Special Issue on Motion Control and its Applications in Robot Technology (RT)

Robot Technology (RT) now surpasses information technology (IT) in strategic importance. With robot applications leading to expansion beyond manufacturing into the bioindustrial, medical/welfare, and lifesciences fields, conversion from an industrial to a solutions business is critical. This requires that we define new robot concepts that push the envelope beyond conventional consideration into intellectualization that functions throughout the real world through robotic technologies. This further emphasizes the importance of motion control as a major robotic innovation. Advances in high-function hardware, flexible information processing, and real-time image processing are expected to launch new trends in addition to the above. This special issue presents papers and technical reports featuring a wide academic and industrial repertoire. Topics cover aspects of motion viewed through RT. We thank Prof. Kazuhiro Kosuge of Tohoku University, the contributors, and the reviewers who made this special issue possible. Thanks also go the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics, Prof. Makoto Kaneko of Hiroshima University, who provided the opportunity for editing this special issue.