Human-robot collaborative systems: Structural components for current manufacturing applications

The implementation of human-robot collaborative systems in industrial environments have widely extended during the last five years, from manufacturing applications reproduced in laboratory facilities or digital simulations to real automotive shop floors. Commonly, one way to guide their design has been through the adoption of international standards focused solely on the safe operation of collaborative robots. The main objective of this paper is the identification of basic components comprising human-robot collaborative systems design. This is supported by two steps, 1) Provide an extensive compendium of current applications and components within a varied set of manufacturing sectors and tasks. 2) Based on the latter, propose a selection of “structural components” for collaborative work. We conceptualized structural components as the organizational and technological alternatives necessary to fulfil the basic requirements and functionalities of human-robot collaborative systems. This document presents a systematic literature review that includes 50 exemplary case studies implemented in different manufacturing environments throughout the last five years praxis (2016–2020). Four structural components were identified in this paper: interaction levels, work roles, communication interfaces and safety control modes. Furthermore, it was found that physical contact-based collaboration for screwing assembly of small-sized parts and material handling of heavyweight objects are suitable applications for the automotive industry. Moreover, certified augmented and virtual reality devices were highlighted as convenient assistive technologies for safety and training manufacturing needs. The presented categorization will allow practitioners on selecting settings of compatible structural components that could respond better to trendy manufacturing requirements searching for highly personalized products.