Human–Robot Collaboration in Manufacturing Applications: A Review

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of collaborative robotics towards manufacturing applications. Over the last decade, the market has seen the introduction of a new category of robots—collaborative robots (or “cobots”)—designed to physically interact with humans in a shared environment, without the typical barriers or protective cages used in traditional robotics systems. Their potential is undisputed, especially regarding their flexible ability to make simple, quick, and cheap layout changes; however, it is necessary to have adequate knowledge of their correct uses and characteristics to obtain the advantages of this form of robotics, which can be a barrier for industry uptake. The paper starts with an introduction of human–robot collaboration, presenting the related standards and modes of operation. An extensive literature review of works published in this area is undertaken, with particular attention to the main industrial cases of application. The paper concludes with an analysis of the future trends in human–robot collaboration as determined by the authors.

Efficiency Analysis of Manufacturing Line with Industrial Robots and Human Operators

“…• Over 50% of companies keep records of the robot reliability and safety data; Based on the literature analysis [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44], the main human and robot factors influencing the production process that should be taken into account are presented in Table 1. In reference [1], the approximate efficiency of robotic application versus manual application was compared.…”

“…The transformation to a flexible and smart robotic system is considered as the next generation of manufacturing development in Industry 4.0 [29]. In some cases, the collaboration of human operators and robots can be possible [30][31][32]. Such a situation requires a very high safety level, but these cobot systems only comply with safety standards if they operate at a reduced speed [33].…”

Operations management issues in design and control of hybrid human-robot collaborative manufacturing systems: a survey

“…El Zaatari et al 2019Different types of communication between humans and robots in HRC systems. Matheson et al (2019) Different types of intercation between humans and robots in HRC systems. Table 2 presents the existing surveys on DRC systems.…”

“…Interestingly, in these large automobile companies, workers express a high willingness to work with the cobots (Elprama et al, 2016). Table 4 presents possible communication modes between humans and cobots (Michalos et al, 2018a;Bauer et al, 2008;El Zaatari et al, 2019), whereas Table 5 presents different interaction modes (coexistence, synchronization, cooperation, and collaboration) (Matheson et al, 2019). Worker's body contact with a cobot or a job in process in order to perform a task When a cobot lifts a heavy item, a worker positions the item in the appropriate position to perform an assembly task Remote contactless interaction…”

Advances in Mechanical Systems Dynamics

“…Over the last decade, the market has seen the introduction of a new category of robots-collaborative robots (or "cobots")-designed to physically interact with humans in a shared environment, without the typical barriers or protective cages used in traditional robotics systems. The paper [22] provides an overview of collaborative robotics towards manufacturing applications. In paper [23] Bottin and Rosati address the challenging problem of trajectory planning and optimization by considering a redundant serial robot and a set of Cartesian via points.…”