On the quantification of human-robot collaboration quality

Abstract

Human-robot collaboration and interaction (HRC/I) for industrial applications is considered as a challenging topic that involves not only technological aspects but also extends to Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) research. However, a proper and efficient human-machine cooperation can increase productivity rates and quality of the overall process. This paper proposes a novel and simple human-robot collaboration–quality index (HRC–QI), aiming to assess the flexibility, performance, cost, and quality aspects of applications involving the co-existence and collaboration of such production entities. The definition of this index considers several metrics for capturing the contributions and drawbacks introduced by the involvement of either humans or robots depending on their attributes and roles within the production operation. Four distinct case studies involving different HRC schemes in different production sectors are used to verify the effectiveness and ease of application of the suggested index.