Current research and future perspectives on human factors and ergonomics in Industry 4.0

Abstract

The journey toward Industry 4.0 and the increasing implementation of Cyber Physical Systems are evoking changes in human work and work organization, thus, creating new challenges and opportunities. To take advantage of these opportunities and deal with the challenges, we must gain a holistic understanding of the emerging socio-technical interactions and apply new human-centric approaches and methods when introducing new digital technologies and designing Industry 4.0-enabled work systems. In this paper, we present the findings of a systematic literature review, consisting of quantitative and qualitative data, focusing on investigating to what extent, what type, and how academic publications on Industry 4.0 integrate human factors and ergonomics in their research. Based on these findings, we point to future research needs, highlighting the need for further empirical evidence and improved collaboration between the academic fields of Industry 4.0, human factors, and ergonomics, as well as with practitioners.