Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) is a form of direct interaction between humans and robots. The objective of this type of interaction is to perform a task by combining the skills of both humans and ...robots. HRC is characterized by several aspects, related both to robots and humans. Many works have focused on the study of specific aspects related to HRC, e.g., safety, task organization. However, a major issue is to find a general framework to evaluate the collaboration between humans and robots considering all the aspects of the interaction. The goals of this paper are the following: (i) highlighting the different latent dimensions that characterize the HRC problem and (ii) constructing a conceptual framework to evaluate and compare different HRC configuration profiles. The description of the methodology is supported by some practical examples.
•The paper provides a quantitative analysis of bibliometric-database errors in the databases Scopus and Web of Science.•A large corpus of errors in the two databases are collected using an automated ...procedure.•Errors are divided in the two macro-categories: (A) pre-existing errors and (B) database mapping errors.•The analysis reveals lack of correlation between databases, regarding the error classification.•The description is supported by practical examples concerning a variety of errors in the two databases.
In the last decade, a growing number of studies focused on the qualitative/quantitative analysis of bibliometric-database errors. Most of these studies relied on the identification and (manual) examination of relatively limited samples of errors.
Using an automated procedure, we collected a large corpus of more than 10,000 errors in the two multidisciplinary databases Scopus and Web of Science (WoS), mainly including articles in the Engineering-Manufacturing field. Based on the manual examination of a portion (of about 10%) of these errors, this paper provides a preliminary analysis and classification, identifying similarities and differences between Scopus and WoS.
The analysis reveals interesting results, such as: (i) although Scopus seems more accurate than WoS, it tends to forget to index more papers, causing the loss of the relevant citations given/obtained, (ii) both databases have relatively serious problems in managing the so-called Online-First articles, and (iii) lack of correlation between databases, regarding the distribution of the errors in several error categories.
The description is supported by practical examples concerning a variety of errors in the Scopus and WoS databases.
A worldwide survey on manufacturing servitization Mastrogiacomo, Luca; Barravecchia, Federico; Franceschini, Fiorenzo
International journal of advanced manufacturing technology,
08/2019, Volume:
103, Issue:
9-12
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Manufacturing servitization is defined as the process of innovating companies’ capabilities and procedures to support the shift from providing products to providing product-service systems. Many ...studies have focused on this process, with particular regard to the potential benefits. Despite this general interest, a major void still concerns the quantification of its extent, e.g. in terms of involved companies and geographical diffusion. This study is based on the analysis of secondary data of a large sample of manufacturing companies from almost all over the world.
Research
and
teaching
are the two most characteristic activities of the professional life of academics. Since the second half of the last century, a plurality of studies focused on the link between ...these activities, with often contrasting conclusions. While some studies are in line with the von-Humboldtian view of research and teaching as synergistic activities, other studies theorize their uncorrelation or even negative tension. This divergence of views probably stems from the fact that investigations are often based on heterogeneous, limited and difficult-to-generalise data, using mainly qualitative metrics. This paper deepens the study of the research-teaching link, through a survey of 251 academics from Politecnico di Torino, i.e., one of the major Italian technical universities. From a methodological point of view, research and teaching are both analysed from the dual perspective of
workload
and
quality of results
obtained, on the basis of data of various kinds, including bibliometric indicators, teaching satisfaction indexes, number of credits awarded to students, etc. Next, a correlation analysis investigates possible links between teaching and research, showing that they tend to be weak and/or statistically insignificant. For instance, the investigation excludes both (i) the existence of a negative link in terms of workload—contradicting considerations such as “
Those who do more teaching have less time to do research and
vice versa”—and (ii) the existence of a positive link in terms of the quality of the results obtained—contradicting considerations such as “
Those who obtain high quality results in research are likely to do the same in teaching and
vice versa”. The results of this study are limited to the Italian context and do not necessarily have general validity. Nevertheless, they enhance previous findings in the scientific literature and may be useful for university administrators and those involved in the formulation of incentive strategies for academics.
External metrology systems are increasingly being integrated with traditional industrial articulated robots, especially in the aerospace industries, to improve their absolute accuracy for precision ...operations such as drilling, machining and jigless assembly. While currently most of the metrology assisted robotics control systems are limited in their position update rate, such that the robot has to be stopped in order to receive a metrology coordinate update, some recent efforts are addressed toward controlling robots using real-time metrology data. The indoor GPS is one of the metrology systems that may be used to provide real-time 6DOF data to a robot controller. Even if there is a noteworthy literature dealing with the evaluation of iGPS performance, there is, however, a lack of literature on how well the iGPS performs under dynamic conditions. This paper presents an experimental evaluation of the dynamic measurement performance of the iGPS, tracking the trajectories of an industrial robot. The same experiment is also repeated using a laser tracker. Besides the experiment results presented, this paper also proposes a novel method for dynamic repeatability comparisons of tracking instruments.
Assembly complexity assessment is a widely addressed topic in manufacturing. Several studies proved the correlation between assembly complexity and the occurrence of defects, thus justifying this ...increasing attention. A measure of complexity provides control over quality costs and performances. Over the years, many methods have been proposed to provide an objective measure of complexity. One of the most widely diffused is the so-called MCAT (i.e., “Manufacturing Complexity Assessment Tool”) modified by Samy and ElMaraghy H. for assessing product assembly complexity. Although this method highlights some interesting aspects, it presents some critical issues. This work aims to thoroughly analyse this method, focusing on its strengths and limitations.
Research funding is essential to promote the scientific activity of researchers and the dissemination of their results. Simplifying, funding schemes can be classified in two categories—
competitive
...and
non-competitive
—with several corresponding advantages and shortcomings, which are widely discussed in the scientific literature. The researchers of Politecnico di Torino (i.e., one of the major Italian technical universities) have recently been funded through a non-competitive research funding, consisting of 14k€ for every single researcher in each of the last three years (i.e., from 2017 to 2019), for a total of 42k€. This somewhat unusual initiative—also called “diffused funding” (DF)—represents an important opportunity to investigate the effects of the relatively large allocation of non-competitive funding to single researchers. In this regard, this paper investigates the effects of the DF on the researchers’ scientific output, according to four dimensions of analysis:
publishing productivity
,
publishing diffusion/impact
,
journal reputation
, and
international research relations
. Preliminary results do not indicate any improvement in the publication output, at least in the short term.
One of the main paradigms of Industry 5.0 is represented by human-robot collaboration (HRC), which aims to support humans in production processes. However, working entire shifts in close contact with ...a robotic system may introduce new hazards from a cognitive ergonomics perspective. This paper presents a methodological approach to monitor the evolution of the operator’s psychophysical state noninvasively in shifts of a repetitive assembly process, focusing on stress, mental workload, and fatigue. Through the use of non-invasive biosensors, it is possible to obtain objective information, even in real time, on the operator’s cognitive load and stress in a naturalistic manner (i.e., without interrupting or hindering the process). In the HRC setting, recognition of the operator’s psychophysical state is the first step in supporting his or her well-being and can provide clues to improve collaboration. The proposed method was applied to a case study aimed at comparing shifts performed both manually and with a cobot of a repetitive assembly process. The results showed significant differences in terms of process performance evolution and psychophysical state of the operator. In particular, the presence of the cobot resulted in fewer process failures, stress and cognitive load especially in the first phase of the work shift. The case study analyzed also showed the adequacy of noninvasively collected physiological data in providing important information on the evolution of the operator’s stress, cognitive load, and fatigue.
The rapid advancement of robotics and artificial intelligence paves the way for collaborative robotics to revolutionise industrial operations. Collaborative robotics can bring significant ...improvements in productivity, efficiency, and safety. Recently, the concept of Symbiotic Human-Robot Collaboration (SHRC) has emerged within the field of collaborative robotics, emphasising the seamless and adaptive integration of human and robotic capabilities within a shared workspace to optimise overall production performance. However, existing collaborative systems frequently face difficulties in establishing dynamic relationships with humans and adapting to evolving conditions, ultimately restricting their overall potential. This paper investigates the essential features required for collaborative workstations to enable SHRC. Moreover, with the aim of fully harnessing the power of collaborative robotics, the paper introduces a design methodology that supports the development of symbiotic workstations for specific assembly operations. A real-world case study is provided, demonstrating the practical implementation and benefits of the proposed design approach.
In the landscape of the emerging Industry 5.0, human–robot collaboration (HRC) represents a solution to increase the flexibility and reconfigurability of production processes. Unlike classical ...industrial automation, in HRC it is possible to have direct interaction between humans and robots. Consequently, in order to effectively implement HRC it is necessary to consider not only technical aspects related to the robot but also human aspects. The focus of this paper is to expand on previous results investigating how the learning process (i.e., the experience gained through the interaction) affects the user experience in the HRC in conjunction with different configuration factors (i.e., robot speed, task execution control, and proximity to robot workspace). Participants performed an assembly task in 12 different configurations and provided feedback on their experience. In addition to perceived interaction quality, self-reported affective state and stress-related physiological indicators (i.e., average skin conductance response and heart rate variability) were collected. A deep quantitative analysis of the response variables revealed a significant influence of the learning process in the user experience. In addition, the perception of some configuration factors changed during the experiment. Finally, a significant influence of participant characteristics also emerged, auguring the necessity of promoting a human-centered HRC.
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