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Bispo LGM, Amaral FG. The impact of Industry 4.0 on occupational health and safety: A systematic literature review. JOURNAL OF SAFETY RESEARCH 2024; 90:254-271. [PMID: 39251284 DOI: 10.1016/j.jsr.2024.04.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2023] [Revised: 02/25/2024] [Accepted: 04/24/2024] [Indexed: 09/11/2024]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Industry 4.0 has brought new paradigms to businesses based on high levels of automation and interconnectivity and the use of technologies. This new context has an impact on the work environment and workers. Nevertheless, these impacts are still inconclusive and controversial, requiring new investigative perspectives. This study aimed to investigate the requirements sought, the risk factors identified, and the adverse effects on workers caused by the characteristics of I4.0. METHOD The methodology was based on a systematic literature review utilizing the PRISMA protocol, and 30 articles were found eligible. A descriptive and bibliometric analysis of these studies was performed. RESULTS The results identified the main topics that emerged and have implications for workers' Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) and divided them into categories. The requirements are related mainly to cognitive, organizational, and technological demands. The most significant risk factors generated were associated with the psychosocial ones, but organizational, technological, and occupational factors were also identified. The adverse effects cited were categorized as psychic, cognitive, physical, and organizational; stress was the most cited effect. An explanatory theoretical model of interaction was proposed to represent the pathway of causal relations between the requirements and risk factors for the effects caused by I4.0. CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS This review has found just how complex the relationships between the principles of Industry 4.0 are (e.g., requirements, risk factors, and effects) and the human factors. It also suggests a pathway for how these relationships occur, bridging the gap left by the limited studies focused on connecting these topics. These results can help organizational managers understand the impacts of I4.0 on workers' safety and health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas Gomes Miranda Bispo
- Production and Transportation Engineering Department, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
| | - Fernando Gonçalves Amaral
- Production and Transportation Engineering Department, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
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Fournier É, Jeoffrion C, Hmedan B, Pellier D, Fiorino H, Landry A. Human-cobot collaboration's impact on success, time completion, errors, workload, gestures and acceptability during an assembly task. APPLIED ERGONOMICS 2024; 119:104306. [PMID: 38714102 DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2024.104306] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2024] [Revised: 04/08/2024] [Accepted: 05/01/2024] [Indexed: 05/09/2024]
Abstract
The 5.0 industry promotes collaborative robots (cobots). This research studies the impacts of cobot collaboration using an experimental setup. 120 participants realized a simple and a complex assembly task. 50% collaborated with another human (H/H) and 50% with a cobot (H/C). The workload and the acceptability of the cobotic collaboration were measured. Working with a cobot decreases the effect of the task complexity on the human workload and on the output quality. However, it increases the time completion and the number of gestures (while decreasing their frequency). The H/C couples have a higher chance of success but they take more time and more gestures to realize the task. The results of this research could help developers and stakeholders to understand the impacts of implementing a cobot in production chains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Étienne Fournier
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, LIP/PC2S, 38000, Grenoble, France.
| | - Christine Jeoffrion
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, LIP/PC2S, 38000, Grenoble, France
| | - Belal Hmedan
- Laboratoire D'Informatique de Grenoble, Université Grenoble Alpes, CS 40700, 38058 Cedex, Grenoble, France
| | - Damien Pellier
- Laboratoire D'Informatique de Grenoble, Université Grenoble Alpes, CS 40700, 38058 Cedex, Grenoble, France
| | - Humbert Fiorino
- Laboratoire D'Informatique de Grenoble, Université Grenoble Alpes, CS 40700, 38058 Cedex, Grenoble, France
| | - Aurélie Landry
- Laboratoire D'Informatique de Grenoble, Université Grenoble Alpes, CS 40700, 38058 Cedex, Grenoble, France
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Dodoo JE, Al-Samarraie H, Alzahrani AI, Lonsdale M, Alalwan N. Digital Innovations for Occupational Safety: Empowering Workers in Hazardous Environments. Workplace Health Saf 2024; 72:84-95. [PMID: 38193448 DOI: 10.1177/21650799231215811] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The quest to increase safety awareness, make job sites safer, and promote decent work for all has led to the utilization of digital technologies in hazardous occupations. This study investigated the use of digital innovations for safety and health management in hazardous industries. The key challenges and recommendations associated with such use were also explored. METHOD Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol, a total of 48 studies were reviewed to provide a framework for future pathways for the effective implementation of these innovations. FINDINGS The results revealed four main categories of digital safety systems: wearable-based systems, augmented/virtual reality-based systems, artificial intelligence-based systems, and navigation-based systems. A wide range of technological, behavioral, and organizational challenges were identified in relation to the key themes. CONCLUSION Outcomes from this review can inform policymakers and industrial decision-makers about the application of digital innovations for best safety practices in various hazardous work conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joana Eva Dodoo
- Department of Business Studies, College of Distance Education, Cape Coast University, Cape Coast, Ghana
| | - Hosam Al-Samarraie
- School of Design, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
- Centre for Instructional Technology and Multimedia, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia
| | | | | | - Nasser Alalwan
- Computer Science Department, Community College, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
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Varrecchia T, Chini G, Tarbouriech S, Navarro B, Cherubini A, Draicchio F, Ranavolo A. The assistance of BAZAR robot promotes improved upper limb motor coordination in workers performing an actual use-case manual material handling. ERGONOMICS 2023; 66:1950-1967. [PMID: 36688620 DOI: 10.1080/00140139.2023.2172213] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2022] [Accepted: 01/14/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
This study aims at evaluating upper limb muscle coordination and activation in workers performing an actual use-case manual material handling (MMH). The study relies on the comparison of the workers' muscular activity while they perform the task, with and without the help of a dual-arm cobot (BAZAR). Eleven participants performed the task and the flexors and extensors muscles of the shoulder, elbow, wrist, and trunk joints were recorded using bipolar electromyography. The results showed that, when the particular MMH was carried out with BAZAR, both upper limb and trunk muscular co-activation and activation were decreased. Therefore, technologies that enable human-robot collaboration (HRC), which share a workspace with employees, relieve employees of external loads and enhance the effectiveness and calibre of task completion. Additionally, these technologies improve the worker's coordination, lessen the physical effort required to interact with the robot, and have a favourable impact on his or her physiological motor strategy. Practitioner summary: Upper limb and trunk muscle co-activation and activation is reduced when a specific manual material handling was performed with a cobot than without it. By improving coordination, reducing physical effort, and changing motor strategy, cobots could be proposed as an ergonomic intervention to lower workers' biomechanical risk in industry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tiwana Varrecchia
- Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, INAIL, Rome, Italy
| | - Giorgia Chini
- Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, INAIL, Rome, Italy
| | | | | | | | - Francesco Draicchio
- Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, INAIL, Rome, Italy
| | - Alberto Ranavolo
- Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, INAIL, Rome, Italy
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Kim B, Kwon G, Park C, Kwon NK. The Task Decomposition and Dedicated Reward-System-Based Reinforcement Learning Algorithm for Pick-and-Place. Biomimetics (Basel) 2023; 8:240. [PMID: 37366835 DOI: 10.3390/biomimetics8020240] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2023] [Revised: 06/01/2023] [Accepted: 06/04/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023] Open
Abstract
This paper proposes a task decomposition and dedicated reward-system-based reinforcement learning algorithm for the Pick-and-Place task, which is one of the high-level tasks of robot manipulators. The proposed method decomposes the Pick-and-Place task into three subtasks: two reaching tasks and one grasping task. One of the two reaching tasks is approaching the object, and the other is reaching the place position. These two reaching tasks are carried out using each optimal policy of the agents which are trained using Soft Actor-Critic (SAC). Different from the two reaching tasks, the grasping is implemented via simple logic which is easily designable but may result in improper gripping. To assist the grasping task properly, a dedicated reward system for approaching the object is designed through using individual axis-based weights. To verify the validity of the proposed method, wecarry out various experiments in the MuJoCo physics engine with the Robosuite framework. According to the simulation results of four trials, the robot manipulator picked up and released the object in the goal position with an average success rate of 93.2%.
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Affiliation(s)
- Byeongjun Kim
- Department of Electronic Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 38541, Republic of Korea
| | - Gunam Kwon
- Department of Electronic Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 38541, Republic of Korea
| | - Chaneun Park
- School of Electronics Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea
| | - Nam Kyu Kwon
- Department of Electronic Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 38541, Republic of Korea
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Liang CJ, Cheng MH. Trends in Robotics Research in Occupational Safety and Health: A Scientometric Analysis and Review. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2023; 20:ijerph20105904. [PMID: 37239630 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20105904] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2023] [Revised: 05/16/2023] [Accepted: 05/17/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Robots have been deployed in workplaces to assist, work alongside, or collaborate with human workers on various tasks, which introduces new occupational safety and health hazards and requires research efforts to address these issues. This study investigated the research trends for robotic applications in occupational safety and health. The scientometric method was applied to quantitatively analyze the relationships between robotics applications in the literature. The keywords "robot", "occupational safety and health", and their variants were used to find relevant articles. A total of 137 relevant articles published during 2012-2022 were collected from the Scopus database for this analysis. Keyword co-occurrence, cluster, bibliographic coupling, and co-citation analyses were conducted using VOSviewer to determine the major research topics, keywords, co-authorship, and key publications. Robot safety, exoskeletons and work-related musculoskeletal disorders, human-robot collaboration, and monitoring were four popular research topics in the field. Finally, research gaps and future research directions were identified based on the analysis results, including additional efforts regarding warehousing, agriculture, mining, and construction robots research; personal protective equipment; and multi-robot collaboration. The major contributions of the study include identifying the current trends in the application of robotics in the occupational safety and health discipline and providing pathways for future research in this discipline.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ci-Jyun Liang
- Division of Safety Research, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA
| | - Marvin H Cheng
- Division of Safety Research, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA
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Lopez-de-Ipina K, Iradi J, Fernandez E, Calvo PM, Salle D, Poologaindran A, Villaverde I, Daelman P, Sanchez E, Requejo C, Suckling J. HUMANISE: Human-Inspired Smart Management, towards a Healthy and Safe Industrial Collaborative Robotics. SENSORS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 23:1170. [PMID: 36772209 PMCID: PMC9920065 DOI: 10.3390/s23031170] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2022] [Revised: 01/10/2023] [Accepted: 01/14/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The workplace is evolving towards scenarios where humans are acquiring a more active and dynamic role alongside increasingly intelligent machines. Moreover, the active population is ageing and consequently emerging risks could appear due to health disorders of workers, which requires intelligent intervention both for production management and workers' support. In this sense, the innovative and smart systems oriented towards monitoring and regulating workers' well-being will become essential. This work presents HUMANISE, a novel proposal of an intelligent system for risk management, oriented to workers suffering from disease conditions. The developed support system is based on Computer Vision, Machine Learning and Intelligent Agents. Results: The system was applied to a two-arm Cobot scenario during a Learning from Demonstration task for collaborative parts transportation, where risk management is critical. In this environment with a worker suffering from a mental disorder, safety is successfully controlled by means of human/robot coordination, and risk levels are managed through the integration of human/robot behaviour models and worker's models based on the workplace model of the World Health Organization. The results show a promising real-time support tool to coordinate and monitoring these scenarios by integrating workers' health information towards a successful risk management strategy for safe industrial Cobot environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karmele Lopez-de-Ipina
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3PT, UK
- EleKin Lab, Systems Engineering and Automation, Computers’ Architecture and Technology, and Enterprise Management Departments, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain
| | - Jon Iradi
- EleKin Lab, Systems Engineering and Automation, Computers’ Architecture and Technology, and Enterprise Management Departments, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain
| | - Elsa Fernandez
- EleKin Lab, Systems Engineering and Automation, Computers’ Architecture and Technology, and Enterprise Management Departments, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain
| | - Pilar M. Calvo
- EleKin Lab, Systems Engineering and Automation, Computers’ Architecture and Technology, and Enterprise Management Departments, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain
| | - Damien Salle
- Tecnalia Research Centre, Tecnalia Industry and Transport Division, 20009 Donostia-San Sebastia, Spain
| | - Anujan Poologaindran
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3PT, UK
- The Alan Turing Institute, British Library, London NW1 2DB, UK
| | - Ivan Villaverde
- Tecnalia Research Centre, Tecnalia Industry and Transport Division, 20009 Donostia-San Sebastia, Spain
| | - Paul Daelman
- Tecnalia Research Centre, Tecnalia Industry and Transport Division, 20009 Donostia-San Sebastia, Spain
| | - Emilio Sanchez
- Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials, Engineering School, University of Navarra, TECNUN, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain
- CEIT, Manufacturing Division, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain
| | - Catalina Requejo
- Cajal Institute, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), 28002 Madrid, Spain
| | - John Suckling
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3PT, UK
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Drozd R, Wolniak R, Piwnik J. Systemic analysis of a manufacturing process based on a small scale bakery. QUALITY & QUANTITY 2023; 57:1421-1437. [PMID: 35607483 PMCID: PMC9117986 DOI: 10.1007/s11135-022-01408-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
The main aim of the article is to present two new innovative concepts of reliability of a functioning manufacturing system in the process of making bread in small-scale bakeries. Reliability is understood as one of the representations of an operator acting on specific streams in time to to t. One of these represents the global reliability of a system as a function of parallel action of all the streams of the system in time to to t and is denoted as Pg (t). The second representation of reliability is a scalar value, Pss It shows a new function of global reliability of a manufacturing process as a product of system stream reliability. In order to plot the flow of the manufacturing process's global reliability function, we need to perform detailed calculations, computations, and analysis of the differences of individual values in real time, as well as plan an algorithm of the flow of system streams. This needs a lot of effort, translating however, to a detailed picture of the process. In the analysed example, measurements and research revealed an important increase of the value of reliability in a transition from a traditional to a robotised bakery. The article also presents a new concept of the reliability of a technological process, based on the analysis of relations of elements of the following streams: energy, matter, information, time, and finances. It shows the method of specifying streams and the method for defining the reliability of important and supportive relations. Important relations between stream elements are defined as having the reliability value of one in time. Supportive relations bear the reliability within a continuum between zero and one. Important relations are designated based on research, experience, and knowledge. Stream systemic reliability Pss is a scalar value, i.e. a number from the continuum between zero and one. The Pss value characterises failure-free operation of the whole system. Its average value in the normative time tn expresses the efficiency of the manufacturing system. The value Pss is a quotient of the number of important relation and the sum of important and supportive relations. The formula for Pss shows the method of optimising the process through the increasing of the number of important relations between the input stream components. The concept has been applied to study the efficiency of operation of a small-scale bakery. Systemic analysis of a bakery allows for important increase in the reliability of baking bread if robotisation has been implemented. The concept of systemic-stream reliability Pss may be applied to analyse the efficiency of any technological process and optimisation of any manufacturing process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Radosław Drozd
- Department of Informatics in Management, Faculty of Management and Economics, Gdansk University of Technology, Traugutta 79, 80-233 Gdansk, Poland
| | - Radosław Wolniak
- Department of Organization and Management, Institute of Economy and Informatics, Silesian University of Technology, Akademicka 2A, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland
| | - Jan Piwnik
- WSB University in Gdansk, Aleja Grunwaldzka 238A, 80-266 Gdansk, Poland
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Amarante CCD, Resende DN, Broday EE, Picinin CT. Trends in study topics related to quality of life in Industry 4.0: A bibliometric analysis. Work 2023; 76:1357-1372. [PMID: 37355929 DOI: 10.3233/wor-220637] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/26/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The use of new technologies boosted Industry 4.0, making processes more sophisticated and considering the interaction between physical production systems and workers. But these new technologies also intervene in the worker's quality of life (QoL), that is, we need to know if the industry of the future is changing the scenario of the present. OBJECTIVE This study aims to identify trends in study topics related to QoL in Industry 4.0. METHODS A bibliometric mapping analysis was performed without temporal delimitation in the Scopus, Web of Science and PubMed databases. RESULTS The results show that: (i) the publications most aligned with the theme are from 2016 onwards; (ii) the greatest growth in publications on the subject occurred between the years 2019, 2020 and 2021; (iii) the Journal Sustainability was the most relevant journal on the subject in recent years; (iv) Turkey stood out as the most cited country in the field of study; (v) there are collaboration networks between authors in several countries, including Denmark, Italy and Poland; (vi) with the analysis of the thematic map, it is possible to identify which themes are the motor, specialized, emerging, missing, or basic from the research field and; (vii) the sub-themes that appeared the most in the surveys were work environment, impact of Industry 4.0, robots, health and well-being, digitalization and job satisfaction. CONCLUSION In addition to being a relevant source of information, where readers find future thematic trends in the field of research, it is hoped that the contributions of this study will provide insights for researchers, academics and society in general.
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Ramos D, Cotrim T, Arezes P, Baptista J, Rodrigues M, Leitão J. Frontiers in Occupational Health and Safety Management. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:ijerph191710759. [PMID: 36078478 PMCID: PMC9517753 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph191710759] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2022] [Accepted: 08/26/2022] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
This Special Issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is devoted to the "Frontiers in Occupational Health and Safety Management" [...].
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Affiliation(s)
- Delfina Ramos
- School of Engineering, Polytechnic of Porto, ISEP, 4249-015 Porto, Portugal
- INEGI—Instituto de Ciência e Inovação em Engenharia Mecânica e Engenharia Industrial, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
- Algoritmi Centre, School of Engineering, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal
- Correspondence:
| | - Teresa Cotrim
- Ergonomics Laboratory, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, 1499-002 Cruz Quebrada, Portugal
- Research Centre for Architecture, Urbanism and Design (CIAUD), Faculdade de Arquitetura, Universidade de Lisboa, 1349-063 Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Pedro Arezes
- Algoritmi Centre, School of Engineering, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal
| | - João Baptista
- INEGI—Instituto de Ciência e Inovação em Engenharia Mecânica e Engenharia Industrial, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
- Associated Laboratory for Energy, Transports and Aeronautics, LAETA (PROA), Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
- Porto Biomechanics Laboratory, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal
| | - Matilde Rodrigues
- Algoritmi Centre, School of Engineering, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal
- Research Centre on Environment and Health, Department of Environmental Health, School of Health, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal
| | - João Leitão
- NECE–Research Unit in Business Sciences, Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, University of Beira Interior (UBI), Estrada do Sineiro, 6200-001 Covilhã, Portugal
- Centre for Management Studies of Instituto Superior Técnico (CEG-IST), University of Lisbon, 1649-004 Lisboa, Portugal
- Instituto de Ciências Sociais (ICS), University of Lisbon, 1649-004 Lisboa, Portugal
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Fournier É, Kilgus D, Landry A, Hmedan B, Pellier D, Fiorino H, Jeoffrion C. The Impacts of Human-Cobot Collaboration on Perceived Cognitive Load and Usability during an Industrial Task: An Exploratory Experiment. IISE Trans Occup Ergon Hum Factors 2022; 10:83-90. [PMID: 35485174 DOI: 10.1080/24725838.2022.2072021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
OCCUPATIONAL APPLICATIONSSince cobots (collaborative robots) are increasingly being introduced in industrial environments, being aware of their potential positive and negative impacts on human collaborators is essential. This study guides occupational health workers by identifying the potential gains (reduced perceived time demand, number of gestures and number of errors) and concerns (the cobot takes a long time to perceive its environment, which leads to an increased completion time) associated with working with cobots. In our study, the collaboration between human and cobot during an assembly task did not negatively impact perceived cognitive load, increased completion time (but decreased perceived time demand), and decreased the number of gestures performed by participants and the number of errors made. Thus, performing the task in collaboration with a cobot improved the user's experience and performance, except for completion time, which increased. This study opens avenues to investigate how to improve cobots to ensure the usability of the human-machine system at work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Étienne Fournier
- Laboratoire Interuniversitaire de Psychologie, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
| | - Dorilys Kilgus
- Grenoble INP: Phelma, 3 Parv. Louis Noël, Grenoble, France
| | - Aurélie Landry
- Laboratoire Interuniversitaire de Psychologie, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France.,Laboratoire d'Informatique de Grenoble, Grenoble Cedex, CS, France
| | - Belal Hmedan
- Laboratoire d'Informatique de Grenoble, Grenoble Cedex, CS, France
| | - Damien Pellier
- Laboratoire d'Informatique de Grenoble, Grenoble Cedex, CS, France
| | - Humbert Fiorino
- Laboratoire d'Informatique de Grenoble, Grenoble Cedex, CS, France
| | - Christine Jeoffrion
- Laboratoire Interuniversitaire de Psychologie, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
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Javaid M, Haleem A, Singh RP, Rab S, Suman R. Significant applications of Cobots in the field of manufacturing. COGNITIVE ROBOTICS 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogr.2022.10.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
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Simoni A, Pini S, Borghi G, Vezzani R. Semi-Perspective Decoupled Heatmaps for 3D Robot Pose Estimation From Depth Maps. IEEE Robot Autom Lett 2022. [DOI: 10.1109/lra.2022.3193225] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Simoni
- Department of Engineering “Enzo Ferrari”, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy
| | - Stefano Pini
- Department of Engineering “Enzo Ferrari”, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy
| | - Guido Borghi
- Department of Computer Science and En-gineering, University of Bologna, Italy
| | - Roberto Vezzani
- Department of Engineering “Enzo Ferrari”, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy
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Human-Centered Robotic Development in the Steel Shop: Improving Health, Safety and Digital Skills at the Workplace. METALS 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/met11040647] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Within the implementation of the Industry 4.0 paradigm in the steel sector, robots can play a relevant role in improving health and safety conditions at the workplace, by overtaking cumbersome, repetitive and risky operations. However, the implementation of robotics solutions in this particular sector is hampered by harsh operating conditions and by particular features of many procedures, which require a combination of force and sensitivity. Human–robot cooperation is a viable solution to overcome existing barriers, by synergistically combining human and robot abilities in the sense of a human-centered Industry 5.0. In this sense, robotics solution should be designed in a way to integrate and meet the end-users’ demands in a common development process for successfully implementation and widely acceptance. The paper presents the outcomes of the field evaluation of a robotic workstation, which was designed for a complex maintenance operation that is daily performed in the steel shop. The system derives from a co-creation process, where workers were involved since the beginning in the design process, according to the paradigm of social innovation combining technological and social development. Therefore, the evaluation aimed at assessing both system reliability and end-users’ satisfaction. The results show that the human-centered robotic workstations are successful in reducing cumbersome operations and improving workers’ health and safety conditions, and that this fact is clearly perceived by system users and developers.
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