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Rapid urbanisation and recent shock events have reiterated the need for resilient infrastructure, as seen in the pandemic. Yet, knowledge gaps in construction robotics and human–robot teams (HRTs) research limit maximising these emerging technologies’ potentials. This paper aims to review the state of the art of research in this area to identify future research directions in HRTs able to aid the resilience and responsiveness of the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sector.

A total of 71 peer-reviewed journal articles centred on robotics and HRTs were reviewed through a quantitative approach using scientometric techniques using Gephi and VOSviewer. Research focus deductions were made through bibliometric analysis and co-occurrence analysis of reviewed publications.

This study revealed sparse and small research output in this area, indicating immense research potential. Existing clusters signifying the need for further studies are on automation in construction, human–robot teaming, safety in robotics and robotic designs. Key publication outlets and construction robotics contribution towards the built environment’s resilience are discussed.

The identified gaps in the thematic areas illustrate priorities for future research focus. It raises awareness on human factors in collaborative robots and potential design needs for construction resilience.

Rapid urbanisation and recent shock events have reiterated the need for resilient infrastructure, as seen in the pandemic. Yet, knowledge gaps in construction robotics and HRTs research limit maximising these emerging technologies’ potentials. This paper aims to review the state of the art of research in this area to identify future research directions in HRTs able to aid the resilience and responsiveness of the AEC sector.

The Group of Unmanned Assistant Robots Deployed in Aggregative Navigation by Scent (GUARDIANS) multi‐robot team is to be deployed in a large warehouse in smoke. The team is to assist firefighters search the warehouse in the event or danger of a fire. The large dimensions of the environment together with development of smoke which drastically reduces visibility, represent major challenges for search and rescue operations. The GUARDIANS robots act alongside a firefighter and guide and accompany the firefighters on the site while indicating possible obstacles and the locations of danger and maintain communications links. The purpose of this paper is to focus on basic navigation behaviours of multi‐robot or human‐robot teams, which have to be achieved without central and on‐line control in both categories of GUARDIANS robots' tasks.

In order to fulfill the aforementioned tasks, the robots need to be able to perform certain behaviours. Among the basic behaviours are capabilities to stay together as a group, that is, generate a formation and navigate while keeping this formation. The control model used to generate these behaviours is based on the so‐called social potential field framework, which the authors adapt to the specific tasks required for the GUARDIANS scenario. All tasks can be achieved without central control, and some of the behaviours can be performed without explicit communication between the robots.

The GUARDIANS environment requires flexible formations of the robot team: the formation has to adapt itself to the circumstances. Thus, the application has forced the concept of a formation to be re‐defined. Using the graph‐theoretic terminology, it can be said that a formation may be stretched out as a path or be compact as a star or wheel. The developed behaviours have been implemented in simulation environments as well as on real ERA‐MOBI robots commonly referred to as Erratics. Advantages and shortcomings of the model, based on the simulations as well as on the implementation with a team of Erratics are discussed.

This paper discusses the concept of a robot formation in the context of a real world application of a robot team (Swarm).

Improved production with quality, safety, and security is the biggest challenge of the food industry. Modern technologies, including robotics and automation systems, can help to cope with such issues. This chapter gives a brief view of robotics and automation for the sustainable food industry along with packaging, warehousing, distribution, marketing, and consumer services. It describes the recently implemented solutions of robotic automation in different supply chain operations and various food commodities. The benefits of robotic and automation technology for perishable and semi-perishable items have also been covered. The present research may assist the food industry professionals, supply chain managers, and academicians in implementing automation and robotics in the food industry.

SILVER, the special interest group on advanced robotics and intelligent automation, is holding a series of meetings on applications in different sectors of industry. The May meeting was held at the Silsoe Research Institute in Bedfordshire. Speakers from Silsoe, as well as from universities and industry, reviewed a number of applications, current and potential, and some systems were demonstrated during the lunch break.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to report on recent performance measurement and impact evaluation progress made in Brazil, India, Indonesia, Moldova, Turkey and Vietnam as part of the last phase of the Global Libraries Initiative.

The country reports are presented as a series of case studies, in some cases supplementing those reported earlier in this journal.

Recent country-specific survey findings are reported and some conclusions are offered.

This paper demonstrates how the adoption of a common approach to library service evaluation across several countries can strengthen research practice at country level beyond the Global Libraries Initiative itself.

This paper shares Global Libraries IPA learning at country level with people in other countries who may be contemplating public library evaluation at regional, national or local levels or who are interested in performance measurement and impact evaluation.

The paper shows how focusing on the impact of public library services on users can enhance the understanding of community requirements and inform the development of more effective services to library users and communities.

These case studies reflect concentrated impact evaluation and performance measurement work at country level across a range of countries over more than 18 years.

Team learning is critical to interdisciplinary research teams (IDR teams) to use heterogeneous knowledge effectively. Nevertheless, team learning is rarely addressed in the IDR team literature. Also, few studies investigate the antecedents and consequences of team learning in IDR teams, leading to a lack of guidance for management practices. This study aims to investigate how team learning can be developed and how team learning influences team outcomes in IDR teams.

A questionnaire survey on 304 members of 37 IDR teams in a research university in China is conducted. Data are analyzed using a partial least square structural equation modeling.

The results support most hypotheses in general. For the antecedent variables, task interdependence, trust and constructive conflict positively affect team learning. For the outcome variables, team learning improves shared mental models, coordination quality and team performance significantly. Additionally, task uncertainty positively moderates the team learning-coordination quality relation and team learning-team performance relation. However, this paper does not find support for the moderating role of task uncertainty on the team learning-shared mental models relation.

To the best of the knowledge, this is the first study investigating the antecedents and consequences of team learning in IDR teams. A multidimensional measurement of team learning for the IDR team context is developed. This study investigates how team behavioral factors influence team learning and the effect of team learning on shared mental models, coordination quality and team performance. This study also explores the contingency role of task uncertainty in the effects of team learning.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a “Q&A interview” conducted by Joanne Pransky of Industrial Robot Journal as a method to impart the combined technological, business and personal experience of a prominent, robotic industry engineer-turned entrepreneur regarding his pioneering efforts in starting robotic companies and commercializing technological inventions. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The interviewee is Brennard Pierce, a world-class robotics designer and serial entrepreneur. Pierce is currently consulting in robotics after exiting from his latest startup as cofounder and chief robotics officer of Bear Robotics. Pierce discusses what led him to the field of robotics, the success of Bear Robotics, the challenges he’s faced and his future goals.

Pierce received a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Exeter University. He then founded his first startup, 5TWO, a custom software company. Always passionate about robotics as a hobby and now wanting to pursue the field professionally, he sold 5TWO to obtain a Master of Science, Robotics degree from the newly formed Bristol Robotics Lab (BRL) at Bristol University. After BRL, where he designed and built a biped robot that learned to walk using evolutionary algorithms, he joined the Robotics Research team at Carnegie Mellon University where he worked on a full-size humanoid robot for a large electronics company, designing and executing simple experiments for balancing. He then spent the next six years as a PhD candidate and robotics researcher at the Technical University Munich (TUM), Institute for Cognitive Science, where he built a compliant humanoid robot and a new generation of field programmable gate array-based robotic controllers. Afterwards, Pierce established the robotic startup Robotise in Munich to commercialize the omni-directional mobile platforms that he had developed at TUM. A couple of years later, Pierce left Robotise to cofound Bear Robotics, a Silicon Valley based company that brings autonomous robots to the restaurant industry. He remained at Bear Robotics for four years as chief robotics officer. He is presently a robotics consultant, waiting for post-COVID before beginning his next robotic startup.

Pierce is a seasoned roboticist and a successful entrepreneur. He has 15+ years’ of unique experience in both designing robotic hardware and writing low level embedded and high level cloud software. During his career he has founded three companies, managed small to middle sized interdisciplinary teams, and hired approximately 100 employees of all levels. Pierce’s robotic startup in Munich, Robotise, was solely based on his idea, design and implementation for an autonomous mobile delivery system. The third company he cofounded, Bear Robotics, successfully raised a $32m Series A funding lead by SoftBank. Bear Robotics is the recipient of the USA’s National Restaurant Association Kitchen Innovation Award; Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Awards; and the Hospitality Innovation Planet 2020 Award.

To report on a workshop, “Future UK Robotics Research Opportunities and Challenges”, held at Salford University in November 2005.

The driver for the workshop was fear that the UK could miss out on future opportunities in the robotics market, which recent figures suggest could be six times larger in 20 years' time compared with today. The workshop was split into two main sessions. In the morning, the theme was funding sources currently available for research programmes, with presentations from representatives of the European Commission, EURON (the European Robotics Research Network), EUROP (European Robotics Platform) and the UK EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council). All these bodies can provide support to UK researchers for appropriate projects. In the afternoon, the focus was on the technical challenges for robotics particularly in the service domain, which is forecast to be the big growth area. Three areas were discussed: human‐robot interfaces, robot modularisation and field robotics. Finally, the outcomes from a final “break out” session are given, the main proposal being a UK national “Grand Challenge” that would reinforce the relevance of robotics to future everyday life.

There are many opportunities in both the funding of and the challenges to UK (and other European) researchers in robotics, particularly in service environments.

Provides a review of the current status of European robotics research programmes and the fundings available to UK teams.