10th International Congress on Information and Communication Technology

Authors - J. Coetzer, R B Kuriakose, H J Vermaak
Abstract - As manufacturing and business sectors adopted Industry 4.0, the Fifth Industrial Revolution (Industry 5.0) emerged. Unlike its predecessor, Industry 5.0 extends its focus beyond economic growth and job creation, recognizing the manufacturing sector’s potential to support to broader societal goals. The continuous technological advancements and system improvements of Industry 5.0 have sparked a new area of research: enhancing human-machine interaction in commercial and industrial manufacturing environments by fostering better collaboration between humans and machines. There have been limited studies on how to establish a CDM process that takes into account the worker's recognition and ability to adapt to this development. The aim of the paper is to explore if existing protocols for Human-Machine Collaboration (HMC) are present in the manufacturing sector. If such protocols do not exist, the paper seeks to develop a universal protocol suitable for implementation in an Industry 5.0 context. An entirely mechanized water bottling plant will be serve as a case study to examine the effects of HMC. The study aims create a protocol that supports CDM within an Industry 5.0 environment. To support this goal, a single-case experiment has been conducted to test the theory of HMC that will lead to optimal production time of an automated system in an Industry 5.0 context. The paper details the background that motivated the research, methodology used and showcases steps taken in creating a protocol for CDM before concluding with the investigation of preliminary results, that show an up to an average of 24% reduction in production time.