Anthropocentric perspective of production before and within Industry 4.0

Abstract This paper presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of the anthropocentric perspective of production before and after (or, better, within) Industry 4.0. We identify central research clusters regarding traditional Anthropocentric Production Systems (APS) and Anthropocentric Cyber Physical Production Systems. By comparing the two perspectives, we are able to analyse new emerging paradigms in anthropocentric production caused by Industry 4.0. We further make prediction of the future role of the human operator, his needed knowledge and capabilities and how assistance systems support the Operator 4.0. Our paper gives a brief outlook of current and needed future research. It builds grounds for further scholarly discussion on the role of humans in the factory of the future

Design of innovative clothing for pressure injury prevention: end-user evaluation in a mixed-methods study

The global relevance of pressure injury (PI) prevention technologies arise from their impact on the quality of life of people with limited mobility and the costs associated with treating these preventable injuries. The purpose of this mixed methods study is to evaluate the design of a prototype integrating Smart Health Textiles for PI prevention based on feedback from specialist nurses who care for individuals who are prone to or have PIs. This is a mixed methods study. A structured questionnaire was conducted as part of an evaluation of a prototype garment for the prevention of PIs. This questionnaire was applied during the evaluation of the prototype and afterwards focus group discussions were held with experts. Descriptive statistics techniques were used to analyze the data and thematic and integrated content analysis was conducted through concomitant triangulation. Nineteen nurses took part, aged 30 to 39 years (52.6%) and with 12.31 ± 8.96 years of experience. Participants showed that the prototype required more manipulation and physical effort, which interfered its usefulness, in addition to presenting difficulties with the openings and the material of the closure system, which interfered with the ease of use and learning. Overall satisfaction with the product was moderate, with some areas for improvement found, such as satisfaction, recommendations to colleagues, and pleasantness of use. It is concluded that areas for improvement have been found in all dimensions, including in the design of openings and the choice of materials. These findings supply significant insights for improving clothing to meet the needs of healthcare professionals and patients.The 4NoPressure project was co-financed by the Operational Program for Competitiveness and Internationalization (COMPETE 2020) under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, with support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), reference number POCI-01-0247- FEDER-039869

3D-LIVE : live interactions through 3D visual environments

This paper explores Future Internet (FI) 3D-Media technologies and Internet of Things (IoT) in real and virtual environments in order to sense and experiment Real-Time interaction within live situations. The combination of FI testbeds and Living Labs (LL) would enable both researchers and users to explore capacities to enter the 3D Tele-Immersive (TI) application market and to establish new requirements for FI technology and infrastructure. It is expected that combining both FI technology pull and TI market pull would promote and accelerate the creation and adoption, by user communities such as sport practitioners, of innovative TI Services within sport events

Enfoques y tecnologías para la industria 5.0 centrada en el ser humano

A little less than a decade after the emergence of Industry 4.0 in the industrial world, the new paradigm 5.0 is gaining ground, which is simultaneously reflected in the definition of a smart society. In fact, we are witnessing an innovative transition that defines the pace of technological, but also economic and social change. Starting from the innovations of the fourth industrial revolution and from the study of reference guidelines of European Commission (2021) Industry 5.0 “repositions” technologies completely at the service of people and the whole of humanity. The research aims to identify and explore the points of contact and implementations arising from the transition from paradigm 4.0 to the human-centric approach 5.0. Through a comparative analysis of case studies and best practices in the industrial field it is possible to frame and define the future scenarios of manufacturing that see human and machine synchronized and synergistically working together to improve the efficiency of production.Poco menos de una década después de la aparición de la Industria 4.0 en el mundo industrial, gana terreno el nuevo paradigma 5.0, que se refleja simultáneamente en la definición de una sociedad inteligente. De hecho, asistimos a una transición innovadora que define el ritmo del cambio tecnológico, pero también económico y social. Partiendo de las innovaciones de la cuarta revolución industrial, la Industria 5.0 "reposiciona" completamente las tecnologías al servicio de las personas y de toda la humanidad. La investigación pretende identificar -mediante un análisis comparativo de estudios de casos y mejores prácticas- los puntos de contacto y las implementaciones derivadas de la transición del paradigma 4.0 al enfoque centrado en el ser humano 5.0 para definir los escenarios futuros de la fabricación que ven al hombre y a la máquina trabajando juntos de forma sincronizada y sinérgica para mejorar la eficiencia de la producción

A human-oriented design process for collaborative robotics

The potential of collaborative robotics often does not materialize in an efficient design of the human-robot collaboration. Technology-oriented approaches are no longer enough in the Industry 4.0 era. This work proposes a set of methods to support manufacturing engineers in the human-oriented design process of integrated production systems to obtain satisfactory performance in the mass customization paradigm, without impacting the safety and health of workers. It founds the design criteria definition on five main pillars (safety, ergonomics, effectiveness, flexibility, and costs), favors the consideration of different design alternatives, and leads their selection. The dynamic impact of the design choices on the various elements of the system prevails over the static design constraints. The method has been experimented in collaboration with the major kitchen manufacturer in Italy, which introduced a collaborative robotics cell in the drawers' assembly line. It resulted in a more balanced production line (10% more), a verified risk minimization (RULA score reduced from 5 to 3 and OCRA score from 13.30 to 5.70), and a greater allocation of operators to high added value activities

Ergonomics and human factors as a requirement to implement safer collaborative robotic workstations: a literature review

There is a worldwide interest in implementing collaborative robots (Cobots) to reduce work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSD) risk. While prior work in this field has recognized the importance of considering Ergonomics & Human Factors (E&HF) in the design phase, most works tend to highlight workstations’ improvements due to Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC). Based on a literature review, the current study summarises studies where E&HF was considered a requirement rather than an output. In this article, the authors are interested in understanding the existing studies focused on Cobots’ implementation with ergonomic requirements, and the methods applied to design safer collaborative workstations. This review was performed in four prominent publications databases: Scopus, Web of Science, Pubmed, and Google Scholar, searching for the keywords ‘Collaborative robots’ or ‘Cobots’ or ‘HRC’ and ‘Ergonomics’ or ‘Human factors’. Based on the inclusion criterion, 20 articles were reviewed, and the main conclusions of each are provided. Additionally, the focus was given to the segmentation between studies considering E&HF during the design phase of HRC systems and studies applying E&HF in real-time on HRC systems. The results demonstrate the novelty of this topic, especially of the real-time applications of ergonomics as a requirement. Globally, the results of the reviewed studies showed the potential of E&HF requirements integrated into HRC systems as a relevant input for reducing WMSD risk.This work has been supported by FCT–Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and MIT Portugal Program under the doctoral Grant SFRH/BD/151365/2021. This work has been also supported by NORTE-06-3559-FSE-000018, integrated in the invitation NORTE-59-2018-41, aiming the Hiring of Highly Qualified Human Resources, co-financed by the Regional Operational Programme of the North 2020, thematic area of Competitiveness and Employment, through the European Social Fund. Additionally, has been also supported by FCT within the Project “I-CATER–Intelligent robotic Coworker Assistant for industrial Tasks with an Ergonomics Rationale”, Ref. PTDC/EEIROB/3488/2021, and within R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020

Digital Manufacturing Systems: A Framework to Improve Social Sustainability of a Production Site

Abstract The topic of digital manufacturing is increasingly emerging in industry. One of the main scope of data digitalization is achieving more efficient factories. Different techniques and tools under the Industry 4.0 paradigm were already discussed in literature. These are aimed mostly at boosting company efficiency in terms of costs and environmental footprint. However, from a sustainability point of view, the social theme must be equally considered. While energy flows or costs can be already monitored in a production plant, this is not valid for data related to human effort. Monitoring systems aimed at supervising factory social sustainability were not already discussed in literature. The aim of this paper is to propose a method to acquire social related data in a production plant. The method is supported by a smart architecture within the concept of IoT factory. Such architecture permits to monitor the parameters that could influence social sustainability in a production site. After a discussion on production plants facilities and features, the parameters that need to be considered to guarantee socially sustainable manufacturing processes are identified. A set of sensors controls these data taken from different sources, including operator vital signs. Operations as well as humans are monitored. Data acquired by sensors are collected by a central server. A decision maker can interpret the data and improve the production system from a social point of view, implementing corrective actions. Data can be exploited not only for social assessments but even for other analyses on the production system. Guaranteeing social sustainability could boost the factory productivity. A case study is included in the paper: smart sensors are implemented in a production line to understand the operations efficiency in terms of social sustainability

A Universalist strategy for the design of Assistive Technology

Assistive Technologies are specialized products aiming to partly compensate for the loss of autonomy experienced by disabled people. Because they address special needs in a highly-segmented market, they are often considered as niche products. To improve their design and make them tend to Universality, we propose the EMFASIS framework (Extended Modularity, Functional Accessibility, and Social Integration Strategy). We first elaborate on how this strategy conciliates niche and Universalist views, which may appear conflicting at first sight. We then present three examples illustrating its application for designing Assistive Technologies: the design of an overbed table, an upper-limb powered orthose and a powered wheelchair. We conclude on the expected outcomes of our strategy for the social integration and participation of disabled people