Attitudes of Factory Workers towards Industrial and Collaborative Robots

Elprama, Shirley; Jewell, Charlotte; Jacobs, An; Makrini, Ilias El; Vanderborght, Bram

doi:10.1145/3029798.3038309

Cited by 39 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…The social impact of the introduction of industrial and collaborative robots on factory workers is discussed in [12] and [13]. With the introduction of robots in factories, social problems (i.e., unemployment resulting from the loss of jobs) are observed in [14] and discussed in interviews with factory workers in [13]. Thus, the goal of having robots that support, rather than supplant, people in workplaces, as shown in [15] and [16], has not been reached yet.…”

Section: B Social and Ethical Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

MATE Robots Simplifying My Work: The Benefits and Socioethical Implications

Villani

Czerniak²,

Mertens³

et al. 2018

IEEE Robot. Automat. Mag.

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With the increasing complexity of modern industrial automatic and robotic systems, a burden is placed on system operators, who are required to supervise and interact with very complex systems, typically under difficult and stressful conditions. To overcome these challenges, it is necessary to adopt a responsible approach based on an anthropocentric design methodology so that machines adapt to human capabilities rather than vice versa. In this article, we consider an integrated methodological design approach, referred to as measure, adapt, and teach (MATE), which consists of devising complex automatic or robotic solutions that measure the current operator's status and adapting the interaction accordingly, while providing him or her with the necessary skills and expertise to improve the interaction. A MATE system, shown in Figure 1, endeavors to be usable for all users, thus meeting the principles of inclusive design. However, the use of such a MATE system calls to attention several ethical and social implications, which are discussed in this article. Additionally, a discussion about which factors in the organization of companies are critical with respect to the introduction of a MATE system is presented.The increasing complexity of industrial automatic and robotic production systems is a result of industry competitiveness and the need to comply with market demands. As a consequence, along with this progress comes the need for laborers to acquire more advanced skills to operate such systems. Furthermore, they must also endure challenging work conditions, such as noisy environments, tight schedules, the fear of job loss, and/or psychological pressure due to the presence of supervisors. Such strenuous conditions are amplified when vulnerable users, such as those cognitively or physically impaired as well as elderly and low-educated operators, are involved in the interaction. In typical operative scenarios, these classes of workers are barred from job positions that necessitate the meticulous attention to detail required to interact with a robot or within a complex factory plant. Alternatively, in the case that these workers are granted any such occupations, their responsibilities and duties are severely limited. To invert such a policy, complex product systems need to be simplified. The adoption of a MATE system will enable such a goal, as the system strives to be

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Section: B Social and Ethical Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

MATE Robots Simplifying My Work: The Benefits and Socioethical Implications

Villani

Czerniak²,

Mertens³

et al. 2018

IEEE Robot. Automat. Mag.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The adoption of collaborative robots could help with the challenge of the aging workforce by reducing the workload for factory workers. Moreover, our research has suggested that factory workers acknowledge this advantage [6]. However, at the same time, we learned that they feared job loss due to the introduction of even more robots (cf.…”

Section: A Related Workmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…[23]). We contributed by conducting both qualitative and quantitative research in a real factory environment with real workers [6,7].…”

Section: A Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…dexterity and problem-solving ability, and the robot, i.e. strength and precision, the integration of tasks that cannot be fully automated becomes possible while the production quality and the working conditions of human workers can be improved [6,16]. Audi Brussels, a car factory in Belgium, is such a company where the potential of collaborative robots can improve the productivity of the manufacturing process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Working with Walt: How a Cobot Was Developed and Inserted on an Auto Assembly Line

Makrini

Elprama

Bergh

et al. 2018

IEEE Robot. Automat. Mag.

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Collaborative robots or co-bots are a category of robots that are designed to work together with humans. By combining the strength of the robot such as precision and strength with the dexterity and problem-solving ability of the human, it is possible to achieve tasks that cannot be fully automated and improve the production quality and working conditions of workers. This paper presents the results of the ClaXon project which aims to study and implement interactions between humans and collaborative robots in factories. The project has led to the integration of a co-bot in the car manufacturing production plant of Audi Brussels in Belgium. Proofs of concepts were realized to study multimodal perceptions for human-robot interaction. The project addressed technical challenges regarding the introduction of collaborative robots on the factory floor. Social experiments were conducted with factory workers to assess the social acceptance of co-bots and study the interactions between the human and the robot.

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“…HRC systems offer an alternative to fully manual workstations, and it results in workstations gathering the strengths of both humans and robots. Typically, manufacturers introduce cobots in their production system to improve the level of safety, ergonomics, quality, flexibility, and reconfigurability (Krüger et al, 2009;Krüger et al, 2011;Koppenborg et al, 2017;Elprama et al, 2017;Hoecherl et al, 2018;Simões et al, 2019).…”

Section: Human-robot Collaboration (Hrc) Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Hashemi-Petroodi

Thevenin

Kovalev

et al. 2020

Annual Reviews in Control

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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.

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Attitudes of Factory Workers towards Industrial and Collaborative Robots

Cited by 39 publications

References 2 publications

MATE Robots Simplifying My Work: The Benefits and Socioethical Implications

MATE Robots Simplifying My Work: The Benefits and Socioethical Implications

Working with Walt: How a Cobot Was Developed and Inserted on an Auto Assembly Line

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

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