Difficulty and complexity definitions for assembly task allocation and assignment in human–robot collaborations: A review

Abstract

This paper presents a literature review on the different aspects of task allocation and assignment problems in human–robot collaboration (HRC) tasks in industrial assembly environments. In future advanced industrial environments, robots and humans are expected to share the same workspace and collaborate to efficiently achieve shared goals. Difficulty- and complexity-aware HRC assembly is necessary for human-centric manufacturing, which is a goal of Industry 5.0. Therefore, the objective of this study is to clarify the definitions of difficulty and complexity used to encourage effective collaboration between humans and robots to leverage the adaptability of humans and the autonomy of robots. To achieve this goal, a systematic review of the following relevant databases for computer science was performed: IEEE Xplore, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, ACM Digital Library, and ASME Digital Collection. The results extracted from 74 peer-reviewed research articles published until July 2022 were summarized and categorized into four taxonomies for 145 difficulty and complexity definitions from the perspectives of (1) definition-use objectives, (2) evaluation objectives, (3) evaluation factors, and (4) evaluation variables. Next, existing definitions were primarily classified according to the following two criteria to identify potential future studies on the formulation of new definitions for human-centric manufacturing: (1) agent specificity and (2) common aspects in manual and robotic assemblies.