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A report by analysts from Daiwa Securities America, assessing the Japanese robot industry, explains reasons for its growth and prospects for its future.

Robots are widely used in industrial manufacturing and service industries around the world. However, most of the previous studies on industrial robots use data at the national or industry level in the context of developed countries. This study examines the impact of imported industrial robots on firm innovation at the firm level in China.

Drawing on a large dataset of more than three million records in China, including non-publicly traded small and medium firms, the authors adopt a difference-in-differences method to investigate the impact and channels of industrial robots on firm innovation.

The authors find that the application of industrial robots increases firm innovation. Two possible channels are identified through which robots promote innovation: alleviation of financial constraints and the improvement of human capital. Further analysis shows that the effect of robots on innovation is more pronounced for firms that are highly dependent on external financing, belong to high-tech industries, import high-end robots, have insufficient supply of skilled labor and private firms (non-SOEs). The authors also find that industrial robots increase the firms' innovation quality and the marginal contribution of innovation to firms' total factor productivity.

This study provides big data evidence of the unintended positive consequences of industrial robots on firm innovation. The results are helpful to clarify the controversy of industrial robots. It also has important implications for government industrial policy making, firm innovation and human resource management.

To present the technical and subsequent commercial developments arising from a large European research project into robotic paint‐spraying of low‐volume, highly variant components.

Discusses the economic need for robots that can plan their own paint trajectories for unknown parts, and describes the design and management of the project. Presents details of the technical approach taken by the researchers, the subsequent commercial developments, and the present state of the art.

The commercial developments following the research project promise a solution to the increasingly prevalent problem of small batch sizes in paint‐spraying. This opens up new markets, making much wider use of robot technology.

Updates robot specialists and general readers on the progress of a highly innovative European initiative.

A large number of coatings have been described which serve very specific purposes. An example is a foam coating which may be applied by spraying, dipping, or other normal procedures. On curing, however, there is sufficient gas generation to foam the coating. A fine cellular structure results. The resulting layer is thick but light and has a very high strength‐to‐volume ratio as well as insulating properties [Downey Finishing Corp., 1629 S. 55th Ave., Cicero, IL 60650].

This paper aims to illustrate the growing importance of agricultural robots by providing details of recent product developments and their applications.

Following a short introduction, this first discusses a range of agricultural applications of drones. It then provides details of a selection of mobile field robots and their applications. Finally, concluding comments are drawn.

Commercially available aerial and terrestrial robots are playing a rapidly growing role in a diversity of agricultural practices. Key capabilities and benefits include detecting crop stress and disease, predicting crop yields, reducing agrochemical use, overcoming manpower shortages and reducing labour costs and facilitating precision agricultural practices such as highly localised pesticide and herbicide application and the replacement of large, heavy agricultural machines by fleets of small, lightweight robots.

This provides a detailed insight into the many ways in which robots are transforming agricultural practices.