Capability-based Task Allocation in Human-robot Collaboration

Abstract Close and safe interaction of humans and robots in joint production environments is technically feasible, however should not be implemented as an end in itself but to deliver improvement in any of a production system's target dimensions. Firstly, this paper shows that an essential challenge for system integrators during the design of HRC applications is to identify a suitable distribution of available tasks between a robotic and a human resource. Secondly, it proposes an approach to determine task allocation by considering the actual capabilities of both human and robot in order to improve work quality. It matches those capabilities with given requirements of a certain task in order to identify the maximum congruence as the basis for the allocation decision. The approach is based on a study and subsequent generic description of human and robotic capabilities as well as a heuristic procedure that facilities the decision making process.