Recent technological developments have expanded the range of applications and possibilities for industrial robots. This special issue calls for a wide range of papers from reports of successful practical applications to ambitious proposals that may significantly impact the field in the future, concerning the automation of manual work such as material handling in factories, logistics, commercial facilities, and public facilities, as well as elemental technologies and system integration for new work methods such as collaboration and remote operation. We expect not only papers on elemental technologies including traditional technologies such as computer vision, grasping, manipulation, mechatronics, control methods, robot hands, mechanisms, and actuators, but also proposals for the future with challenging technologies such as human–machine interactions, foundation models, generative AI, and soft robotics. In systems integration, we welcome articles on robot programming, mobile manipulators, and new automation system applications. Through this special issue, we hope to share with you the future of this historic industrial field.