Advanced Human Robot Collaboration In Manufacturing

This book presents state-of-the-art research, challenges and solutions in the area of human–robot collaboration (HRC) in manufacturing. It enables readers to better understand the dynamic behaviour of manufacturing processes, and gives more insight into on-demand adaptive control techniques for industrial robots. With increasing complexity and dynamism in today’s manufacturing practice, more precise, robust and practical approaches are needed to support real-time shop-floor operations. This book presents a collection of recent developments and innovations in this area, relying on a wide range of research efforts. The book is divided into five parts. The first part presents a broad-based review of the key areas of HRC, establishing a common ground of understanding in key aspects. Subsequent chapters focus on selected areas of HRC subject to intense recent interest. The second part discusses human safety within HRC. The third, fourth and fifth parts provide in-depth views of relevant methodologies and algorithms. Discussing dynamic planning and monitoring, adaptive control and multi-modal decision making, the latter parts facilitate a better understanding of HRC in real situations. The balance between scope and depth, and theory and applications, means this book appeals to a wide readership, including academic researchers, graduate students, practicing engineers, and those within a variety of roles in manufacturing sectors.

Proactive Human–Robot Collaboration Toward Human-Centric Smart Manufacturing is driven by an appreciation of manufacturing scenarios where human and robotic agents can understand each other’s actions and conduct mutual-cognitive, predictable, and self-organizing teamwork. Modern factories’ smart manufacturing transformation and the evolution of relationships between humans and robots in manufacturing tasks set the scene for a discussion on the technical fundamentals of state-of-the-art proactive human–robot collaboration; these are further elaborated into the three main steps (i.e., mutual-cognitive and empathic coworking; predictable spatio-temporal collaboration; self-organizing multiagent teamwork) to achieve an advanced form of symbiotic HRC with high-level, dynamic-reasoning teamwork skills. The authors then present a deployment roadmap and several case studies, providing step-by-step guidance for real-world application of these ground-breaking methods which crucially contribute to the maturing of human-centric, sustainable, and resilient production systems. The volume proves to be an invaluable resource that supports understanding and learning for users ranging from upper undergraduate/graduate students and academic researchers to engineering professionals in a variety of industry contexts. Offers pioneering information on an industry 5.0 topic that has attracted much research interest in recent years Takes advantage of a structured and comprehensive approach to seamlessly combine theory, latest technological developments, and their practical applications Includes actionable methods, while conceptualizing future implications for smart manufacturing

This book aims to discuss the technical and ethical challenges posed by the present technological framework and to highlight the fundamental role played by human-centred design and human factors in the definition of robotic architectures for human–robot collaboration. The book gives an updated overview of the most recent robotic technology, conceived and designed to collaborate with human beings in industrial working scenarios. The technological development of robotics over the last years and the fast evolution of AI, machine learning and IoT have paved the way for applications that extend far beyond the typical use of robots performing repetitive tasks in exclusive spaces. In this new technological paradigm that is expected to drive the robotics market in the coming years, robots and workers will coexist in the same workplace, sharing not only this lived space, but also the roles and functions inherent to a process of production, merging the benefits of automated and manual performing. However, having robots cooperating in real time with workers, responding in a physical, psychological and social adequate way, requires a human-centred design that not only calls for high safety standards regulating the quality of human–robot interaction, but also demands the robot's fine-grained perception and awareness of the dynamics of its surrounding environment, namely the behaviours of their human peers—their expected actions/responses—fostering the necessary collaborative efforts towards the accomplishment of the tasks to be executed.

"Advances in Human-Robot Interaction" provides a unique collection of recent research in human-robot interaction. It covers the basic important research areas ranging from multi-modal interfaces, interpretation, interaction, learning, or motion coordination to topics such as physical interaction, systems, and architectures. The book addresses key issues of human-robot interaction concerned with perception, modelling, control, planning and cognition, covering a wide spectrum of applications. This includes interaction and communication with robots in manufacturing environments and the collaboration and co-existence with assistive robots in domestic environments. Among the presented examples are a robotic bartender, a new programming paradigm for a cleaning robot, or an approach to interactive teaching of a robot assistant in manufacturing environment. This carefully edited book reports on contributions from leading German academic institutions and industrial companies brought together within MORPHA, a 4 year project on interaction and communication between humans and anthropomorphic robot assistants.

This book provides an overview of recent research developments in the automation and control of robotic systems that collaborate with humans. A measure of human collaboration being necessary for the optimal operation of any robotic system, the contributors exploit a broad selection of such systems to demonstrate the importance of the subject, particularly where the environment is prone to uncertainty or complexity. They show how such human strengths as high-level decision-making, flexibility, and dexterity can be combined with robotic precision, and ability to perform task repetitively or in a dangerous environment. The book focuses on quantitative methods and control design for guaranteed robot performance and balanced human experience from both physical human-robot interaction and social human-robot interaction. Its contributions develop and expand upon material presented at various international conferences. They are organized into three parts covering: one-human–one-robot collaboration; one-human–multiple-robot collaboration; and human–swarm collaboration. Individual topic areas include resource optimization (human and robotic), safety in collaboration, human trust in robot and decision-making when collaborating with robots, abstraction of swarm systems to make them suitable for human control, modeling and control of internal force interactions for collaborative manipulation, and the sharing of control between human and automated systems, etc. Control and decision-making algorithms feature prominently in the text, importantly within the context of human factors and the constraints they impose. Applications such as assistive technology, driverless vehicles, cooperative mobile robots, manufacturing robots and swarm robots are considered. Illustrative figures and tables are provided throughout the book. Researchers and students working in controls, and the interaction of humans and robots will learn new methods for human–robot collaboration from this book and will find the cutting edge of the subject described in depth.

Industrial Robots: Design, Applications and Technology is an essential reference source that explores the fundamentals of kinematics, dynamics and industrial robot control as well as a new generation of industrial robots, the collaborative robots or cobots. The tendency in Industry 4.0 towards the mass customisation of products, shorter product cycles and quality demands has led to the introduction of collaborative robot's systems capable of learning and working hand-in-hand with humans. Collaborative robots in the industry target the enhancement of production efficiency by combining the best of human operators and the industrial robots' accuracy, speed and reliability. The advances in smart sensors, artificial intelligence, digital twin, cyber-physical systems and the adoption of exoskeletons in industrial applications have opened new possibilities for technological progress in manufacturing, which led to efficient and flexible factories. This requires individuals to be educated in trends that are now focused on the design, monitoring and control of smart production processes. Featuring coverage on a wide range of topics such as new trends in human-robot collaboration, advanced vision technology and artificial intelligence, as well as application of industry robots in metal and wood industry, this book is ideally designed for electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, manufacturers, supply chain managers, logistics specialists, investors, managers, policymakers, production scientists, researchers, academicians and students at the postgraduate level.

While human capabilities can withstand broad levels of strain, they cannot hope to compete with the advanced abilities of automated technologies. Developing advanced robotic systems will provide a better, faster means to produce goods and deliver a level of seamless communication and synchronization that exceeds human skill. Advanced Robotics and Intelligent Automation in Manufacturing is a pivotal reference source that provides vital research on the application of advanced manufacturing technologies in regards to production speed, quality, and innovation. While highlighting topics such as human-machine interaction, quality management, and sensor integration, this publication explores state-of-the-art technologies in the field of robotics engineering as well as human-robot interaction. This book is ideally designed for researchers, students, engineers, manufacturers, managers, industry professionals, and academicians seeking to enhance their innovative design capabilities.

This book covers important advances in the area of human-robot collaboration, aiming at future industrial applications. It will be useful to advanced students, researchers, engineers and entrepreneurs working on human-robot collaboration research and technologies, and related fields.