Immersive Human-Robot Collaboration in Restricted or Confined Spaces

Paper in proceeding, 2024

The emergence of collaborative robots in confined spaces marks a new era in manufacturing and automation. Robots designed to assist human operators in complex and physically demanding tasks are gaining popularity due to their ability to work alongside humans, minimising risks and maximising productivity. However, most applications are in open areas where operators have enough space to move out of the robot’s trajectory in the case of an emergency. This paper presents a unique case study of Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) inside a car body, a scenario that has yet to be extensively explored. This study utilises the NASA TLX method to evaluate the workload of human operators in an HRC application. The paper presents findings of various factors such as mental, physical, and temporal demands, as well as performance, effort, and frustration levels experienced by operators while performing HRC tasks within a car body. The experiences of the participants were explored in detail through semi-structured interviews. The study indicates that operators are willing to collaborate with robots within car bodies. However, ergonomic obstacles and difficulties still exist when robots are deployed in confined spaces like car bodies. A new concept called “Immersive Human-Robot Collaboration” is proposed in this paper, aiming to overcome the challenges and enable effective HRC in confined spaces.