Collaborative robotics is a challenging topic characterized by multidisciplinary approaches. Many researchers are facing this innovative manufacturing system studying several aspects such as task allocation, facility layout problem and timing. Above all, one of the most important issues in collaborative robotics is the wellbeing of the operator collaborating with the robot system during the different phases of the process.The added value of a collaborative workplace respect to the manual and automatic workplace is strictly correlated to a safe and ergonomic interaction between the operator and the robot. Indeed, the combination of robot and operator skills lead to a higher level of accuracy and flexibility. Thus, assessing operator’s working conditions requires the acquisition, eventually in real time, of relevant parameters such as posture, movements and interactive tasks. This may require the adoption of existing metrics proposed by standard evaluation guidelines, as well as the introduction of new or modified prescription to consider the presence of the robot.The ergonomics analysis in collaborative robotics is evaluated by considering both physical and cognitive aspects of the operator during the interaction with the robot. In a collaborative workplace this is one of the key aspects to deal with. The assessment is generally accomplished by indirect measurement using traditional indexes (e.g., provided by RULA or REBA) but this provides a partial solution for the ergonomic evaluation and does not consider cognitive issues, e.g., if the operator feels safe or accepts the robot. As a result of this, in the last years, many researchers have proposed approaches to introduce new solutions for assessing the ergonomics in the field of collaborative robotics.The aim of this work is the definition of a scientific review relative to the ergonomic evaluation of collaborative workplace by investigating the scientific literature. The search has been accomplished using the Scopus database by means of a set of key words specifically defined to investigate the ergonomics in the collaborative robotics (e.g., “collaborative robotics”, “human-robot collaboration” and “ergonomics”). Furthermore, inclusion and exclusion criteria have been accurately defined and employed. The papers obtained have been also clustered using the free tool Vosviewer, that is intended to highlight eventual trends.Consolidated and innovative contributions are organized in clusterization diagrams and they show interesting research trends about the most innovative approaches for the ergonomics analysis. Several researches demonstrate how the conventional indexes for the physical ergonomics can be exploited for collaborative robotics but without specifically considering the interaction between robot and operator. Other scientific works present the use of innovative technologies as Virtual Reality to emulate the interaction with one or more collaborative robots. Some other publications demonstrate how to introduce sensing devices for a more objective evaluation of the cognitive ergonomics. The review provides a sharp classification, a critical analysis of the most relevant contributions in this field so that emerging trends for future development can be defined and discussed.

Collaborative Robotics and Ergonomics: A Scientific Review

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IMECE/IMECE2021/volume/85543

ASME 2021 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE2021)

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