Robots with Intelligence: Developments and Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Robotic systems are undergoing a paradigm shift as intelligence increasingly becomes a core component of their design and application. By incorporating advanced sensing, control, and decision-making mechanisms, robots are evolving from conventional automation tools into autonomous systems capable of adapting to complex, dynamic, and human-centered environments. The integration of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cognitive computing enables robots to perceive, learn, and collaborate in ways that extend their functionality far beyond traditional domains.

Recent developments have demonstrated the potential of intelligent robots in a wide range of applications, including manufacturing, healthcare, rehabilitation, service, agriculture and autonomous systems. Nonetheless, the field continues to face fundamental challenges, such as robust perception under uncertainty, safe and effective human–robot collaboration, scalable deployment across heterogeneous settings, and the assurance of transparency and trustworthiness in AI-driven decisions.

This Special Issue aims to present the latest advances and emerging directions in intelligent robotics. We invite high-quality contributions that address novel theories, methods, technologies, and applications in this field, including but not limited to the following:

• Intelligent sensing, perception, and multimodal data fusion;
• Learning-based and adaptive control for robots;
• Human–robot interaction and collaboration;
• Cognitive architectures and decision-making in robotics;
• AI-driven planning, navigation, and task execution;
• Intelligent service, industrial, agricultural, and medical robots;
• Robotics for healthcare, rehabilitation, and assistive technologies;
• Autonomous systems in real-world and unstructured environments;
• Explainable and trustworthy AI for robotics;
• Emerging applications of intelligent robots in society.

Through this collection, we seek to provide a platform for disseminating cutting-edge research that will contribute to advancing the development and deployment of robots with intelligence across diverse domains.

Prof. Dr. Brian Byunghyun Kang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Machines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• intelligent robotics
• artificial intelligence in robots
• human–robot interaction
• adaptive control and learning
• real-world applications