“We create collaborative environments where people and machines are able to work together at industrial plants”
The human factor and support for the 4.0 worker throughout all stages of his or her working life
A group of experts in engineering and technology are carrying out an enabling technologies research and development project for efficient cooperation between workers and smart systems in the factory of the future.
The aim is to create collaborative environments where people and machines are able to work together in industrial plants, adapting to their physical capabilities, sensory-motor needs and cognitive skills.
The team, made up of the TECNALIA, TEKNIKER and VICOMTECH technology centres, as well as ELHUYAR Fundazioa and MONDRAGÓN ESKOLA POLITEKNIKOA (MU-EPS), has been able to measure its advances and applications with a contrast committee. This committee, made up of companies from the industrial, automation engineering and technology sector, as well as information system providers, has ensured its future approach to the market. An effective and practical tool for companies has also been created.
This adaptation of smart industrial systems to the operator has been sought through technological axes, such as virtual reality and augmented reality simulation, monitoring the operator’s trust in the system, adaptive interfaces and conversational agents, placing the person at the centre of automation.
Demonstrators or use cases
The end result is two demonstrators or use cases. The first case focuses on virtual reality training scenarios in machining tasks. More specifically, the manual control of machining is simulated immersively with the movements of the tool and the interaction through mixed reality (the person can visualise their hands and feel the sensation of touching a virtual element). Furthermore, a virtual voice assistant has been included, which provides answers when the person poses a question regarding the operation.
The second case, aimed at the collaborative inspection/assembly, uses mixed reality and voice commands: a person operates on a section of an aircraft flap, and by programming the robot's actions from the mixed environment, these actions can be visualised before they are executed, confirming their execution by voice. In this way, the objective of collaborating in the performance of inspection tasks is achieved through multimodal interaction.
Improving the quality of life of workers
The COGILE initiative improves the quality of life of workers by increasing their well-being and productivity. It represents a breakthrough in industry, and especially in the training of people and their work on the shop floor: it will enable technology to be adapted to people's needs, rather than forcing them to adapt to technology.
COGILE validation has been twofold. On the one hand, in the training world with MU-EPS teachers and students and, on the other hand, with the final contrast on 24th March, with the companies RPK, Fagor Automation and Iruña Technologies.
This project is subsidised by the Basque Government’s Elkartek programme (Department for Economic Development, Sustainability and Environment).
