Spatio-temporal synchronisation for human-cyber-physical assembly workstation 4.0 systems

Assembly workstation converges various resources, typically including humans to carry out parts combination activities with the performances determined by the interactions among the resources. In the Industry 4.0 (I4.0) era, the penetration of emerging technologies leads to the intelligent networking of hyper objects with hyper-automation and hyper-connectivity that fundamentally change the organisation of an assembly workstation and brings it into the era of ‘Assembly Workstation 4.0 (AW4.0)’. However, the volatile market demands and the autonomy of the hyper objects with human integration bring new challenges in reducing the uncertainty and complexity of AW4.0 systems. In order to achieve an effective and efficient orchestration among hyper objects by fully harnessing enabling technologies of I4.0, a humancyber- physical system (HCPS) framework for AW4.0 systems is proposed to support the intelligent networking of hyper objects and to leverage the strengths and compensate the limitations of humans. Based on this, a spatio-temporal synchronisation (ST-Sync) strategy is introduced to achieve coordinated decision-making with consideration of customer requirements and spatio-temporal constraints of hyper objects with enhanced flexibility and responsiveness. Finally, a full-scale prototype is developed, and a real-life case is used to validate the potential benefits of AW4.0 systems in the overall performance improvement.