A new book has been published on human–robot collaboration, co-edited by researchers of SZTAKI

A new textbook titled Advanced Human–Robot Collaboration in Manufacturing has recently been published by Springer, co-edited by József Váncza, head of the Research Laboratory on Engineering & Management Intelligence, Zsolt Kemény, senior research fellow at the same department, as well as Lihui Wang and Xi Vincent Wang, researchers of the Swedish KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

The 455-page book contains 18 chapters dealing with human–robot collaboration (HRC) with special focus on its role in manufacturing, as well as new scientific results and implemented solutions within the domain.

“The book is divided into five parts. The first part presents a broad-based review of the key areas of HRC, establishing a common ground of understanding in key aspects. Subsequent chapters focus on selected areas of HRC subject to intense recent interest. The second part discusses human safety within HRC. The third, fourth and fifth parts provide in-depth views of relevant methodologies and algorithms. Discussing dynamic planning and monitoring, adaptive control and multi-modal decision making, the latter parts facilitate a better understanding of HRC in real situations.

The balance between scope and depth, and theory and applications, means this book appeals to a wide readership, including academic researchers, graduate students, practicing engineers, and those within a variety of roles in manufacturing sectors,” writes the official abstract.

Among other results, the book also includes some of the outcomes of the recently completed project “Industry 4.0 Research and Innovation Centre of Excellence,” as well as results of ongoing projects (INEXT, AR Lab). Several of the research results presented in the book have been achieved relying on SZTAKI’s research, development and innovation infrastructure.

In addition to the editors, the book also involves other researchers at SZTAKI’s Research Laboratory on Engineering & Management Intelligence as authors. The study “Worker Assistance Suite for Efficient Human–Robot Collaboration” is the work of Gergely Horváth, Csaba Kardos, András Kovács, Balázs Pataki, and Sándor Tóth, the latter representing one of SZTAKI’s SME consortium partners. The chapter “Human–Robot Collaborative Workcell Calibration and Control” was written by Gergely Horváth, Gábor Erdős and Zsolt Kemény. Zsolt Kemény and József Váncza are also among the authors of “Human–Robot Collaboration in Manufacturing: a Multi-agent View” and “Future Research Directions on Human–Robot Collaboration.”

Advanced Human–Robot Collaboration in Manufacturing is available in digital format (.pdf) and in hard-cover print via the publisher’s website.