Advanced Researches in Multiple Humans–Machine(s) Collaboration for Industrial Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Manufacturing is evolving rapidly—becoming more automated, connected, digital, and intelligent—by merging physical and virtual spaces. Industrial robots play a key role in this manufacturing transformation since they can be monitored and controlled in real-time to perform various “physical” jobs instead of, or increasingly along with, human workers. Despite the fact that more industrial robots are entering the workplace, there is a growing manufacturing skills gap for many reasons, such as an aging workforce and lack of work–life balance. Great advances have been made on the collaboration of one human and one telerobot collaboration in an unknown or complex situation. The teleoperator ideally can leverage the strengths of both humans (e.g., flexibility, decision-making skills, etc.) and robots (e.g., strength, accuracy, etc.). Extending one-human–one-robot collaboration to embrace multiple-humans–one/multiple-robots collaborations may bring additive or synergistic benefits. These collaborative opportunities also require re-thinking how humans and robots form a partnership to complete a complicated “physical” task based on such a collaboration.

The goal of this Special Issue thus is to document and highlight recent progress and future opportunities related to the collaboration/interaction of multiple-humans–one/multiple-robots for industrial applications, with a focus on human performance, safety, and multiple-humans–one/multiple-robots work processes.  

Topics of interest for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Multiple humans–robot(s) collaboration;
• Humans–robot(s) collaboration in distributed workplaces;
• Intention sharing between humans and between humans and robots;
• Design and framework of remote and/or wearable sensing systems for multiple humans–robot(s) collaboration;
• AI and machine learning for multiple humans–robot(s) collaboration;
• Trust in humans–robot partnership;
• Cooperative control and joint-decision making of humans–robot(s) teams in an industry setting;
• Safety in multiple humans–robot(s) collaboration.

Dr. Sunwook Kim
Dr. Sol Lim
Prof. Dr. Lihui Wang
Dr. Sotiris Makris
Topic Editors