Robohub.org
 

Little-known uses for robots


by
14 September 2013



share this:

Five little known uses for robots: (1) explosives handling by explosives manufacturers and also by armed forces that must dispose or handle them; (2) using lasers on robotic arms to strip paint from air force plans; (3) having a robot scale the heights of a dam or nuclear chimney to inspect and analyze the concrete; (4) securely store valuable vehicles in vaults or robotically park cars in special car parks, and (5), wacky art. See photos and videos.

Explosives Handling

Source: Dreamstime Stock Photos.
A Chinese firm specializing in explosives manufacturing has decided to upgrade over 100 installations with parallel handling robots from Adept Technology. In a similar vein, iRobot just won a $30 million contract from the U.S. Army for robotic systems to be used for bomb disposal and other dangerous handling missions by troops and first responders.
Paint Stripping
Rendering of robots lasering paint removal from plane. Source: CTC.
Paint stripping of air force jets by robot arms gripping lasers. “Automated laser de-coating is expected to significantly reduce labor, waste, environmental risk and overall cost,” said the project manager of a joint effort between CMU’s NREC, the US Air Force and CTC. The laser coating remover uses a continuous wave laser to strip paint and other coatings; it replaces the traditional abrasives or chemical paint removers which generate significant hazardous wastes and air emissions.
Concrete Checking
Click to see EPRI and NY Power Authority video of robot crawler climbing dam face with echo sounding sensor. Source: EPRI
A new crawler robot developed by the EPRI (Electric Power Industry Institute) climbs up vertical surfaces and inspects, analyzes, cleans and paints. The robot is perfect for places with difficult accessibility like the face and walls of a large dam or particularly hazardous places like nuclear facilities.
Vehicle Vault and Robotic Parking
Source: RoboVault brochure.
Vehicle vaults for secure storage of valuable vehicles and robot parking systems: the RoboVault system accepts and then transports the vehicle to a controlled storage area. When it is time to retrieve the vehicle, the process is repeated in reverse. Robotic Parking Systems has robotic parking installations from Florida to Dubai, and from Abu Dhabi to Hoboken, NJ.

Just Plain Wacky

A Brooklyn-based robot artist uses his creatures for various purposes. His latest production is as a choir and musician for a performance in a church. Chico MacMurtrie is his name and his website is Amorphic Robot Works. The NY Times did an in-depth story with lots of pics. A 2012 youTube video about the artist’s New Year’s Eve party suggests how it might sound.




Frank Tobe is the owner and publisher of The Robot Report, and is also a panel member for Robohub's Robotics by Invitation series.
Frank Tobe is the owner and publisher of The Robot Report, and is also a panel member for Robohub's Robotics by Invitation series.





Related posts :



#ICML2025 outstanding position paper: Interview with Jaeho Kim on addressing the problems with conference reviewing

  15 Sep 2025
Jaeho argues that the AI conference peer review crisis demands author feedback and reviewer rewards.

Apertus: a fully open, transparent, multilingual language model

  11 Sep 2025
EPFL, ETH Zurich and the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) released Apertus today, Switzerland’s first large-scale, open, multilingual language model.

Robots to the rescue: miniature robots offer new hope for search and rescue operations

  09 Sep 2025
Small two-wheeled robots, equipped with high-tech sensors, will help to find survivors faster in the aftermath of disasters.

#IJCAI2025 distinguished paper: Combining MORL with restraining bolts to learn normative behaviour

and   04 Sep 2025
The authors introduce a framework for guiding reinforcement learning agents to comply with social, legal, and ethical norms.

Researchers are teaching robots to walk on Mars from the sand of New Mexico

  02 Sep 2025
Researchers are closer to equipping a dog-like robot to conduct science on the surface of Mars

Engineering fantasy into reality

  26 Aug 2025
PhD student Erik Ballesteros is building “Doc Ock” arms for future astronauts.

RoboCup@Work League: Interview with Christoph Steup

and   22 Aug 2025
Find out more about the RoboCup League focussed on industrial production systems.

Interview with Haimin Hu: Game-theoretic integration of safety, interaction and learning for human-centered autonomy

and   21 Aug 2025
Hear from Haimin in the latest in our series featuring the 2025 AAAI / ACM SIGAI Doctoral Consortium participants.



 

Robohub is supported by:




Would you like to learn how to tell impactful stories about your robot or AI system?


scicomm
training the next generation of science communicators in robotics & AI


 












©2025.05 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence