A NEW TASK ALLOCATION METHOD FOR MOBILE COLLABORATIVE ROBOTS IN AUTOMOTIVE FINAL ASSEMBLY

Automotive final assembly is a complex process involving tasks requiring a significant amount of flexibility, for these reasons it has been difficult to automate and is still performed largely manually. Industry 4.0 concepts led to the deployment of collaborative robots, which don’t require physical separation as conventional industrial robots and can thus work closely to workers, taking over dangerous and physically demanding tasks. This research aim is proposing a new approach to Human-Robot task allocation and develop a systematic implementation framework to allow for an effective deployment of collaborative robot. Primary objective shall be to identify the variables that mainly affects the productivity of a HR collaborative assembly. The identified variables will be the main tool to propose a new task allocation method to assess the suitability of a task for collaborative automation. The proposed method will be then tested and validated by implementing the process into a virtual simulation environment and final productivity, ergonomics and safety considerations will be derived.