FW-HTF-P: Human-Robot Collaboration in Disassembly for Future Remanufacturing

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The research objective of this planning project is to advance fundamental knowledge related to human-robot collaboration in product disassembly. Currently, used product disassembly is a labor-intensive process typically conducted manually by human workers. Fostering collaboration between humans and robots in product disassembly will promote end-of-use product recovery, greater sustainability of American manufacturing, profitability of remanufacturing, and better quality of work life for future workers performing disassembly. Technical advances will include development of a computational framework for action planning, human motion prediction, and the control of robotic partners within collaborative human-robot interactions for disassembly. The project team will also perform planning activities (a series of workshops, meetings and a symposium) to explore possible ways to overcome challenges of remanufacturing automation, and to build collaborations between experts in engineering, psychology, sociology, education, marketing, and labor economics as they build a multidisciplinary research team for a long-term FW-HTF research initiative. The proposed pilot research activities will establish an integrated framework that automates disassembly in remanufacturing via the collaboration between human and robots. The framework to be developed will seek to optimize operational cost, disassembly efficiency, and flexibility in handling the variety of dissimilar products coming to remanufacturing sites. The framework consists of three interdependent components: task sequence planning in a human-robot collaborative setting; human behavior prediction; and planning, learning, and control for robots. Additional planning activities, including a symposium, several workshops, meetings, and webinars will foster the integration of multi-disciplinary perspectives from academia and industry. Successful long-term outcomes of this work also include new product design guidelines, new business models of remanufacturing, and new models of their impact on American manufacturing and remanufacturing. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop the necessary research personnel, research infrastructure, and foundational work to expand the opportunities for studying future technology, future workers, and future work at the level of a FW-HTF full research proposal.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.