Task Allocation and Sequence Planning for Human-Robot Collaborative Disassembly of End-of-Life Products Using the Bees Algorithm

Remanufacturing, which benefits the environment and saves resources, is attracting increasing attention. Disassembly is arguably the most critical step in the remanufacturing of end-of-life (EoL) products. Human-robot collaborative disassembly as a flexible semi-automated approach can increase productivity and relieve people of tedious, laborious, and sometimes hazardous jobs. Task allocation in human-robot collaborative disassembly involves methodically assigning disassembly tasks to human operators or robots. However, the schemes for task allocation in recent studies have not been sufficiently refined and the issue of component placement after disassembly has not been fully addressed in recent studies. This paper presents a method of task allocation and sequence planning for human-robot collaborative disassembly of EoL products. The adopted criteria for human-robot disassembly task allocation are introduced. The disassembly of each component includes dismantling and placing. The performance of a disassembly plan is evaluated according to the time, cost, and utility value. A discrete Bees Algorithm using genetic operators is employed to optimise the generated human-robot collaborative disassembly solutions. The proposed task allocation and sequence planning method is validated in two case studies involving an electric motor and a power battery from an EoL vehicle. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method for planning and optimising human-robot collaborative disassembly solutions.