Humans Committed to Organisations and Work Transformations in the «Factories of the Future » through cobotisation – HECTTOR

Saraceno's (2020) socio-historical critique of the industry of the future and collaborative robotics describes industry as a succession of revolutions, with the cobot as the central character. It explores controversies over the status of machines, repositioning the development of cobotics in its historical context. Two case studies are examined: a prototype for a hygiene company and cobotization in an aeronautical SME (Bounouar et al., 2022). Analysis of the work of finishing operators shows that their actions require perceptual-cognitive know-how, posing technological challenges for cobots in terms of speed, safety, and quality. Three technological avenues are proposed: custom-made mechatronic systems, cobots with specific effectors, and exoskeletons, although the latter can modify the relationship with matter. Bounouar et al. (2022) propose an approach integrating industrial engineering and ergonomics to design cobotic solutions. Lafeuillade (2021) highlights the crucial role of managers in balancing performance and adaptation to change, illustrated by the new digital requirements of aeronautical certifications, impacting the quality of work and corporate culture.

The exploration of the feasibility of cobotic solutions to support professional actions was investigated through two case studies: the development of a prototype for a company in the hygiene sector and cobotization in an SME subcontracting in the aeronautics industry. The analysis of the relevance and feasibility of the cobotics project in the SME was based on the characterization of the work of the finishing operators and a participatory design approach. These analyses showed that finishing gestures mobilize perceptual-cognitive knowledge and skills developed from lived experiences and closely linked to the material being worked. However, this exploration revealed the complexity of gesture support and the current technological limitations of collaborative robotics systems to achieve the objectives of collaboration, healthcare work, and industrial performance.

Three avenues of technological assistance were considered: custom-designed mechatronic systems, cobotic systems with specific effectors, and exoskeletons. Based on this work, a project management approach combining industrial engineering and ergonomics was proposed to explore the feasibility and design of cobotic solutions.

Furthermore, the work of managers is subject to tension between preserving the company's balance and responding to the demands of constant change in the era of the industry of the future. Managers play a central role in maintaining company performance and workplace health, seeking a balance between existing knowledge and expertise and their necessary developments. Ongoing technological changes are transforming the sensitive experience of work, professional gestures, and the relationship with the material worked on, guarantees of quality and health, as well as the history and culture of the company. For example, a recent evolution in the aeronautical certification of SMEs has introduced new traceability requirements, requiring the implementation of digital technologies in production management, which questions the relationship between manufacturing processes and the quality of the ceramic core.

This interdisciplinary work remains to be continued; it requires the continuation of work beyond a single project and other instruments for constructing this interdisciplinarity (see development of training via EUR).

Bounouar, M.; Béarée, R.; Siadat, A.; Benchekroun, T.-H. On the role of human operators in the design process of cobotic systems. Cognition, Technology and Work. 2021, 24 (1), 57-73.

Bounouar, M.; et al. Vers un cadre méthodologique de conception des systèmes humains-robots. 13ème Conférence internationale de modélisation, optimisation et simulation (MOSIM 2020) : « Nouvelles avancées et défis pour des industries durables et avisées. Agadir, Maroc. Nov 2020, 718-724.

Bounouar, M.; et al. User-centered design of a collaborative robotic system for an industrial recycling operation. 1st International Conference on Innovative Research in Applied Science, Engineering and Technology (IRASET'2020). Meknes, Morocco. Apr 2020, 1-6,

Lafeuillade, A.-C.; Buchmann, W.; Barcellini, F.; Benchekroun, T.-H. Intégrer un robot collaboratif sur un poste de travail ? Intérêts et vigilances de dirigeants de 5 PME françaises. 4ème congrès francophone sur les TMS. Monastir, Tunisie. Nov 2022.

Developping "Factories of the Future" implies to question work transformation and position of operators in their cooperation action with various technologies, such as cobots. The goal of this collaborative research project (PRC HECTTOR) - coupling ergonomics, sociology, anthropoly and process engineering - is to better understand technological, human and organizational issues of cobotization in small and medium-sized companies in France, with a prospective ambition. This focus on such companies is one of the originalities of our project, a second belongs to its origine as it is grounded in a COMUE HESAM initiative around "Factories of the Future" (the ECHINE project). To reach our objective, the project is structured around three tasks augmented by a valorization tasks. Anticipating and acting on the future implies to understand what is "already there" : the first three tasks deal with three complementary diagnosis (a social, political and technological diagonis, an organisational diagnosis and a diagnosis dealing with actual human-robot collaboration). These diagnosis will ground the construction of a prospective vision which concerns the development of management of transitions of work models. Impacts of the projects concern four main issues :
• Political and social issues. Our work will help in understanding in an holistic and systemic manner health and safety, training and transition of work management in "Factories of the Future", feeding this way political and social questions.
• Health and Safety, and training-skill management issues addressed through analysis of actual role of cobotization in relation to increasing/reducing of occupational health issues, training and enhancement of work. Indeed, introduction of cobots migth lead to enhance quality of work but can also lead to rigidification of work.
• Transition in work management issues leading to the development of more sustainable work and more agile organization. Our work will help to understand and act on the position of operators and their work in evolution of organizations. In which way, transition in work management models : are they grounded in actual participation of humans in decision and design processes? do support the development of a qualitative work? do create sustainable work conditions ?
• Technological issues related to possibilities of dynamic adaptation of design and production tools (e.g. simulation) and cobots to the diversity of situations that operators have to cope with, such as the evolutions of organizations. This implies to integrate human, health and safety, and organizational issues in early stages of design and transitions of work projects.
Results of the project will be valorized by publications in each discipline, such as a common publication following a seminar. This seminar will help in targetting a more broad academic and industrial audience, in particular small and medium-size companies.