From ship to shore: Reducing the barriers to collaborative robot uptake in shipbuilding and manufacturing through human factors

Human factors and ergonomics (HFE) explores the interaction between humans, their work and the environment in which it takes place (including the tools and equipment involved). HFE aims to deliver productivity and wellbeing gains through deep understanding of the experience and capabilities of humans.

Collaborative robots (cobots) are speed and force limited industrial robotic arms that are designed with reduced pinch-points, smooth joint-shells and in-built safety sensors. Among their intended benefits are increased productivity, improved product quality and improved employee ergonomics.

A low complexity glue dispensing task performed in a laboratory environment was conducted to compare manual (person) dispensing efforts with cobot-assisted dispensing (see images below) which involved users teaching the cobot the glue path via hand-guiding (i.e. repeated measures trial design).In addition to task performance measures, trial participants provided a range of feedback relating to the task as well as cobots and their work environment more broadly.

The results and insights provided here are based on the experience of a total of 19 users (including 1female) from the shipyard and manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Adelaide, South Australia (some apprentices were included). Ages ranged from 18 to 61 years.