Industry 4.0 (I4.0) encompasses a plethora of digital technologies effecting on manufacturing enterprises. Most research on this topic examines the effects in the smart factory domain, focusing on ...

The applications of Industry 4.0 technologies in manufacturing context: a systematic literature review

Systematic literature review on augmented reality in smart manufacturing: Collaboration between human and computational intelligence

Nowadays, numerous companies and industries introduce recycling processes in their production, aiming to increase the sustainable use of the planet’s natural resources. Nevertheless, these processes remain inefficient due to the high degree of complexity and variation in the products. In order to remedy this, industry stakeholders adopt the circular economy business model and introduce take-back programmes and remanufacturing processes for their End of Life products in their own supply chains. Take-back programmes enable the re-sourcing of sub-assemblies and components of previously manufactured products while remanufacturing processes encourage non-destructive disassembly. Due to the uncertain conditions of the re-sourced products, fully automated cells cannot cope with the demanding disassembly processes. Therefore, there is a need to establish hybrid disassembly robot cells where humans and robots work closely together in a process known as human–robot collaborative disassembly (HRCD). This paper examines the landscape of HRCD and reviews the progress in the field during the period 2009–2020. The analysis investigates principles and elements of human–robot collaboration in industrial environments such as safety standards and collaborative operation modes, HRI communication interfaces, and the design characteristics of a disassembly process. Additionally, the various technical challenges of HRCD are explored, and a review of existing systems supporting HRCD is presented. This review aims to support the robotics community in the future development of HRCD systems, discuss identified literature gaps, and suggest future research directions in this area.

Human-robot collaboration in industrial environments: A literature review on non-destructive disassembly

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature and offer a more generalizable empirical investigation on the performance impact of implementing Industry 4.0, and the way important contingency factors (plant size, multinational status, country context) affect implementation efforts.,Following a systematic literature review, the empirical research is based on a large-scale survey of 705 manufacturing plants from 22 countries. Structural equation modeling is employed to discover the relationships between the main constructs of interest, complemented with subgroup analyses to offer a more detailed understanding of the main effects.,We provide evidence that technologies enabling Industry 4.0 have a positive impact on operational performance, including cost, quality, delivery and flexibility performance. Results of the analyses further indicate that (1) larger firms invest more in implementing Industry 4.0 technologies, (2) manufacturing firms in less competitive countries, especially in the South-East Asian region invest significantly more effort than competitive countries, while (3) multinational companies have no advantage over local firms.,The survey data employed in this study refers to the early years of companies embracing Industry 4.0 solutions, and thus does not contain the most recent advances in manufacturing technologies.,The paper represents one of the first studies in the literature to assess on a large-scale survey the performance impact of Industry 4.0 technologies, as well as the main contingency factors affecting the implementation of these technologies.

Industry 4.0: a review and analysis of contingency and performance effects

Nowadays, numerous companies and industries introduce recycling processes in their production, aiming to increase the sustainable use of the planet’s natural resources. Nevertheless, these processes remain inefficient due to the high degree of complexity and variation in the products. In order to remedy this, industry stakeholders adopt the circular economy business model and introduce take-back programmes and remanufacturing processes for their End of Life products in their own supply chains. Take-back programmes enable the re-sourcing of sub-assemblies and components of previously manufactured products while remanufacturing processes encourage non-destructive disassembly. Due to the uncertain conditions of the re-sourced products, fully automated cells cannot cope with the demanding disassembly processes. Therefore, there is a need to establish hybrid disassembly robot cells where humans and robots work closely together in a process known as human–robot collaborative disassembly (HRCD). This paper examines the landscape of HRCD and reviews the progress in the field during the period 2009–2020. The analysis investigates principles and elements of human–robot collaboration in industrial environments such as safety standards and collaborative operation modes, HRI communication interfaces, and the design characteristics of a disassembly process. Additionally, the various technical challenges of HRCD are explored, and a review of existing systems supporting HRCD is presented. This review aims to support the robotics community in the future development of HRCD systems, discuss identified literature gaps, and suggest future research directions in this area. 

Human–robot collaboration in industrial environments: A literature review on non-destructive disassembly

Mixed reality-based user interface for quality control inspection of car body surfaces

This research develops a new mixed reality-based worker interface for industrial camera 3D positioning, which is intuitive and easy to manage, in order to enhance the worker safety, ergonomics and productivity. An experimental prototype to be used in the car body quality control is developed in the paper. The benefits and drawbacks of the proposed interface are discussed along the paper and sustained through several usability tests conducted with users familiar and not-familiar with mixed reality devices. Furthermore, the feasibility of the proposed approach is demonstrated by tests made in an industrial environment with skilled workers from Alfatec Sistemas company.

Xavier Mahiques

Papers

Mixed reality-based user interface for quality control inspection of car body surfaces

Camera 3D positioning mixed reality-based interface to improve worker safety, ergonomics and productivity