Towards Enabling Human-Robot Collaboration in Industry: Identification of Current Implementation Barriers

Abstract

Human-robot collaboration (HRC) is designed to combine the repeatability and precision of robots with the flexibility and adaptability of human workers. However, despite being researched for several years, HRC applications are still not broadly adopted in the industry. This study aims to identify current barriers to HRC adoption in the industry from a practical perspective. Therefore, a qualitative explorative approach based on semi-structured interviews with knowledgeable industry experts was chosen. The study was conducted in cooperation between IMT Nord Europe and the Technical University of Munich in France and Germany. Thereby, several experts from various backgrounds in areas such as robot manufacturing, system integration, and robot application in manufacturing were interviewed. These interviews are inductively analysed, and the findings are compared to the state-of-the-art in scientific HRC research. The study offers insights into the practical barriers to HRC adoption resulting from the technical, economic, social, and normative dimensions as well as the trade-offs between them. Based on these insights, opportunities for future research are identified.