Human-cobot collaboration's impact on success, time completion, errors, workload, gestures and acceptability during an assembly task

Étienne Fournier; Christine Jeoffrion; Belal Hmedan; Damien Pellier; Humbert Fiorino; Aurélie Landry

doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2024.104306

Human-cobot collaboration's impact on success, time completion, errors, workload, gestures and acceptability during an assembly task

Appl Ergon. 2024 May 6:119:104306. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2024.104306. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Étienne Fournier¹, Christine Jeoffrion², Belal Hmedan³, Damien Pellier³, Humbert Fiorino³, Aurélie Landry³

Affiliations

¹ Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, LIP/PC2S, 38000, Grenoble, France. Electronic address: etienne.fournier@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr.
² Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, LIP/PC2S, 38000, Grenoble, France.
³ Laboratoire D'Informatique de Grenoble, Université Grenoble Alpes, CS 40700, 38058 Cedex, Grenoble, France.

PMID: 38714102
DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2024.104306

Abstract

The 5.0 industry promotes collaborative robots (cobots). This research studies the impacts of cobot collaboration using an experimental setup. 120 participants realized a simple and a complex assembly task. 50% collaborated with another human (H/H) and 50% with a cobot (H/C). The workload and the acceptability of the cobotic collaboration were measured. Working with a cobot decreases the effect of the task complexity on the human workload and on the output quality. However, it increases the time completion and the number of gestures (while decreasing their frequency). The H/C couples have a higher chance of success but they take more time and more gestures to realize the task. The results of this research could help developers and stakeholders to understand the impacts of implementing a cobot in production chains.

Keywords: 5.0 industry; Acceptability; Collaborative robot; Workload.