People working alongside robots has, to a degree, been a part of the industrial landscape for many years. But researchers writing in the International Journal of Manufacturing Research, suggest that human-robot collaboration is set to transform modern manufacturing by combining the adaptability of humans with the precision and speed of robots.
Unlike conventional industrial robots, which excel at repetitive, high-accuracy tasks but struggle with variability, collaborative systems would allow humans and robots to work side-by-side in shared workspaces. This would be particularly suited to complex assembly and production environments, where flexibility and nuanced decision-making are essential.
Recent advances emphasise multimodal interaction, in which robots can interpret and respond to human speech, gestures, touch and perhaps even brain signals, allowing them to respond dynamically in real time. Voice commands are an obvious and common means of control, although they do not necessarily work well in noisy factory settings. Gesture recognition provides a non-verbal alternative, capturing hand, arm, facial, and full-body movements to convey instructions. By integrating skeletal tracking and motion capture, robots might anticipate human actions and adjust their movements safely and efficiently.
Physical interaction is also evolving through haptic technologies, which allow operators to guide robots directly using touch. Adaptive control techniques, including sensorless admittance and impedance control, translate these contact forces into precise robotic movements, enabling responsive and safe collaboration. Complementing this, digital twin simulations allow manufacturers to optimise assembly processes and predict human behaviour before applying changes on the factory floor, bridging the gap between virtual planning and real-world execution.
The integration of advanced sensing, AI-driven interpretation, and flexible control strategies might also help manufacturing evolve into a more intuitive, efficient, and adaptive enterprise. Multimodal human-robot collaboration might improve assembly efficiency and safety but might also lay the groundwork for factories where human and robotic strengths are combined, opening new possibilities for intelligent, collaborative production systems.
Liu, S., Liu, Z., Qin, Q., Wang, X.V. and Wang, L. (2025) ‘Multimodal human-robot collaboration: advancements and future directions’, Int. J. Manufacturing Research, Vol. 20, No. 5, pp.1–47.
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