Fostering Human-AI Collaboration with Digital Intelligent Assistance in Manufacturing SMEs

Abstract

Greater cognitive task load and the growing shortage of highly skilled labor provide ground for assistance systems based on Artificial Intelligence (AI). Conventional graphical interfaces to such systems are often hard to understand, obtrusive, and unintuitive. Natural language interactions provide one approach to address this shortcoming. Recently, voice-enabled Digital Intelligent Assistants (DIAs) for manufacturing matured enough to satisfy various industrial requirements. Their adoption by SMEs, however, is challenging due to the high cost of developing, deploying, and maintaining them. This paper presents the vision of a white-label shop for DIAs and human-AI collaboration in manufacturing. This shop and its associated concepts seek to reduce costs by introducing a one-stop shop where SMEs can find various elements necessary to introduce DIAs in their organizations.