Autor: Michael Lawo

The work environment of the future will be characterized by networked cooperating objects. Properties of cyber-physical systems (CPS) cover collection, storage, intelligent processing and communication of data. As a result, new possibilities regarding interaction and collaboration arise. This paper focuses on the technical and organizational challenges of a robust safety and protection system, which is suitable for a human-robot-collaboration scenario. Known requirements for both an integrated safety concept of human-robot-collaboration and the functional safety of machines and electronic systems are identified and a reference architecture is developed for a semi-automatic assembly process.

To evaluate research approaches in logistics, tests are indispensable. For enhanced research in logistics worldwide well established labs could take a major role to shorten development cycles. However, often remote access to necessary resources in the different labs is not possible. In this context a new opportunity for a technology driven access to supply chain labs could be established to increase the availability and user friendliness as well as the utilization rate of existing infrastructures. In the present article the remote access through a web based interface is introduced. The system has been developed within a two year student project in collaboration with the computer science and production engineering department at the University of Bremen.

During the last 20 years the computer motivated a drastic change for the office work and by embedded systems controlling the shop floor. However in the daily work paper is sometimes still the only medium supporting work processes in production and maintenance in information provision and gathering. Often more than 50 % of the process time are just caused by the production and handling of those papers. Wearable Computing solutions now offer a possibility to obtain information on the move - unobtrusively supporting the primary tasks by information provision and collection. The introduction of the technology requires sufficient user acceptance. Only when this user acceptance is given the encountered potentials improving quality and productivity can be realised.