range of new problems. Ethics should guide human behavior in addressing this newly available powerful technology in the right direction. Originality/value: The paper describes the impact of new technology, such as AI and soft robotics. The world of work must react quickly to these epochal changes to enjoy their full benefits.

A novel family of deployable mechanisms (DMs) is presented. Unlike most such devices, which have one degree-of-freedom (DOF), the proposed DM can be deployed and compacted independently in two or three directions. This widens the range of its potential applications, including flexible industrial fixtures and deployable tents. The mechanism's basic deployable unit (DU) is assembled by combining a scissor linkage and a Sarrus linkage. The kinematic properties of these two components and of the combined unit are analyzed. The conditions under which the unit can be maximally compacted and deployed are determined through singularity analysis. New 2DOF DMs are obtained by linking the DUs: each mechanism's shape can be modified in two directions. The relationship between the degree of overconstraint and the number of DUs is derived. The magnification ratio is calculated as a function of link thickness and the number of DUs. The idea of deployment in independent directions is then extended to three dimensions with a family of 3DOF mechanisms. Finally, kinematic simulations are performed to validate the proposed designs and analyses.

Freight Urban Robotic Vehicle (FURBOT) is an autonomous vehicle designed to transport last mile freight to designated urban stations. It is a slow vehicle designed to tackle urban environment with complete autonomy. A slow vehicle may have slightly different strategies for avoiding obstacles. Unlike on a highway, it has to deal with pedestrians, traffic lights and slower vehicles while maintaining smoothness in its drive. To tackle obstacle avoidance for this vehicle, sensor feedback based strategies have been formulated for smooth drive and obstacle avoidance. A full mathematical model for the vehicle is formulated and simulated in MATLAB environment. The mathematical model uses velocity control for obstacle avoidance without steering control. The obstacle avoidance is attained through velocity control and strategies are formulated with velocity profiling. Innovative techniques are formulated in creating the simulated sensory feed-backs of the environment. Using these feed-backs, correct velocity profiling is autonomously created for giving velocity profile input to the velocity controller. Proximity measurements are assumed to be available for the vehicle in its given range of drive. Novelty is attained by manipulating velocity profile without prior knowledge of the environment. Four different type of obstacles are modeled for simulated environment of the vehicle. These obstacles are randomly placed in the path of the vehicle and autonomous velocity profiling is verified in simulated environment. The simulated results obtained show satisfactory velocity profiling for controller input. The current technique helps to tune the existing controller and in designing of a better velocity controller for the autonomous vehicle and bridges the gap between sensor feed-back and controller input. Moreover, accurate input profiling creates less strain on the system and brings smoothness in drive for an overall safer environment.

Freight Urban RoBOTic vehicle (FURBOT) is a complete drive-by-wire vehicle expected to perform autonomously in an urban setting. This upgrading has raised issues that need to be resolved/addressed for the vehicle to achieve a higher level of autonomy. This research addresses two of these main issues. The First is the legal framework/licensing issue necessary to be addressed for the vehicle to be insured and legally drive on public roads. The second is the changes and upgrading the vehicle must go through to become a complete autonomous freight handling vehicle. The outcome of this research led to the decision for correct categorization of the vehicle for resolving its licensing issue and its legal status on the European roads by understanding the limitations of the vehicle, which includes vehicle current state and its structural properties. An additional contribution of this research is identifying the software and hardware changes the vehicle has to go through to be fully autonomous. This includes identification of correct sensors and their placement and quantities. In addition, in-depth study for software identification for the vehicle is provided resulting in favorable choice for an off-the-shelf software. Additionally, foreseeable issues, expectations from the vehicle and requirements (considering its demonstration as an autonomous vehicle) that need to be fulfilled are also highlighted. For demonstration site, use cases and site dynamics are also studied for achieving autonomy. Fulfillment of these requirements is necessary for the vehicle to demonstrate autonomous navigation and freight handling for SHOW (SHared automation Operating models for Worldwide adoption) H2020 project for delivering freight in an urban setting.