Purposeful Communication in Human–Robot Collaboration: A Review of Modern Approaches in Manufacturing

Abstract

The uncertainties arising from the imperfection of the shared understanding during humanrobot collaboration (HRC) is a critical challenge in developing real-world robots, which has attracted attention in various fields, especially in the manufacturing sector. Many research efforts have explored several key components and elements of HRC to reduce uncertainties. However, these efforts are mostly isolated from each other and few attempts have been made to develop generic frameworks to combine them for better HRC frameworks. This article contributes to this issue by reviewing the components of HRC research and developing a generic framework of purposeful communication to better arrive at a common view of uncertainties and collaboratively deal with those required by the tasks at hand holistically. The aspects of HRC components that can affect the shared understanding of humans and robots include the type of collaborative task, communication modalities, and decision-making of robots. After examining these aspects, we re-positioned the central problem to the cause of these uncertainties and proposed a new categorization of the available HRC scenarios considering communication channels, because communication strategies should be the main focus for reducing these uncertainties. This categorization will help to design better HRC frameworks that will lead to improving shared understanding and task performance, reducing uncertainties, and establishing trust, transparency, and safety. This paper proposes a comprehensive literature review and a new categorization of the currently used communication approaches by analyzing forty-nine selected articles from a wide range of articles in various databases.

Framework of a Neuroergonomic Assessment in Human-Robot Collaboration

“…The analysis of MWL is defined through indirect and direct observational methods. These last methods are possible through unobtrusive and portable devices such as EEG that paves the way to a new methodology of objective ergonomic assessment, monitoring, and evaluation of parameters in the field of HRC (Katmah et al, 2021;Salehzadeh et al, 2022). The paper highlights the application of EEG devices in a comparative analysis of a manual assembly task in a laboratory environment between two cases in which the operator works with and without the robot.…”

Vocal Communication between Cobots and Humans to Enhance Productivity and Safety: Review and Discussion

“…Speech recognition technology enables cobots to understand verbal commands, fostering a more intuitive and dynamic interaction[23] (Telkes et al 2024). Thoughtful use of auditory interfaces between humans and cobots, helps create a collaborative environment where information is conveyed promptly, enhancing overall responsiveness and coordination[24] (Salehzadeh et al, 2022). Several recent papers have proposed novel interfaces and platforms to facilitate this type of interaction.…”

TVIE-based fault-tolerant model predictive control for trajectory tracking of mobile robot

“…in manufacturing, transportation, military, interplanetary exploration, and other fields [1]- [4]. However, actuator fault in mobile robots are almost inevitable due to the working environment's complexity, system components' aging, or some misuse during operation [5]- [7].…”