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The purpose of the article is to investigate readiness of academic librarians toward the use of robotic technologies in Nigerian university libraries. The article provides further insights on the following areas: •What are the levels of readiness of university libraries in Nigeria towards robotic technologies in terms of digital infrastructure, policy framework and human development for the adoption and use of robotics in the libraries? •What services are available in the university libraries that can be handled by robotic technologies? •Are academic librarians aware of the potential benefits of robotics in library operations? •What are the potential challenges that university libraries may face in the adoption and use of robotic technologies?

The study is a survey research anchored on positivism paradigm. The questionnaire was used as data collection instrument. Furthermore, 100 academic librarians were selected from the ten purposively selected ten universities. Snowballing sample technique was used to select ten academic librarians from each of the university libraries.

The findings of the study revealed that the readiness of university libraries in Nigeria towards the adoption and use of robotic technologies in Nigeria is nothing to write home about. It indicates that university libraries in the country are not ready to adopt the use of this technology despite the high benefits they have to offer in library operations.

The limitations of the study lay on the fact that very few librarians from each of the selected university libraries were selected; and at the same time, it covers only ten university libraries in the country.

The study is very important to university library management on the necessary steps that need to be taken for the effective adoption of robotic technologies. This research can be a guide to them. In addition, the empirical analysis of the study contributes to social informatics development in Nigeria.

This paper aims to explore and review the potential of robotic rehabilitation as a treatment approach for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and its impact on the health and quality of life of AD patients.

The present discourse endeavors to provide a comprehensive overview of extant scholarly inquiries that have examined the salience of inhibitory mechanisms vis-à-vis robotic interventions and their impact on patients with AD. Specifically, this review aims to explicate the contemporary state of affairs in this realm by furnishing a detailed explication of ongoing research endeavors. With the objective of elucidating the significance of inhibitory processes in robotic therapies for individuals with AD, this analysis offers a critical appraisal of extant literature that probes the intersection of cognitive mechanisms and assistive technologies. Through a meticulous analysis of diverse scholarly contributions, this review advances a nuanced understanding of the intricate interplay between inhibitory processes and robotic interventions in the context of AD.

According to the review papers, it appears that implementing robot-assisted rehabilitation can serve as a pragmatic and effective solution for enhancing the well-being and overall quality of life of patients and families engaged with AD. Besides, this new feature in the robotic area is anticipated to have a critical role in the success of this innovative approach.

Due to the nascent nature of this cutting-edge technology and the constrained configuration of the mechanized entity in question, further protracted analysis is imperative to ascertain the advantages and drawbacks of robotic rehabilitation vis-à-vis individuals afflicted with Alzheimer’s ailment.

The potential for robots to serve as indispensable assets in the provision of care for individuals afflicted with AD is significant; however, their efficacy and appropriateness for utilization by caregivers of AD patients must be subjected to further rigorous scrutiny.

This paper reviews the current robotic method and compares the current state of the art for the AD patient.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate travellers’ behaviour and examine their reactions to high-tech hotels offering robotic services to customers.

Data were gathered from user-generated content within the context of a qualitative research method by analysing the online narratives of travellers at TripAdvisor who visited robotic hotels. Data analysis was realised through content analysis, which revealed various themes and categories of traveller behaviour and reactions to technology.

Results show that robotic services significantly improve the quality of service offered to travellers, while positively affecting travellers’ intention to revisit robotic hotels within the context of customer engagement behaviours.

The results of the present research reveal that the introduction of new technologies in the service industry, such as the robotic butler, can have considerable effects on guest behaviour and attitudes. This field has emerged as a new sub-dimension of customer engagement.

The use of robots will most likely enhance experiences through interaction between customers and robots. Additionally, in cases where social distancing is required, the use of robots in the hospitality and tourism industry may increase the mobility of people wishing to travel by applying social distancing through use of robots in services.

The study contributes to the extant literature by identifying the concept of adoption as a sub-dimension deriving from human–robot interaction, thus generating the novelty of the research.

本论文旨在研究游客行为以及检验其对高科技酒店提供机器人服务给客人的反应。

本论文采用定性分析手段, 采集样本为TripAdvisor游客光顾机器人酒店的在线叙述文本, 即用户生成内容（UGC）。本论文采用文本分析法, 以确定多种游客行为和对科技的反应等多个主题和范畴。

研究结果表明, 机器人服务大大提高游客服务质量, 同时也积极影响游客再光顾机器人酒店的意向, 在顾客参与行为（CEBs）的研究背景下。

本论文研究结果表明, 服务产业的新科技引用, 比如机器人服务员, 能够对顾客行为和态度产生显著的影响。这一研究领域作为顾客参与（CE）的新维度正在兴起。

新技术的引用将提高顾客的服务质量, 从而促成顾客的价值共创。此外, 还可以帮助消除游客对受到健康相关危机影响的担忧; 从业人员应该考虑在其公司、企业、或者机构中采用机器人服务。

机器人的使用将很有可能通过机器人与顾客的交互而提高顾客体验。此外, 在被要求社交隔离的情况下, 在酒店和旅游业中使用机器人将增加人们旅游的流动性。

本论文补充了现有文献, 确立了机器人接纳作为人机交互的第二维度, 从而证实了本文的新颖性。

Taking a mixed-method approach, this research developed and validated a novel, value-centric experience framework delineating robotic involvement in the service encounter and its subsequent impact on customers' experiences.

Focused on robotic restaurant businesses where robots are mainly involved in food production processes, this research utilized online customer review data and a multistage, mixed-method design for empirical examination. Automated thematic analysis was first adopted to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the empirical reality as reflected in online customer reviews. Following an analytic induction process, a theoretical framework was developed integrating prior literature with the empirical reality to uncover the relationships across robotic involvement, experiential values and evaluative outcomes. A theory-driven, dictionary-based content analysis together with path analysis further enabled empirical validation of the developed theoretical framework.

The current research developed and validated a value-centric experience framework to theorize robotic involvement in the service encounter and its downstream impact on customers' experiences. Specifically, this framework conceptualizes robotic involvement as a five-dimensional composition of robotic visibility, competency, performanism, co-creativity and prominence. In addition, the framework specifies seven dimensions of experiential values revolving around high-tech–high-touch robotic service encounters, namely sensorial, utilitarian, hedonic, social, agentic, epistemic and aesthetic values. Following empirical validation, this framework sheds light on robotic involvement and experience design for high-tech–high-touch service businesses aiming to incorporate robots in their service encounters.

Drawing on classic service role theory and consumption value theory, this research developed and validated a novel theoretical model connecting robotic involvement dimensions with experiential consumption values and downstream customer evaluative outcomes. This research and theoretical framework open an exciting avenue for future research in robotic services and customer experiences.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the benefits for aged care providers of adding affordable robotic technology to their services packages to enhance the well-being of older adults from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds who choose to live at home.

This study, adopting a transformative service research lens, was performed with a group of older Australian adults from CALD backgrounds aged approximately 70 years. This study conducted four rounds of home trials with three different, commercially available robotic technologies from January to November 2020. Each trial lasted seven days.

The findings reveal that older adults from CALD backgrounds are open to learning about new technologies and can successfully interact independently with multiple robotic technologies in their own homes. The results indicate that robot technology has the potential to increase the well-being of older people by enhancing a sense of belonging, independence and quality of life while living at home.

This study shows a promising future involving the use of available technology to assist older people from CALD backgrounds to live better lives at home. Ageing at home can be central to a person’s sense of identity and independence, and this study is a big step towards a new aged care system desperately needed in a society with a rapidly ageing population.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first to introduce three different commercially available robots, each designed to satisfy companionship, cleaning and/or communication needs in the homes of older adults from CALD backgrounds to increase their overall well-being.

Since the market penetrations of service robots are only successful to a limited types of services, the purpose of the paper is to look into the reasons why the market penetrations are lagged from both technical and nontechnical perspectives. Automatic robotic recharging services, especially robotic refueling systems, are used as the case study for the investigation.

This paper surveyed the relevant technologies and products and conducted the feasibility study and risk management for new development of automated robotic refueling systems. This paper developed a cost model for the evaluation of robotic refueling systems.

There are no major technical barriers that exist for the development of robotic refueling systems, but two main risks of developing new robotic refueling systems are interference of existing patents and the extreme effort to further reduce the development cost of automated refueling systems. The recommendations have been made to new developers of service robots.

The suggestions are made for further development on service robots, in general; however, this paper does not cover the physical development of service robots.

This study was actually conducted for a client company who has a strong interest in developing new products for automatic robotic refueling systems. The reported work has great significance for new comers in this area to understand the state of the art, technological challenges and some potential risks in the field.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, it will be the first academic paper to summarize the research and development effort on automatic recharging business. The targeted field is very typical in promoting robots in services. Even robotic refueling was proposed at very early stage of robotic application, the market penetration of refueling robots the market penetration is very limited, not because the technology readiness but some other factors. This work has its significance to identify technical and nontechnical challenges to promote robots in services.

This paper aims to investigate reconfigurable technology using robotic technology for folding carton in confectionery industry.

Based on the analysis of common motion and manipulation, modules such as robotic fingers and robotic folders are explored and designed. A robotic system is then constructed by arranging those modules for diverse cartons.

A prototyped test rig shows the adaptability of the robotic system. The reconfigurability of the robotic system is realized and verified by experiments and an industrial demonstrator.

This research leads to the development of a demonstrator, manufactured and controlled by industries, to further commercial exploitation of this robotic system. It has been applied in a strict industry environment for a chocolate manufacturer.

This robotic system applied successfully the theory of reconfigurability by using modularity in packaging systems into confectionery industry.

Robotic systems for laparoscopic minimally invasive surgery (MIS) always end up with highly sophisticated mechanisms and control schemes – making it a long and hard development process with a steep price. This paper aims to propose and realize a new, efficient and convenient strategy for building effective control systems for surgical and even other complex robotic systems.

A novel method that takes advantage of the modularization concept by integrating two middleware technologies (robot operating system and robotic technology middleware) into a common architecture based on the strengths of both was designed and developed.

Tests of the developed control system showed very low time-delay between the master and slave sides; good movement representation on the slave manipulator; and high positional and operational accuracy. Moreover, the new development strategy trial came with much higher efficiency and lower costs.

This method results in a modularized and distributed control system that is amenable to collaboratively develop; convenient to modify and update; componentized and easy to extend; mutually independent among subsystems; and practicable to be running and communicating across multiple operating systems. However, experiments show that surgical training and updates of the robotic system are still required to achieve better proficiency for completing complex minimally invasive surgical operations with the proposed and developed system.

This research proposed and developed a novel modularization design method and a novel architecture for building a distributed teleoperation control system for laparoscopic MIS.

The purpose of this paper is to review recent developments in exoskeletons and robotic prosthetics.

This paper first describes a number of recently developed exoskeletons for military, civil and medical applications. It then discusses robotic prosthetics and concludes with a brief consideration of progress in brain‐computer interface (BCI) technology.

Robotic exoskeletons are the topic of a major research effort, much being funded by the US military, and aims to impart superhuman strength to the wearer. Japanese research is also well advanced and concerns a range of non‐military applications, including strength enhancement and medical rehabilitation. Some products have recently been commercialised. There has also been significant progress in the development of robotic prosthetic limbs, a topic which is also attracting support from the US military. A key aim is the development of thought‐controlled prosthetics which will arise from advances in BCI technology.

This paper provides a detailed review of the latest developments in exoskeletons and robotic prosthetics.

This paper aims to provide details of vision-assisted robotic welding technologies and their applications.

Following a short introduction, this paper first considers the background of vision-assisted robotic welding, the functions of the vision systems and the scenarios where the technology is of benefit. The main section provides examples of vision-assisted welding applications, together with details of the systems and products employed. Finally, brief concluding comments are drawn.

This shows that modern machine vision technologies, often based on lasers, can allow robotic welding systems to compensate for dimensional variations and errors, eliminate the need for complex and costly welding fixtures and act as an alternative to skilled human welders. This technology allows robotic automation to be deployed in welding applications where it was hitherto impossible, technically difficult or not cost-effective.

By considering a section of applications, this paper provides an insight into how machine vision technologies can enhance the capabilities of robotic welding systems.