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Vision, audition, olfactory, tactile and taste are five important senses that human uses to interact with the real world. As facing more and more complex environments, a sensing system is essential for intelligent robots with various types of sensors. To mimic human-like abilities, sensors similar to human perception capabilities are indispensable. However, most research only concentrated on analyzing literature on single-modal sensors and their robotics application.

This study presents a systematic review of five bioinspired senses, especially considering a brief introduction of multimodal sensing applications and predicting current trends and future directions of this field, which may have continuous enlightenments.

This review shows that bioinspired sensors can enable robots to better understand the environment, and multiple sensor combinations can support the robot’s ability to behave intelligently.

The review starts with a brief survey of the biological sensing mechanisms of the five senses, which are followed by their bioinspired electronic counterparts. Their applications in the robots are then reviewed as another emphasis, covering the main application scopes of localization and navigation, objection identification, dexterous manipulation, compliant interaction and so on. Finally, the trends, difficulties and challenges of this research were discussed to help guide future research on intelligent robot sensors.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new framework on sensorial place brand identity.

This conceptual paper draws from sensory marketing and brand identity theories to propose an integrative model to develop sensorial place brand identity.

By relying on a broad spectrum of the literature, the study supports the notion that sensorial place brand identity is a bottom-up approach to branding that involves several enactment stakeholders and key influences as co-creators in the process of delivering sensory place branding messages based on a strong and unique place brand identity. This leads to the presentation of a provisional framework linking sensorial place identity, experiencescapes and multisensory place brand image.

This novel approach to place brand identity follows a holistic approach by considering several enactment stakeholders and key influencers as co-creators in the process of branding a place through the senses.

Soft robotics is a burgeoning field owing to its high adaptability and safety in human–machine interaction and unstructured environments. However, the feedback control of soft actuators with flexible sensors is still a challenge.

To address this issue, this study proposes an optical fibre-based sensing membrane for the posture measurement of soft pneumatic bending actuators. The major contribution is the development of a flexible sensing membrane with a high sensitivity and repeatability for the feedback control of soft actuators. The characteristics of sensing membrane were analysed. The relationship between wavelength shift and bending curvature was derived. The curvatures of soft actuator were measured at four bending status, and the postures were reconstructed.

The results indicate that the measurement error is less than 2.1% of the actual bending curvature. The sensitivity is up to 212.8 pm/m⁻¹, and the signal fluctuation in repeated measurements is negligible. This approach has broad application prospects in soft robotics, because it makes the optical fibre achieve more strength and compatible with soft actuators, thus improving the sensing accuracy, sensitivity and reliability of fibre sensors.

Different from previous approaches, an optical fibre with FBGs is embedded into a multilayered polyimide film to form a flexible sensing membrane, and the membrane is embedded into a soft pneumatic bending actuator as the smart strain limited layer which is able to measure the posture in real time. This approach makes the optical fibre stronger and compatible with the soft pneumatic bending actuator, and the sensing accuracy, sensitivity and reliability are improved. The proposed sensing configuration is effective for the feedback control of the soft pneumatic bending actuators.

This chapter presents a research paper with empirical investigation on tourism experiences specific to heritage attractions. It analyses the five principles of experience economy within the context of heritage attractions. The study aims to find out if heritage attractions are using the principles of experience economy to provide a fulfilling experience for visitors. The principles of the experience economy are having consistent theme, using positive cues, eliminating negative cues, offering memorabilia, and engaging the five senses.

The survey method was used to collect data from three separate heritage attractions in Jamaica. Frequency distribution was used to determine the observations in the sample.

Results of the study reveal that majority of visitors either agree or strongly agree that many of the elements comprising the principles of experience economy are in place. One similar drawback among the attractions is that they all use visual and aural messages which can distract or contradict the theme and consequently visitors’ experience.

A limitation of the study is that it did not take into consideration the relationship between visitors’ experience and their expectations as well as visitor satisfaction.

This study will inform management of heritage attractions of the importance of having implementing the principles of experience economy so as to provide a fulfilling experience for visitors.

Despite a well‐established corporate identity construct there is still ambiguity and disorientation regarding the corporate visual identity construct. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the inconsistent use of terminologies such as “symbolism” and “corporate design” as well as pointing towards an insufficient conceptualisation of the corporate identity and visual identity construct vis‐à‐vis other sensory dimensions.

A review of existing categorisations and conceptualisations of the corporate identity and visual identity construct is provided.

The paper presents a remodelled corporate visual identity construct that takes a holistic sensory perspective and proposes the corporate sensory identity construct as a more adequate and flexible reflection of current business reality.

The paper offers fundamental guidance for managers regarding the integrated and holistic utilisation of a set of sensory communication activities as part of their corporate identity management.

This paper contributes to the further understanding of the complexity of corporate identity management by addressing additional sensory dimensions apart from visual identity management. Moreover, by stressing the particular relevance of music and sound, this paper stimulates the integration of the auditory dimension as additional facet of a communication tool kit.

This study aims to examine the multisensory experiences of participating in a cooking class and how they shape perceptions of destinations in the pre-trip stage. Performance theory and prosumption provide a theoretical lens to investigate how a cooking class influences the pre-trip destination sensescape.

This study used participatory action research consisting of an immersive Tatarstan cooking class experience with the supporting materials of music and videos, focus group discussions and participant observations.

Cooking class participants prosume local culture and (re)construct the perceptions of Tatarstan by partaking in cooking classes through a multisensory experience. The pre-trip destination sensescape formation in the cooking class is dynamic, stimulating and memorable. With active engagement in co-creating in the process, such experience significantly strengthens and reshapes the perceptions of a destination.

Cooking classes can be leveraged in pre-trip marketing as a tool to enhance the competitiveness of tourism destinations and contribute to accessible tourism, such as engaging visually impaired tourists’ other heightened senses in experience design and marketing.

This study revealed that participation in cooking classes involves active, embodied and multisensory engagement, which acts as a vehicle of the destination perception change.

The purpose of the paper is to present and discuss the Kansei engineering (KE) methodology, and to reflect on the future development of KE. The paper presents a model of the KE methodology and illustrates how this model was applied on a simple example which all may understand – design of a new chocolate bar.

The research methodology is a combination of desk research (literature analysis), data collection, data analysis, reflections and model building.

The paper suggests a structural model as a possible expanded framework for future Kansei/affective engineering research studies. According to the model profound affection is a result of the following six enabler factors: sensing experience; emotional experiences (Kansei); behavioural experiences/action; social experiences/interactions and relations; spiritual experiences/moral, ethics; intellectual experiences/cognition.

The paper defines “Profound affection” as a very comprehensive state, which is a result of a combination of sensing, intellectual/cognitive, emotional, social, behavioural and spiritual experiences. “Profound affection” is not only a result of sensing or emotional experiences.

How Green is Cybernetics? At a recent conference of systems and cybernetics a delegate asked: How Green is Cybernetics? No‐one was quite sure what the question really meant. Did it suggest that cybernetics as a multidisciplinary subject was not being used to the full to save the world's threatened environment or, perhaps, that cyberneticians and systemists were not researching into areas that could benefit our society? An editorial in International Journal of Environmental Studies, Vol. 37, 1991, pp. 1–3, says that:

The expansion of marketing data is encouraging the growing use of deep learning (DL) in marketing. I summarize the intuition behind deep learning and explain the mechanisms of six popular algorithms: three discriminative (convolutional neural network (CNN), recurrent neural network (RNN), and Transformer), two generative (variational autoencoder (VAE) and generative adversarial networks (GAN)), and one RL (DQN). I discuss what marketing problems DL is useful for and what fueled its growth in recent years. I emphasize the power and flexibility of DL for modeling unstructured data when formal theories and knowledge are absent. I also describe future research directions.

This study aims to use the theory of third places to understand how different kinds of social interactions in small hospitality businesses, such as restaurants and cafes, can enhance senior customers’ experiences and alleviate their loneliness.

The target population of this study were Hong Kong residents of age 60 or older. The sampling frame comprised respondents who visited a Cha Chaan Teng (i.e. a Hong Kong-style tea restaurant) more than once a year. The authors distributed 500 questionnaires and collected 411 valid responses in 2016. They used structural equation modeling for data analysis.

The results show that social interactions (service manner and need identification) with employees and other customers have a positive effect on senior customers’ experiences, while the service manner of employees reduces senior customers’ loneliness.

This study demonstrates the respective contributions of social interactions with employees and those with other customers to enhancing senior customers’ experiences and alleviating their loneliness. This study’s findings may provide a foundation for future research into the relationships between social interactions, customer experience and loneliness in third places (that are, informal public places that offer individuals opportunities to escape from home and the workplace and to enjoy voluntary conversation, entertainment and gatherings). Further, this study also demonstrates the specific role and importance of the hospitality industry in addressing a contemporary social problem in the form of seniors’ loneliness.