Voice user interfaces in manufacturing logistics: a literature review

Due to the increasing digitalization in manufacturing logistics, devices to integrate the worker into the digital manufacturing system are necessary. A voice user interface (VUI) can be considered suitable for this purpose due to its flexibility and intuitive operability. Despite the popularity and acceptance of VUIs in everyday life, their use in industrial applications, especially in manufacturing logistics, is still rare. While VUIs have been successfully used in order picking for decades, hardly any other industrial fields of application exist. In this paper, we have identified various barriers to the use of VUI in industrial applications. We categorized them and identified four key barriers. We then conducted a systematic literature review to determine and compare already investigated application areas of VUIs, their characteristics, advantages and disadvantages. We found that in particular the operation of machines and industrial robots, as well as general data and information output on machine and system status, maintenance and employee training are frequently investigated. It is noticeable that VUIs are often used in combination with other user interfaces (UIs). Some challenges to VUI usage, such as high ambient noise levels, have already been solved through various approaches, while other challenges remain. Based on the results of the literature review, we put forward a research agenda regarding further suitable industrial application areas as well as general challenges for the use of VUIs in industrial environments. © 2023, The Author(s).