A future look at human-robot workplace teamwork

摘要

If you are a modern factory worker, your future co-workers may be robots - if they aren't already. A new study aims to predict and optimize how those robots will interact with human co-workers in tomorrow's smart factories.The Intelligent Human-Robot Collaboration for Smart Factory project is supported by a $1.5 million National Robotics Initiative grant from the National Science Foundation. Case Western Reserve University, the Missouri University of Science and Technology and University of Florida are partners in the project along with an Italian-owned company based in Michigan.Though robotic devices and processes have been increasingly used in manufacturing for decades, studies of truecollaboration between people and machines have only just begun. Most researchers expect people to take on more nimble decision-making while robots handle the hard physical tasks, such as heavy lifting or producing the right tools.