{"id":2609,"date":"2023-12-14T17:10:42","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T17:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/horizon.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=2609"},"modified":"2023-12-19T17:19:14","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T17:19:14","slug":"robots-are-becoming-human-helpers-on-the-factory-floor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/2609\/robots-are-becoming-human-helpers-on-the-factory-floor\/","title":{"rendered":"Robots are becoming human helpers on the factory floor"},"content":{"rendered":"

New machines can improve conditions for workers and boost industrial productivity.<\/p>\n

By<\/em><\/strong> \u00a0Helen Massy-Beresford<\/p>\n

On the shopfloor of a Dutch machine manufacturer called Hankamp Gears, workers remove bulky equipment from a pallet, lift the material above their shoulders and painstakingly attach screws to it. Then helping hands suddenly show up to do the heavy lifting, allowing the workers to focus on the job of fastening.<\/p>\n

But the hands aren\u2019t human. They belong to \u201ccollaborative robots\u201d, or cobots. They\u2019re part of a research project that received EU funding to develop a new generation of human-robot systems able to improve conditions for workers in manufacturing and increase industrial productivity.<\/p>\n

From pains to gains<\/strong><\/p>\n

During the project, called\u00a0SOPHIA<\/a>, researchers have mounted sensors on the cobots. Combined with machine learning to process data, the sensors measure the workers\u2019 movements to gauge whether tasks need to be altered or loads redistributed to suit the people \u2013 without them even noticing.<\/p>\n

\u2018Cobots can improve productivity and the way people work,\u2019 said Dr Arash Ajoudani, head of the Human-Robot Interfaces and Interaction laboratory at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa. \u2018If a person is performing a task with a cobot instead of another person, the cobot can change its way of operating to put everything in favour of the person.\u2019<\/p>\n

Ajoudani leads SOPHIA, which is due to end in April 2024 after four and a half years including a six-month prolongation. It has brought together experts from organisations in six European countries. Besides Italy, the partners are from Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Slovenia.<\/p>\n

The researchers\u2019 main takeaway is that automation in the manufacturing sector is a big opportunity for companies and workers rather than a serious threat to jobs. That\u2019s because, with the help of cobots, workers are freed up for more skilled tasks and become more valuable to employers.<\/p>\n

\u2018The problem is not robots taking jobs,\u2019\u00a0Ajoudani said. \u2018The problem is finding enough people to do low-skilled jobs.\u2019<\/p>\n

He highlighted the point with an example from agriculture, saying many low-skilled roles that were once commonplace have all but died out.<\/p>\n

\u2018Nobody knows how to milk a cow, but 150 years ago, if you didn\u2019t, you wouldn\u2019t survive,\u2019\u00a0Ajoudani said. \u2018Maybe in 100 years a worker won\u2019t need to be able to lift and move a box, just how to programme a robot to do it. Those jobs eventually \u2013 very gradually \u2013 disappear.\u2019<\/p>\n

Smooth operators<\/strong><\/p>\n

The SOPHIA team has worked with manufacturers in the automotive sector \u2013 German carmaker Volkswagen as well as Hankamp Gears among them \u2013 to design cobots that behave as factory-floor workers\u2019 allies.<\/p>\n

Ajoudani said the next step is to improve cobots\u2019 ability to act on their own. That in turn requires specific training for the people who work with the cobots and oversee their performance.<\/p>\n

\u2018To get there we need to make them collaborative, combining human supervision skills with robots\u2019 sturdiness,\u2019 Ajoudani said.<\/p>\n

SOPHIA is part of a series of EU-funded research projects to advance the possibilities for robots and other emerging machines to work alongside people in ways that improve both worker wellbeing and business efficiency.<\/p>\n

The whole idea is called \u201cIndustry 5.0\u201d \u2013 the European Commission\u2019s approach to placing workers at the centre of production as the EU manufacturing sector undergoes a digital and green transformation.<\/p>\n

Ensuring mental wellbeing in the workplace of the future is one element of the overall strategy.<\/p>\n

A separate EU-funded research project examined whether cobots can make workers happier. Called\u00a0MindBot<\/a>, the project ended in September 2023 after almost four years.<\/p>\n

It brought together Belgian, Croatian, German and Italian researchers who work for technology companies, manufacturers and public agencies and who\u00a0focus on everything from psychology to engineering.<\/p>\n

Going with the flow<\/strong><\/p>\n

The MindBot team based its work on the psychological concept of \u201cflow\u201d \u2013\u00a0in which people feel motivated and focused when their skill level matches the task at hand.<\/p>\n

\u2018No one can be in a state of flow 100% of the time,\u2019\u00a0said Dr Fabio Storm,\u00a0a researcher at the Italy-based IRCCS Eugenio Medea scientific institute, which led the project. \u2018We\u00a0wanted to see if we could understand when flow was happening.\u2019<\/p>\n

The team started out by observing the use of cobots and their interactions with people in several manufacturing facilities, including in the automotive and electronic-components sectors.<\/p>\n

Questionnaires and observation helped establish a baseline of the physical and mental effort required by workers who interacted with robotic partners.<\/p>\n

The researchers then simulated realistic shifts for volunteers in a lab, working with a robotic arm to which technological modules had been added. Aided by video-based algorithms and artificial intelligence, optical sensors helped to measure the levels of physical fatigue of the human workers.<\/p>\n

The cobot was programmed to respond to the data provided by the sensors, slowing down to match each human worker\u2019s pace\u00a0if it ebbed towards the end of\u00a0a shift.<\/p>\n

The team also developed an avatar for the cobot on a tablet to interact with the workers. That wasn\u2019t too much of a stretch for the workers as many had already come up with nicknames \u2013 one was \u201cRobbie\u201d \u2013 for their cobot colleagues, according to Storm.<\/p>\n

Information gleaned from the questionnaires\u00a0helped the team fine-tune the technologies to improve the tasks.<\/p>\n

\u2018Many of the areas we looked at don\u2019t really focus on the technology but on its effect on human workers,\u2019 said Storm.<\/p>\n

Inclusive angle\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another aspect of the MindBot research on cobots explored how companies can better integrate autistic people into the workforce.<\/p>\n

With the aid of psychologists, the team developed information for workers to help prepare them for any particularly sensitive aspect of the job or environment \u2013 for example, if they would need to get used to loud noises or bright lights. That included mapping out specific tasks step-by-step to make it easier for workers to anticipate what they would need to do.<\/p>\n

\u2018It is important to fit the job to the person, not the opposite,\u2019 Storm said. \u2018We wanted to show that manufacturing could be an employment option for autistic people.\u2019<\/p>\n

MindBot has submitted related employment guidelines to the European Commission for review and hopes that they\u2019ll be published.<\/p>\n

In any case, the work done under the project won\u2019t end here because the team members plan to investigate together other aspects of how robotics can improve workplace conditions.<\/p>\n

\u2018Many of MindBot\u2019s tools, methods and findings have already been used in other activities or will be,\u2019 Storm said.<\/p>\n

Research in this article was funded by the EU. The views of the interviewees don\u2019t necessarily reflect those of the European Commission.<\/em><\/p>\n

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