One of the key interesting features of collaborative robotic applications is the potential to lighten the worker workload and potentiate better working conditions. Moreover, developing robotics applications that meets ergonomic criteria is not always...
During the last decades, collaborative robots capable of operating out of their cages are widely used in industry to assist humans in mundane and harsh manufacturing tasks. Although such robots are inherently safe by design, they are commonly accompa...
Digital-enabled manufacturing systems require a high level of automation for fast and low-cost production but should also present flexibility and adaptiveness to varying and dynamic conditions in their environment, including the presence of human bei...
In recent years, applications with robots collaborating actively with humans have been increasing. The transition from Industry 4.0 to 5.0 rearranges the focus of fully automated processes to a human-centered system that allows more customization and...
Unlike “classical” industrial robots, collaborative robots, known as cobots, implement a compliant behavior. Cobots ensure a safe force control in a physical interaction scenario within unknown environments. In this paper, we propose to make serial r...
Most industrial workplaces involving robots and other apparatus operate behind the fences to remove defects, hazards, or casualties. Recent advancements in machine learning can enable robots to co-operate with human co-workers while retaining safety,...
To enable safe and effective human–robot collaboration (HRC) in smart manufacturing, it is critical to seamlessly integrate sensing, cognition, and prediction into the robot controller for real-time awareness, response, and communication inside...
In this paper, a novel DRL algorithm based on a DQN is proposed for multiple mobile robots to find optimized paths. The multiple robots’ states are the inputs of the DQN. The DQN estimates the Q-value of the agents’ actions. After selecti...
The emergence of modern robotic technology and artificial intelligence (AI) enables a transformation in the textile sector. Manual fabric defect inspection is time-consuming, error-prone, and labor-intensive. This offers a great possibility for apply...
With the advancement of humanoid robotics, human–robot collaboration has emerged as a prominent research focus. Ensuring the safety of both humanoid robots and humans remains a critical challenge. In this paper, we address conflict resolutions...
In the food and medical packaging industries, clean packaging is crucial to both customer satisfaction and hygiene. An operational Quality Assurance Department (QAD) is necessary for detecting contaminated packages. Manual examination becomes tedious...
Collaborative robots (cobots) could help humans in tasks that are mundane, dangerous or where direct human contact carries risk. Yet, the collaboration between humans and robots is severely limited by the aspects of the safety and comfort of human op...
A collaborative robot should be sensitive to the user intention while maintaining safe interaction during tasks such as hand guiding. Observers based on the discrete Fourier transform have been studied to distinguish between the low-frequency motion...
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 di...
Variable stiffness actuators are employed to improve the safety features of robots that share a common workspace with humans. In this paper, a study of a joint variable stiffness device developed by PPRIME Institute—called V2SOM— for impl...
Human–robot collaboration (HRC) enables humans and robots to coexist in the same working environment by performing production operations together. HRC systems are used in advanced manufacturing to improve the productivity and efficiency of a ma...
For industrial manufacturing, industrial robots are required to work together with human counterparts on certain special occasions, where human workers share their skills with robots. Intuitive human–robot interaction brings increasing safety c...
Industry standards pertaining to Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) impose strict safety requirements to protect human operators from danger. When a robot is equipped with dangerous tools, moves at a high speed or carries heavy loads, the current safety...
Collaborative robots cooperate with humans to assist them in undertaking simple-to-complex tasks in several fields, including industry, education, agriculture, healthcare services, security, and space exploration. These robots play a vital role in th...
While collaborative robots are designed to enable flexible and safe human–robot interactions, their comparatively low structural stiffness poses a challenge for high-precision machining and heavy-assembly tasks. Addressing this limitation is es...
The human-centric approach is a leading trend for future production processes, and collaborative robotics are key to its realization. This article addresses the challenge of designing a new custom-made non-conventional machine or robot involving tool...
The growing need for sustainable and flexible automation solutions has led to the exploration of transforming traditional industrial robots into collaborative robots (cobots). This paper presents a framework for the conversion of conventional industr...
Despite the growing use of collaborative robots in high-rise construction, ensuring safe human–robot collaboration (HRC) in hazardous environments remains a critical challenge. Addressing the gap that previous studies optimized human, robot, or...
The integration of robotic agents into complex indoor construction environments is increasing, particularly through human–robot collaboration (HRC) and multi-robot collaboration (MRC). These collaborative frameworks hold great potential to enha...
Human–Robot Interaction (HRI) for collaborative robots has become an active research topic recently. Collaborative robots assist human workers in their tasks and improve their efficiency. However, the worker should also feel safe and comfortabl...
Background: Healthcare robotics needs context-aware policy-compliant reasoning to achieve safe human–agent collaboration. The current ontologies fail to provide healthcare-relevant information and flexible semantic enforcement systems. Methods:...
This paper demonstrates the capabilities of three-dimensional (3D) LiDAR scanners in supporting a safe distance maintenance functionality in human–robot collaborative applications. The use of such sensors is severely under-utilised in collabora...
The evolution of information technology and the great advances in artificial intelligence are leading to a level of automation that has never been reached before. A large part of this level of automation is due to the use of robotics, which in turn e...
This work describes a layout to carry out a demonstrative assembly task, during which a collaborative robot performs pick-and-place tasks to supply an operator the parts that he/she has to assemble. In this scenario, the robot and operator share the...
This paper presents a framework that integrates digital twin and virtual reality (VR) technologies to improve the efficiency and safety of human–robot collaborative systems in the disassembly domain. With the increasing complexity of the handli...
The capabilities of collaborative robotics have transcended the conventional abilities of decentralised robots as it provides benefits such as scalability, flexibility and robustness. Collaborative robots can operate safely in complex human environme...
Collaborative part transportation is an interesting application as many industrial sectors require moving large parts among different areas of the workshops, using a large amount of the workforce on this tasks. Even so, the implementation of such kin...
Collaborative robotics is a major topic in current robotics research, posing new challenges, especially in human–robot interaction. The main aspect in this area of research focuses on understanding the behavior of robots when engaging with huma...
Robotic manipulators have become part of manufacturing systems in recent decades. However, in the realm of Industry 4.0, a new type of manufacturing cell has been introduced—the so-called collaborative manufacturing cell. In such collaborative...
Weld detection is vital to the quality of ship construction and navigation safety, and numerous detection robots have been developed and widely applied. Focusing on the current bottleneck of robot safety, efficiency, and intelligent detection, this p...
Increasing automation and the rapidly growing use of robots in industrial as well as social areas result in a greater need for research regarding collaboration between humans and robots. Key factors for a safe and successful combination of human and...
This paper presents an obstacle avoidance technique for a mobile robot in human-robot collaborative (HRC) tasks. The proposed solution uses fuzzy logic rules and a convolutional neural network (CNN) in an integrated approach to detect objects during...
This article discusses creating a methodology for the asymmetric measuring of values and processes of collision forces and pressures of the collaborative robot dependent on time. Furthermore, it verifies the usefulness of this methodology in practice...
Artificial intelligence is increasingly reshaping the foundations of robotics by enabling machines to perceive complex environments, learn from interaction, make adaptive decisions, and collaborate with humans in a safe and effective manner [...]
Industry 4.0 is pushing forward the need for symbiotic interactions between physical and virtual entities of production environments to realize increasingly flexible and customizable production processes. This holds especially for human–robot c...
Collaborative robotics represents a modern and efficient framework in which machines can safely interact with humans. Coupled with artificial intelligence (AI) systems, collaborative robots can solve problems that require a certain degree of intellig...
In the safety technology of collaborative robots, standards differentiate between various collision types, the identification and differentiation of which are essential for ensuring safe operation. The objective of this paper is to develop and test a...
The global population is ageing at an unprecedented rate. With changes in life expectancy across the world, three major issues arise: an increasing proportion of senior citizens; cognitive and physical problems progressively affecting the elderly; an...
In the context of Industry 5.0, human–robot collaboration (HRC) is increasingly crucial for enabling safe and efficient operations in shared industrial workspaces. This study aims to implement a hybrid robotic architecture based on the Speed an...
In the field of construction, human-robot collaboration and mixed reality (MR) open new possibilities. However, safety and reliability issues persist. The lack of flexibility and adaptability in current preprogrammed systems hampers real-time human-r...
As collaborative robots (cobots) increasingly share workspaces with humans, ensuring safe physical human–robot interaction (pHRI) has become paramount. This systematic review addresses safety assessment in pHRI, focussing on the industrial fiel...
Recent years have seen a rapid development of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the growth of autonomous robotic applications which are using network communications. Accordingly, an increasing advancement of intelligent devices with wireless sensors (...
The introduction of collaborative robots in industrial environments reinforces the need to provide these robots with better cognition to accomplish their tasks while fostering worker safety without entering into safety shutdowns that reduce workflow...
In advanced industrial automation, industrial robots have been widely utilized on assembly lines in order to reduce labor dependence. However, many related layout design approaches proposed are prone to generating unsafe layouts: there generally lack...
Human–robot collaboration is becoming ever more widespread in industry because of its adaptability. Conventional safety elements are used when converting a workplace into a collaborative one, although new technologies are becoming more widespread. Th...
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