Emerging Technologies and Applications in Intelligent Manufacturing

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026.

Guest Editor (1)

Yanbin  Zhang
Prof. Dr. Yanbin Zhang 
School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, Qingdao University of Technology, Qingdao 266520, China
Interests: Intelligent Manufacturing; Green Manufacturing; Precision Manufacturing

Co-Guest Editors (2)

Runze  Li
Dr. Runze Li 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Interests: Ultrasound, Optical Imaging, Elastography, and Applications
Chunjin  Wang
Prof. Dr. Chunjin Wang 
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
Interests: Polishing; Ultra-precision Machining Equipment and Instrumentation; Advanced Optics Manufacturing

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Rapid advances in science and technology are accelerating a profound transformation of modern industry. In this context, artificial intelligence has emerged as a key enabler of intelligent manufacturing and an important driver of next-generation industrialization. Industrial development is shifting from scale expansion toward higher efficiency, sustainability, and innovation-led growth. However, conventional manufacturing systems continue to face persistent challenges, including production bottlenecks, inefficient resource allocation, limited process intelligence, and insufficient coordination across industrial value chains. By enabling data-driven perception, decision-making, optimization, and autonomous operation throughout the manufacturing lifecycle, artificial intelligence provides a powerful framework for addressing these challenges.

Intelligent manufacturing is built upon the convergence of advanced manufacturing systems and enabling digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, the Industrial Internet, industrial big data, robotics, machine vision, intelligent sensing, digital twins, cloud–edge computing, and other cyber–physical technologies. This convergence is reshaping manufacturing into an increasingly data-driven, connected, and adaptive system. Multi-source heterogeneous data acquisition provides the foundation for real-time monitoring, process visualization, and transparent production management. The integration of industrial big data with AI-based modeling and optimization enables process-state prediction, fault diagnosis, adaptive parameter control, and the coordinated optimization of productivity, quality, and energy efficiency. Robotics and embodied intelligent systems are extending automation to complex and unstructured manufacturing tasks, while machine-vision-based inspection systems enable rapid, precise, and scalable defect detection. Meanwhile, intelligent management and control platforms support equipment operation, predictive maintenance, and energy-efficiency optimization across distributed production environments. Beyond individual factories, AI-driven supply-chain systems further improve demand forecasting, flexible production, and resource coordination across the industrial value chain.

Recent advances in intelligent manufacturing are establishing a new paradigm that integrates sensing, decision-making, execution, and lifecycle maintenance. This paradigm spans diverse manufacturing processes, including conventional machining, additive manufacturing, plastic forming, and non-traditional machining, and supports the production of critical components for aerospace, rail transit, 5G communications, and other strategic industries. At the same time, intelligent manufacturing is rapidly extending into emerging areas such as low-altitude equipment, high-end medical devices, brain–computer interface systems, and intelligent construction. These application domains require the close integration of advanced equipment manufacturing, information sensing, data processing, and AI-enabled edge–cloud operation and maintenance. Such developments highlight the growing role of intelligent manufacturing as a key enabler of industrial upgrading and next-generation engineering technologies.

This Special Issue, entitled “Emerging Technologies and Applications in Intelligent,” invites original research articles and review papers that advance the theory, methodology, technology, and application of intelligent manufacturing. We particularly welcome studies on artificial intelligence for manufacturing; the Industrial Internet; industrial big data; intelligent sensing and multi-source data fusion; machine vision and intelligent quality inspection; digital twins; robotics and embodied intelligent systems; humanoid robots, including joint reducers, actuator modules, and precision transmission systems; cloud–edge collaborative manufacturing; intelligent operation, maintenance, and management; and other cyber–physical technologies for advanced manufacturing. Contributions addressing application-driven innovation are also encouraged, particularly in high-end medical devices, low-altitude equipment, brain–computer interfaces, intelligent construction, aerospace, rail transit, and next-generation industrial systems.

We look forward to receiving your contributions to this Special Issue.

Topics include but are not limited to:
•    Artificial intelligence and machine learning for intelligent manufacturing
•    Embodied intelligence and embodied robotic systems
•    Humanoid robots, including joint reducers, actuator modules, and precision transmission systems
•    Industrial Internet and Industrial Internet of Things
•    Industrial big data analytics and data-driven manufacturing optimization
•    Machine vision, visual inspection, and intelligent quality control
•    Intelligent sensing, data acquisition, and multi-source data fusion
•    Digital twins for manufacturing systems, equipment, and production lines
•    Cloud–edge collaborative manufacturing and intelligent operation and maintenance
•    High-end medical-device manufacturing
•    Low-altitude equipment, unmanned aerial systems, and related intelligent manufacturing technologies
•    Brain–computer interface devices and intelligent neurotechnology manufacturing
•    Intelligent construction, smart infrastructure, and automated construction technologies

Published Papers (5 Papers)

Open Access

Review

24 July 2026

How Does Intelligent Construction Drive Prefabricated Construction from Synergistic Mechanisms to Engineering Applications

As the construction industry shifts toward industrialization, digitalization, intelligence, and low-carbon development, prefabricated intelligent construction has emerged as a key pathway for enhancing efficiency, quality control, resource utilization, and full life-cycle management. Yet existing studies remain largely confined to single-technology applications, local process optimization, or isolated engineering cases, lacking a systematic grasp of the field’s development trajectory, knowledge structure, research hotspots, and future challenges. Addressing this gap, this study presents a bibliometric review aimed at clarifying the research evolution, core knowledge domains, technological frontiers, and application-oriented challenges in prefabricated intelligent construction. Based on the Web of Science Core Collection, 583 journal articles published from 2015 to 2025 were retained after standardized search and screening. Using VOSviewer and bibliometrix, the study analyzed publication trends, subject distribution, national and institutional collaboration, author networks, keyword co-occurrence, thematic clustering, and research frontiers. Compared with traditional narrative reviews, this approach integrates quantitative bibliometric analysis with thematic content interpretation, constructing a panoramic and dynamic analytical framework for the field. Research shows that prefabricated intelligent construction underwent a leap from initial exploration to rapid expansion during 2015–2025, with publications and citations from 2023–2025 accounting for 76.16% and 84.07% of the total sample, respectively, establishing it as an active research frontier. In the global landscape, China contributes prominently in output volume, while Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany demonstrate relatively high per-publication impact. The disciplinary structure is dominated by engineering, construction, and building technology, supported by multidisciplinary intersections, forming three major research hotspots: the integration of prefabricated construction and intelligent technologies, process innovation and intelligent equipment, and structural performance and engineering applications. In essence, this field represents a full life-cycle construction paradigm arising from the deep coupling of industrialization, digitalization, intelligence, and performance control. Future breakthroughs are needed in four dimensions: full life-cycle data standards, digital twin-driven closed-loop platforms, equipment–process collaborative optimization, and multi-scenario engineering validation to drive the transition toward large-scale application.

Rui Sheng
Jinan Ma
Feng Pang
Jianan Wen
Huijun Wu
Yingjie Xu
Qingfeng Bie
Xianxin Yin
Guanqun Li
Xianfeng Zhao
Guoqing Wang
Benkai Li
Teng Gao
Jingang Sun
Yonghong Wang
Xiao Ma*
Intell. Sustain. Manuf.
2026,
3
(2), 10018; 
Open Access

Review

10 August 2026

Bibliometric Analysis of Humanoid Robot Joint Modules: Structural, Control, Interaction and Biomimetic

As an intelligence paradigm, embodied intelligence emphasizes that intelligent capabilities emerge from the dynamic interaction between an intelligent agent and its physical embodiment, and are realized through a continuous closed-loop process integrating perception, decision-making, action, and feedback. With the rapid development of embodied intelligence, humanoid robots have become increasingly important in intelligent manufacturing, service, and human-robot collaboration. Joint modules, as the core units responsible for perception, decision-making, and actuation, determine the motion performance, interaction capability, and intelligence level of humanoid robots. Research directions in this field remain fragmented, technological pathways are diverse, and systematic summaries of evolutionary patterns are lacking. First, publication trends, country and institutional collaboration networks, and major research contributors were analyzed. Research on humanoid robot joint modules has entered a phase of rapid growth since 2018, indicating a shift from early exploratory studies toward engineering and large-scale applications. Second keyword co-occurrence, clustering analysis, and burst detection were used to identify research hotspots and evolutionary features, research focus gradually shifted from traditional electromechanical actuation to compliant actuation, intelligent control, multimodal perception, and embodied intelligence. Furthermore, key technologies of joint modules were systematically summarized and reviewed from four aspects: structural design and performance optimization, motion control, human-robot interaction, and biomimetic actuation for human-like performance enhancement. Joint modules gradually evolved toward structural integration, intelligent control, natural interaction, and human-like system characteristics. Technical bottlenecks in current humanoid robot joint modules were analyzed, and future research directions were proposed to provide technical support and theoretical guidance for both industrial applications and academic research in humanoid robotics.

Changhe Ji
Jingjie Dai
Yusuf SuleimanDambatta
Guang Wang
Guohao Jiang
Dezhi He
Xianfeng Zhao
Shouhai Chen
Kaixu Zhang
Yihang Fan
Huhu  Wang
Xing  Zhao
Xiaoming  Wang
Xiaohan Sun
Changhe Li*
Intell. Sustain. Manuf.
2026,
3
(2), 10019; 
Open Access

Review

21 August 2026

How Does the Mechanical Structure of a Dexterous Hand Drive Embodied Intelligence

Robotic dexterous hands, as the primary end-effectors through which embodied agents interact with the physical world, directly determine grasp stability, manipulation accuracy, environmental adaptability, and human–robot interaction safety. Research on dexterous hand mechanical structures has expanded rapidly and become increasingly interdisciplinary, so conventional narrative reviews can no longer capture its knowledge base, research drivers, and the evolution of hotspots. A systematic framework that combines bibliometric quantification with mechanism-oriented synthesis is therefore needed. This study presents a bibliometric review of dexterous hand mechanical structures based on Web of Science Core Collection publications from 2016 to 2025, combining bibliometric statistics, collaboration-network analysis, keyword co-occurrence, cluster analysis, and trend synthesis to reveal the field’s research landscape, intellectual structure, and technological evolution. Publications increased steadily, rising from 64 in 2016 to 252 in 2025, with marked acceleration after 2022. China leads in publication volume, whereas the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom show strong citation impact and international collaboration. Core journals concentrate on robotics, mechatronics, sensing, soft robotics, and rehabilitation engineering, and keyword evolution shows a shift from prosthetic hands and basic mechanism design toward compliant structures, soft actuation, tactile perception, and dexterous manipulation. Based on keyword clustering, three principal research streams are identified: body configuration and degree-of-freedom (DoF) evolution, drive and transmission structure design, and soft/compliant structure expansion. The central challenge of dexterous hand design is no longer the accumulation of DoFs but the coordinated optimization of DoF allocation, actuation mapping, contact stability, and compliant adaptation under strict constraints of space, energy, and reliability. Tendon-driven, internally integrated, and underactuated architectures emphasize lightweight dexterity, precision control, and adaptive grasping, respectively, while soft continuum, rigid–soft hybrid, and variable-stiffness structures are reshaping dexterous hands from rigid execution mechanisms into physically intelligent interaction systems. Overall, the field has entered a stage of interdisciplinary system integration, with its core mission shifting from building complex mechanical hands to constructing perceptive, adaptive, and controllable end-effectors. Future work should strengthen task-oriented structural optimization, hybrid actuation, rigid–soft coupling, integrated flexible sensing and closed-loop control, and unified performance evaluation, accelerating the transition from laboratory prototypes to standardized assessment and large-scale deployment.

Hao Wu
Jixin Liu
Xiaotian  Zhang
Guang Wang
Zhaopeng Hao
Qingan Yin
Zhenjing Duan
Guohao  Jiang
Dezhi He
Guofeng He
Guoqing  Wang
Aiguo Qin
Kaixu  Zhang
Teng  Gao
Mingzheng  Liu*
Intell. Sustain. Manuf.
2026,
3
(2), 10020; 
Open Access

Review

22 October 2026

Research Trends and Emerging Applications of Cardiovascular Treatment-Related Medical Devices: A Bibliometric and Narrative Review

Cardiovascular diseases are associated with high morbidity, disability, and mortality, and their long-term prevention and management increasingly depend on precise intervention, continuous monitoring, and individualized treatment. These needs have accelerated the development of treatment-related medical devices, including interventional devices, implantable systems, monitoring platforms, and intelligent assistive technologies. However, rapid growth in this field has fragmented the evidence in terms of data sources, analytical tools, research topics, and methodological pathways, leaving an insufficiently clear understanding of the knowledge structure, hotspot evolution, and development directions. To address these issues, this study combines bibliometric analysis and knowledge mapping with a structured narrative discussion of cardiovascular treatment-related medical devices. The bibliometric dataset comprised English-language articles and reviews indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection from 2015 to 2025, while representative studies published mainly between 2023 and 2026 were also considered in the application-oriented discussion to highlight recent technological and clinical developments. The review addressed several dimensions, including literature data sources, analytical tool application, keyword evolution, institutional distribution, and representative device applications. Specifically, this study first summarizes the database sources, search strategies, and literature screening procedures, thereby clarifying the main pathways and basic characteristics of data acquisition in this field. It then reviews the use of commonly used bibliometric tools in publication trend analysis, collaboration network analysis, co-citation analysis, and topic identification, while comparing their advantages and limitations in visualization and knowledge mining. Furthermore, based on annual publication output, high-frequency keywords, keyword co-occurrence, clustering structures, burst terms, and institutional distribution patterns, this study systematically analyzes research hotspots, frontier directions, major research forces, and evolutionary patterns in the field. Finally, the overall development status of cardiovascular treatment-related medical device research is discussed from the perspectives of knowledge base, hotspot migration, methodological system, and recent application pathways represented by transcatheter intervention, left atrial appendage occlusion, conventional and leadless pacing, implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, wearable cardioverter-defibrillators, pulsed field ablation, renal denervation, and intelligent monitoring. The results indicate that bibliometric analysis based on clearly defined boundary conditions can reveal the research landscape, institutional distribution characteristics, hotspot directions, and methodological evolution pathways of this field. These findings may inform topic refinement, technical route optimization, and methodological selection in future studies. With the integration of multisource heterogeneous data, artificial intelligence-based analytical tools, and application-oriented device innovation, cardiovascular medical devices are likely to advance toward more intelligent, precise, and data-driven development. The narrative component also considers device configuration, materials, mechanical loading, manufacturing, bench testing, failure modes, standards, and long-term clinical translation.

Ruiyu Zhou
Lan Dong
Yusuf SuleimanDambatta
Jingang Sun
Teng Gao
Cong Sun
Peng Yao
Runze Li
Min Yang*
Intell. Sustain. Manuf.
2026,
3
(2), 10026; 
Open Access

Review

22 October 2026

Robotic Assisted Grinding and Polishing: From Perception, Control to Decision Strategies

As high-end equipment continues to evolve towards extreme dimensions and complex configurations, the processing accuracy and adaptive requirements of grinding and polishing techniques have greatly increased. Traditional processing methods are no longer sufficient to meet the manufacturing requirements of high-end precision components. Robot-assisted intelligent grinding and polishing is a core technology for solving the precise processing of complex curved surfaces and flexible production. Although existing research has made considerable progress in individual modules such as perception detection, dynamic control, and process optimization, robot-assisted grinding and polishing is not merely the combination of robots and tools. Here, this paper takes the “perception-control-decision” collaborative logic as the main line, systematically elaborates the multi-source information fusion perception system, force-position intelligent control strategy, processing decision and path planning optimization methods for robot grinding and polishing, analyzes the multi-module collaborative mechanism, sorts out its typical applications in aerospace, automotive, and semiconductor fields, summarizes the current technical bottlenecks and looks forward to future development directions. The research aims to provide theoretical support and practical references for the technical upgrade and engineering application of robot intelligent grinding and polishing systems.

Wenbo Cong
Cong Mao
Zhuming Bi
Wentao Wang*
Intell. Sustain. Manuf.
2026,
3
(2), 10027; 
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