Supporting Manufacturing Companies when Implementing Cobots in the Context of Industry 5.0

Abstract Placing human well-being and aspects of operator safety at the center of production systems in the spirit of Industry 5.0 is important. The implementation of new technology is often complex, especially when balancing aspects of safety and productivity, which is essential for success. Addressing challenges of safety while maintaining productivity in many cases can affect and halt the implementation of cobots. To address this gap, this thesis aims to support manufacturing companies implementing cobots in an Industry 5.0 context. The aim is satisfied by combining and utilizing an abductive research approach with a quality- and quantity-based case study research strategy at a large manufacturing enterprise. The results indicate that both challenges and enablers when implementing cobots are related to risk assessment, navigating risk assessment with operational performance, and organizational culture. The presented guidelines on how an HRC workstation area is designed can be used by manufacturing companies to support the implementation of cobots. Keywords: Collaborative robots, cobot, Industry 5.0, human-robot collaboration (HRC), safety, and productivity.