Engineering human-focused Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems in Industry 4.0 context

Abstract

The world is increasingly interconnected, and this can also be seen in industry, where an ecosystem of digitalized assets, and humans with appropriate digital interfaces, constantly interact with each other. Digital transformation efforts in the industry rely on Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems that are driven by service-based cooperation among humans and digitalized industrial assets. This implies a radical paradigm change in their engineering and operation, which is focused on the symbiosis of digitalized assets and humans that cohabit a collaboration-driven industrial ecosystem. This work discusses how a digital transformation can effectively be achieved in an industrial ecosystem via a digitalization process performed along the three dimensions of the Reference Architecture Model for Industry 4.0, facilitated by the specification, development and implementation of an Asset Administration Shell. The discussion focus is put on humans and how the digitally transformed industrial environments empower her/his capabilities and interactions. It is also critically pointed out how one should go beyond technology and consider additional aspects. Therefore, it is argued that human-centred efforts in Industry 4.0 (I4.0) should be seen in the larger context of sustainability and circular economy in order to properly consider the interplay of the involved socio-technical dimensions. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Towards symbiotic autonomous systems’.

Towards a Domain-Neutral Platform for Sustainable Digital Twin Development

“…The idea of symbiosis between humans and machines has drawn interest from researchers across various domains and has resulted in practical solutions with concrete value. We will now list the most significant results [37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48] in our opinion and briefly analyze those that form the foundation of the field and address issues relevant to our platform. Three white papers [41][42][43] were published in 2017, 2018, and 2019, respectively, as part of the IEEE SAS Initiative.…”

“…The fundamentals-related articles [44][45][46] address ethical issues [44], the philosophical, cognitive, and mathematical foundations of SAS [45], and the development of symbiotic relationships [46]. The methodology-related articles are [47,48]. In [47], the potential of combining semantics and data analysis in the context of DTs is explored, while [48] focuses on the engineering of human-focused systems in the context of Industry 4.0.…”

“…The methodology-related articles are [47,48]. In [47], the potential of combining semantics and data analysis in the context of DTs is explored, while [48] focuses on the engineering of human-focused systems in the context of Industry 4.0. The application-related articles [49,50] showcase examples of applications in the domains of cyber security and production, respectively.…”

Alignment of the IEEE Industrial Agents Recommended Practice Standard With the Reference Architectures RAMI4.0, IIRA, and SGAM

“…Industrial cyber-physical systems (ICPS) [5], [6], [7], [8], coupled with innovative technologies [1], present a key concept within the efforts for the digital transformation [4] in the industry worldwide. ICPS have played a pivotal role in several domains like manufacturing and energy in Industry 4.0 [5] and are expected to be key enablers as we pave our way toward Industry 5.0 [9], where sustainable, social, collaborative [10], and human-focused [11] applications of new technologies across several sectors are envisioned and planned as the next societal evolutionary goal, for example, in Europe [12].…”

Towards symbiotic autonomous systems

“…From this perspective, digital transformation efforts in the industry rely on industrial CPS that are driven by service-based cooperation, a symbiosis of digitalized assets and humans that cohabit a collaboration-driven socio-technical ecosystem. The article by Colombo et al [11] discusses how a digital transformation can effectively be achieved in an industrial ecosystem via a digitalization process performed according to the three dimensions of the Reference Architecture Model for Industry 4.0 (RAMI 4.0), facilitated by the specification, development, and implementation of an Asset Administration Shell (AAS) associated with Industrial Cyber-Physical Components and Systems. One major discussion focus is on humans and how the digitally transformed industrial environments empower her/his capabilities and interactions.…”