Enhancing Inclusivity in Manufacturing with Cobots: Overview and Conceptual Model

This study addresses the high unemployment rates among people with disabilities by exploring task assignment and load balancing in manufacturing work systems to enhance accessibility, inclusivity, and productivity. With a particular focus on the decreasing availability of physically demanding manufacturing and blue-collar jobs, the paper addresses how emerging technologies, in particular collaborative robots (cobots), can reduce work demands and facilitate a balanced workload tailored to physical and cognitive parameters. It introduces a three-dimensional conceptual model that includes the human, the work system, and the assistant system, highlighting an assembly line scenario with a cobot as an assistant system. The model is optimized through task sharing, demonstrating a strategic approach to enhance inclusivity in work systems. Validation of the proposed model is achieved through a simulation that illustrates how cobot integration can balance workloads and maintain productivity while addressing barriers in work systems.