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This paper sets out to report on the developments in the evolution of advanced composite fibre structure production systems, to highlight advanced equipment already in production and to examine efforts to extend automated technology to assessing damage and automatically repairing composite fibre structures.

Leading companies in design and construction of advanced composite fibre production machinery are teaming with other technology leaders to further automate the inspection, damage assessment and repair of composite fibre structures. Automated control and movement of inspection scanners, coupled with computer analysis of findings, provide input to repair program generation. The repair program then can direct the ultrasonic cutting and composite fibre tape‐laying procedures necessary to complete the repair. Also important is the coordination of a material‐handling system to link the parts and the required production subsystems.

The outlook for totally automated repair looks very promising. Success appears to depend more on implementation and automation of known technologies and less on the development of totally new technology. Key are the software developments necessary to complete the system integration.

A team approach, where leaders in their own technology join together rather than an expert in one area attempting to become an expert in other technologies, looks like a more productive answer. A bonus is that the end result will be the combination of the best of all the applicable technologies.

Seeing the results of others in tackling what may seem like a hard to automate application by employing a team of vendors can provide a road‐map to success in addressing other requirements.

To relate how even a smaller manufacturing operation can benefit from the application of robotic methods to manual operations.

A maker of fibreglass automobile body kits called in a robotic systems integrator with 20 years of experience to automate his manual panel trimming operation. In about three months, the system integrator delivered a complete system to meet all application requirements.

The auto body kit maker achieved a 95 percent reduction in trimming time and improved his quality as well.

While this manufacturer achieved dramatic benefits, not all trimming operations might achieve such results.

Key to a successful robot application can depend heavily on the skills and prior experience of the system integrator selected to address the application.

May provide incentive to other smaller fiberglass panel manufacturers to examine potential applications where robotic trimming systems could provide excellent pay back on the investment.

Effective knowledge integration is vital for decision making in interdisciplinary research (IDR) teams. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the antecedents of knowledge integration. This study aims to examine how social capital at different levels and their interaction influences knowledge integration in IDR teams. Specifically, this study explores the moderating role of team social capital in the relationship between individual social capital and knowledge integration.

A survey on 346 individuals from 46 IDR teams in a research university in China is conducted. A multilevel analysis of the hierarchical linear model is used to process the sociometric data.

Results reveal that team social capital interacts with individual social capital by influencing knowledge integration. At the individual level, tie strength and structural equivalence have a positive influence on knowledge integration. There is an inverted U-shaped relationship between betweenness centrality and knowledge integration. Furthermore, team cohesion negatively moderates the positive effect of tie strength and structural equivalence on knowledge integration. No support is found for the moderating role of team cohesion on the effect of betweenness centrality.

First, different from previous research on social capital at single levels, this study links the individual-level and the team-level views to explore the effects of social capital on knowledge integration. Second, this study enriches research on inducing factors of knowledge integration. Third, this study extends social capital research and knowledge integration research to the IDR team context.

Discusses the advent of simultaneous engineering as the new manufacturing paradigm, and speculates about the organizational consequences of this new manufacturing method. To decrease the time from product inspection through prototype manufacture, it is necessary to instil a knowledge of process capabilities into the design process. Simultaneous engineering stresses design of product and production process together with design of assembly, quality control, and field service, that is the complete production cycle. There are many ways that a product can be designed to allow simplification of the product manufacture. This new method has necessitated new forms of internal organization of the company through blurring between different divisions of a company and the creation of multifunctional teams composed of domain experts from every stage of production. This new manufacturing mode has also redefined the relationship between the companies and their vendors. Because of greater technological interdependence, and even without any formal ties, concludes that long‐term relationships are becoming more and more important in many industries.

Soft robotics is currently a rapidly growing new field of robotics whereby the robots are fundamentally soft and elastically deformable. Fabrication of soft robots is currently challenging and highly time- and labor-intensive. Recent advancements in three-dimensional (3D) printing of soft materials and multi-materials have become the key to enable direct manufacturing of soft robots with sophisticated designs and functions. Hence, this paper aims to review the current 3D printing processes and materials for soft robotics applications, as well as the potentials of 3D printing technologies on 3D printed soft robotics.

The paper reviews the polymer 3D printing techniques and materials that have been used for the development of soft robotics. Current challenges to adopting 3D printing for soft robotics are also discussed. Next, the potentials of 3D printing technologies and the future outlooks of 3D printed soft robotics are presented.

This paper reviews five different 3D printing techniques and commonly used materials. The advantages and disadvantages of each technique for the soft robotic application are evaluated. The typical designs and geometries used by each technique are also summarized. There is an increasing trend of printing shape memory polymers, as well as multiple materials simultaneously using direct ink writing and material jetting techniques to produce robotics with varying stiffness values that range from intrinsically soft and highly compliant to rigid polymers. Although the recent work is done is still limited to experimentation and prototyping of 3D printed soft robotics, additive manufacturing could ultimately be used for the end-use and production of soft robotics.

The paper provides the current trend of how 3D printing techniques and materials are used particularly in the soft robotics application. The potentials of 3D printing technology on the soft robotic applications and the future outlooks of 3D printed soft robotics are also presented.

Examines the thirteenth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.