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x-hulog4.0
„Excellence in human-centered logistics 4.0” (X-HuLog4.0)
Die Europäische Kommission fördert das Forschungsprojekt „Excellence in human-centered logistics 4.0” (X-HuLog4.0). Das Projekt, das gemeinsam von der Universität des Saarlandes (Jun.-Prof. Dr. Eric Grosse, Center for Digital Transformation), der TU Darmstadt, der Technischen Universität Vilnius und der NTNU Trondheim bearbeitet wird, beabsichtigt, Strategien und Best Practices für den Aufbau von Kapazitäten, Kompetenzen und Netzwerken im Bereich der Mensch-zentrierten Logistik 4.0 zu entwickeln. Das Projekt hat eine Laufzeit von 36 Monaten und ein Fördervolumen von ca. 1,3 Mio. Euro.
Human–robot interaction in intralogistics: opportunities, challenges, and the wayforward from a socio-technical lens
Jacob, Ranasinghe, Gattone & Grosse (2026)
The rapid advancement of robotics presents significant opportunities and challenges forhuman–robot interaction (HRI) in intralogistics. While prior research has largely relied on frameworksdriven by adoption intention, empirical evidence on how HRI unfolds in real-world intralogisticsremains limited. To address this gap, this study adopts a methodological triangulation approach thatintegrates a systematic literature review of 93 academic papers with 23 semi-structured expert inter-views involving 3 stakeholder groups: current HRI users, potential users or failed adopters, and exter-nal stakeholders including robot manufacturers and consultants. Capturing these diverse perspec-tives is essential for reflecting the different experiences, expectations, and constraints that shape HRIin practice. The analysis identifies four key opportunities associated with HRI: enhanced operationalperformance, improved working conditions, increased system resilience, and sustainability. Further-more, nine interdependent challenges are revealed, namely process complexity, human behaviouralfactors, occupational safety, training and skill requirements, trust and acceptance, costs, technologyand infrastructure design, deteriorating working conditions, and legal issues. Using socio-technicalsystems theory as an analytical lens, the study demonstrates that effective HRI depends on thealignment of people, organisational structures, technologies, and tasks, and proposes a conceptualframework to support the balanced integration of HRI challenges and opportunities.
Socially Sustainable Human-Robot Systems in Manufacturing and Logistics: A Content Analysis
Ranasinghe & Grosse (2026)
The introduction of human-robot systems in manufacturing and logistics fundamentally changes working practices and raises complex challenges in terms of social sustainability. This paper presents a content analysis of 32 articles from the Web of Science and examined the socially sustainable design of human-robot systems using the SHELLO (i.e., software, hardware, environment, liveware, liveware-organization) model. The coding process identified recording units related to social sustainability in four categories: human factors and worker well-being, social inclusion and equity, human-robot interaction/collaboration (HRI/HRC) dynamics, and organizational adaptability and strategy. Our findings showed that safety was the most frequently discussed in HRI, with its importance in terms of health, well-being, workload, and stress emphasized. However, critical psychosocial aspects such as social isolation, deskilling, work-life balance, and job displacement received little attention. Although the concept of human cen-tricity frequently appears, its connection with social sustainability remains weak as aspects regarding social inclusion and equity, including accessibility, diver-sity, and equality of opportunity, are largely underrepresented. In contrast, the dynamics of HRI/HRC are discussed more, with trust, autonomy, and acceptance emerging as the central topics. However, organizational adaptability and strategy were neglected, with minimal focus on knowledge management, change manage-ment, wage disparity, job creation, and reskilling. Therefore, by integrating techni-cal, human, and organizational perspectives, this study provides a comprehensive insight into social sustainability of HRI in complex industrial environments.