A bio-inspired reinterpretation of symbiotic human-robot collaboration in assembly processes

The emergence of collaborative robotics allowed humans and robots to work closely together to perform manufacturing activities. By combining their distinctive strengths and abilities, humans and robots can support each other in completing complex tasks. The relationship between humans and robots is frequently described in the literature as symbiotic. However, the concept of symbiosis, originally conceived in natural science, is often oversimplified as the mere exchange of mutual benefits. In practice, the term ‘symbiosis’ encompasses a wide range of nteractions, ranging from relationships with positive impacts to relationships with negative impacts. Understanding the foundation of Human-Robot Symbiosis is crucial for its management. Two are the primary aims of this paper: (i) reinterpreting the collaborative tasks in assembly processes according to the properties of symbiotic elationships; (ii) proposing a novel approach for evaluating assembly tasks based on the bio-inspired features of symbiotic Human-Robot collaborative systems.