Quantifying the Economic and Ergonomic Potential of Simulated HRC Systems in the Focus of Demographic Change and Skilled Labor Shortage

Abstract

Ever since collaborative robotics emerged as one of the most prominent new technologies in the field of Industry 4.0 in the last number of years, current research has mainly been concerned with task allocation, productivity growth and influencing factors to increase the utilization and profit. The most important factor in designing these systems is the safety of the human. After identifying relevant factors in the field of human factors research, this paper provides a brief overview of current research in this area as well as the simulation of such systems. The productivity and allocation scenarios that have already been investigated are described on the basis of a use case. Designing HRC systems based on this use case and its identified factors is thematized in a conclusion at the end. The presented approach with the inclusion of a virtual simulation provides impulses for an extended economic feasibility study taking into account ergonomic aspects for early HRC planning and analysis.