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

Abstract

A manufacturing system able to perform a high variety of tasks requires different types of resources. Fully automated systems using robots possess high speed, accuracy, tirelessness, and force, but they are expensive. On the other hand, human workers are intelligent, creative, flexible, and able to work with different tools in different situations. A combination of these resources forms a human-machine/robot (hybrid) system, where humans and robots perform a variety of tasks (manual, automated, and hybrid tasks) in a shared workspace. Contrarily to the existing surveys, this study is dedicated to operations management problems (focusing on the applications and features) for human and machine/robot collaborative systems in manufacturing. This research is divided into two types of interactions between human and automated components in manufacturing and assembly systems: dual resource constrained (DRC) and human-robot collaboration (HRC) optimization problems. Moreover, different characteristics of the workforce and machines/robots such as heterogeneity, homogeneity, and ergonomics are introduced. Finally, this paper identifies the optimization challenges and problems for hybrid systems. The existing literature on HRC focuses mainly on the robotic point of view and not on the operations management and optimization aspects. Therefore, the future research directions include the design of models and methods to optimize HRC systems in terms of ergonomics, safety, and throughput. In addition, studying flexibility and reconfigurability in hybrid systems is one of the main research avenues for future research.

Human–Co-Bot Interaction and Neuroergonomics: Co-Botic vs. Robotic Systems

“…Specifically, regarding fatigue, the optimization process and the management of adjusting robots' trajectories could facilitate the human operator's work. In this regard, to reduce worker's fatigue, elements such as the condition of stability, the possible constraints of the activities, and the presence of shared workspaces should be considered (Kim et al, 2018 ; Hashemi-Petroodi et al, 2020 ). The presence of co-bots in the industrial context could also be effective in terms of performance, allowing better use of resource skills and executive functions (Tsarouchi et al, 2016 ).…”

“…The presence of co-bots in the industrial context could also be effective in terms of performance, allowing better use of resource skills and executive functions (Tsarouchi et al, 2016 ). Indeed, the advantages introduced by the inclusion of robots with characteristics such as strength, speed, precision, tirelessness, and repeatability will allow reduced cognitive load and effort for the workers performing their duties and allowing better use of intelligence, creativity, and learning (Hashemi-Petroodi et al, 2020 ).…”

Investigation of Degradation and Upgradation Models for Flexible Unit Systems: A Systematic Literature Review

“…The job of operations management is to oversee the process of converting resources into goods and services. Hashemi-Petroodi et al [63] focused on the challenges of the interactions between machine robots and humans in order to find the effective contributions of operation management's methods to improve the working condition of hybrid manufacturing systems. Kozjek et al [64] research focused on investigating manufacturing data collected from a manufacturing system during various operations conducted in an engineer-to-order enterprise, and developed tools for scheduling of operations.…”

Tool delivery robot using convolutional neural network

“…The human-robot interaction requires a machine vision system that allows the robot to recognize the human movement and interpret it as an instruction for the execution of a certain task, as clarified in [1] and [2]. Some of these cooperative works lead to the need to develop algorithms that allow the interaction between both, making control over the force exerted by the manipulator at the point of contact with the human, as explained in [3], or using an intelligent support system in the execution of tasks performed by an operator, where human effort is minimized and the execution of the task is optimized, as shown in [4].…”