The W.R.S. Risk from Man-Robot Interaction in Mechanical Production Plants During Reshoring Era

Abstract
In the context of global industrial reshoring from eastern to western production world, the integration of collaborative robotics into manufacturing systems is accelerating. While this transition offers significant economic and operational advantages, it also introduces emerging psychosocial risks, which refer to the technical-scientific areas of workplace safety, in particular related to work-related stress (WRS) resulting from human interaction with robotic systems. This paper presents a model-based approach (relying on the Psychosocial Interaction Stress Assessment model, named P.I.S.A.) to assess WRS risk, arising from Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) within reshoring scenarios. The P.I.S.A. model integrates the four dimensions of this risk (the worker’s physiological statUS, the organizational context dimension, the individual trait psychological worker’s profile and the statUS-based psychological profile) to quantitatively and qualitatively characterize stress factors associated with HRI. The used model approach has been structured in the scenarios, involving the reintroduction of production processes to a Western industrial facility (reshoring), where collaborative robots are deployed alongside human operators. The assessment considers specific variables such as task complexity, cognitive load, perceived autonomy, safety perception, and adaptation to robotic behaviour. The new tools, integrated in P.I.S.A. model, define its HRI-based configuration, named P.I.S.A.-HRI. Keywords - WRS Risk, HMI, Allostatic load, Safety, Reshoring, Organization, Plant, Production, Scheduling.