Human-centered robotic development in the steel shop: Improving health, safety and digital skills at the workplace

Abstract

Within the implementation of the Industry 4.0 paradigm in the steel sector, robots can play a relevant role in improving health and safety conditions at the workplace, by overtaking cum-bersome, repetitive and risky operations. However, the implementation of robotics solutions in this particular sector is hampered by harsh operating conditions and by particular features of many procedures, which require a combination of force and sensitivity. Human–robot cooperation is a viable solution to overcome existing barriers, by synergistically combining human and robot abili-ties in the sense of a human-centered Industry 5.0. In this sense, robotics solution should be designed in a way to integrate and meet the end-users’ demands in a common development process for suc-cessfully implementation and widely acceptance. The paper presents the outcomes of the field evaluation of a robotic workstation, which was designed for a complex maintenance operation that is daily performed in the steel shop. The system derives from a co-creation process, where workers were involved since the beginning in the design process, according to the paradigm of social innovation combining technological and social development. Therefore, the evaluation aimed at as-sessing both system reliability and end-users’ satisfaction. The results show that the human-cen-tered robotic workstations are successful in reducing cumbersome operations and improving work-ers’ health and safety conditions, and that this fact is clearly perceived by system users and devel-opers.