Challenges and opportunities in human robot collaboration context of Industry 4.0-a state of the art review

Purpose In the present era of Industry 4.0, the manufacturing automation is moving toward mass production and mass customization through human-robot collaboration. The purpose of this paper is to describe various human-robot collaborative (HRC) techniques and their applicability for various manufacturing methods along with key challenges. Design/methodology/approach Numerous recent relevant research literature has been analyzed, and various human-robot interaction methods have been identified, and detailed discussions are made on one- and two-way human-robot collaboration. Findings The challenges in implementing human-robot collaboration for various manufacturing process and the challenges in one- and two-way collaboration between human and robot are found and discussed. Originality/value The authors have attempted to classify the HRC techniques and demonstrated the challenges in different modes.