Human Weaknesses and strengths in collaboration with robots

This paper describes the importance of the incorporation of ergonomics, human factor, errors analysis and cognitive engineering approaches in the design of human-robot systems, how consideration of these subjects help designers and workers to avoid hazardous situations and make human-robot interaction in vicinity more effective, reliable and safe. Basing on acquired knowledge and guiding by acquired knowledg e we propose our trial application for disassembly cell

Opportunities for using eye tracking technology in manufacturing and logistics: Systematic literature review and research agenda

Workers play essential roles in manufacturing and logistics. Releasing workers from routine tasks and enabling them to focus on creative, value-adding activities can enhance their performance and wellbeing, and it is also key to the successful implementation of Industry 4.0. One technology that can help identify patterns of worker-system interaction is Eye Tracking (ET), which is a non-intrusive technology for measuring human eye movements. ET can provide moment-by-moment insights into the cognitive state of the subject during task execution, which can improve our understanding of how humans behave and make decisions within complex systems. It also enables explorations of the subject’s interaction mode with the working environment. Earlier research has investigated the use of ET in manufacturing and logistics, but the literature is fragmented and has not yet been discussed in a literature review yet. This article therefore conducts a systematic literature review to explore the applications of ET, summarise its benefits, and outline future research opportunities of using ET in manufacturing and logistics. We first propose a conceptual framework to guide our study and then conduct a systematic literature search in scholarly databases, obtaining 71 relevant papers. Building on the proposed framework, we systematically review the use of ET and categorize the identified papers according to their application in manufacturing (product development, production, quality inspection) and logistics. Our results reveal that ET has several use cases in the manufacturing sector, but that its application in logistics has not been studied extensively so far. We summarize the benefits of using ET in terms of process performance, human performance, and work environment and safety, and also discuss the methodological characteristics of the ET literature as well as typical ET measures used. We conclude by illustrating future avenues for ET research in manufacturing and logistics

Ergonomic Design of a New Assembly Skid - A Case Study at a Swedish Truck Manufacturing Company

This thesis project was performed in collaboration with Scania CV AB’s cab factory in Oskarshamn, Sweden, and the objective was to accomplish a product development process regarding a new assembly skid from an ergonomic perspective. A great number of aspects had to be noticed and evaluated, both regarding the process the skid is aiming to support and the product it concerns. The focus was the functions that are required and desired for a skid to find the optimal solution and consequently, solve the ergonomic problems. A research about the assemblers’ work and work situation was carried out to achieve an understanding for the common problems in this kind of environment. The overall results from questionnaires, interviews and observations showed that there are many opportunities to adapt the skid to the assemblers and consequently, avoiding the risk of work injuries, contribute to good working conditions and in the end influence the assembler to do a high-quality work. With information from our research, ergonomic product specifications were established and brainstorming was used to generate concepts aiming to meet these specifications. The concepts were then evaluated and ranked against different criteria, based both on customer needs and the authors’ opinions and competence. One of the main ergonomic problems was considered to be the entering/exiting of the cab during assembly work and therefore the work was focused on this issue. In order to assess which, in this context, is the most optimal height a usability test was performed aiming to study different kinds of stairs containing varying step heights. The test persons’ opinions were that the step most similar to a standard step height was the most comfortable one, but they all agreed on that this is not advantageous if it results in too many steps. Finally, the specifications and results from the studies were used to give recommendations for Scania, the further work with the skid and future ergonomic development processes