Industry 5.0: Key Enabling Technologies, Requirements, Current Applications and Future Directions
A special issue of Machines (ISSN 2075-1702). This special issue belongs to the section "Industrial Systems".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2026 | Viewed by 2
Special Issue Editors
Interests: circular economy; industrial symbiosis; reliability; I 4.0; I 5.0; cognitive workload; sustainability
Interests: I 4.0; I 5.0; digital transformation; process management; AI
Interests: modelling and simulation; predicting monitoring; condition-based maintenance; I 4.0; I 5.0
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The evolution of industrial systems is transitioning from the efficiency-driven paradigm of Industry 4.0 toward the value-oriented vision of Industry 5.0, which emphasizes sustainability, resilience, and human-centricity. This next phase in industrial innovation seeks to embed human values directly into the design and operation of smart systems, ensuring that technology enhances—not replaces—human capabilities.
The integration of collaborative robotics (cobots), IoT, AI, Edge/Fog/Cloud Computing, Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), and Digital Twins creates both exciting opportunities and complex challenges in areas such as intelligent machine design, adaptive control, smart maintenance, and human–machine interfaces. As systems become more flexible and autonomous, human operators face increased cognitive workloads, particularly in tasks like predictive maintenance and real-time decision-making.
This Special Issue invites original research articles and reviews that explore the technological, methodological, and ethical foundations of Industry 5.0. We seek contributions that demonstrate how emerging technologies enable sustainable, adaptive, and human-aligned industrial solutions.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Comparative analysis of Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0 technologies;
- Human-centric system design;
- Collaborative robotics and human–robot interaction;
- Digital twins and CPHS;
- AI-driven maintenance and diagnostics;
- Immersive interfaces and cognitive ergonomics;
- Sustainable and ethical design of industrial systems;
- Human–machine interfaces and immersive technologies.
We look forward to your contributions to this timely and rapidly evolving field.
Dr. Ludovica Maria Oliveri
Dr. Federico Briatore
Dr. Simone Arena
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Machines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- advanced cobots
- IoT
- edge/fog/cloud computing
- digital twins
- CPS
- AI
- Industry 5.0
- sustainability
- resilience
- human-centricity
- cognitive workload
- ergonomics
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