The Operator 4.0 research network held its second Operator 4.0 symposium in Gothenburg, Sweden, hosted by Johan Stahre and his team at Chalmers University. During the symposium, the team built different canvases related to Human-Centric Technology and shaped some joint research topics for the next year. The location of the third Operator 4.0 Symposium was also announced. It will be organized by Antonio Padovano at the University of Calabria in 2026.

At the AMPS 2024 Conference, there was another meeting of the Operator 4.0 research network. There were also a number of great presentations at the conference on the subject of human-centred solutions.

Another great meeting with some of the members of the Operator 4.0 research network at the IFAC INCOM 2024 conference in Vienna. We had some great presentation at our joint organised Special Session: Human-centric Digital Twins for Human-centred Manufacturing.

The Operator 4.0 Vision (Romero et al, 2016) is now a growing reality on many shop floors around the world, enabling better work and workplaces for frontline workers.

The "Human-centred Manufacturing and Logistics Systems Design and Management for the Operator 5.0" special session has been accepted for the APMS 2024 conference. This special session invites contributions focusing on multidisciplinary approaches for human-centred systems development, dealing with the design and management of assisting, collaborative, and augmenting work technologies, human factors affecting human-technology interaction, towards new work models for the Operator 5.0.

HUMARWISE: HUman-centric Methods for Augmented Reality in adaptive Work Instruction Systems Enhancement

Project leader: Chiara Cimini - University of Bergamo

Partners:

• University of Bergamo

• University of Pannonia

• RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

The special session at INCOM 2024 in Vienna emphasizes the importance of human-centric digital twins in manufacturing. Human-centric digital twins target a value-based industrial revolution emphasizing human-centricity, sustainability, and resilience. The organizers are seeking outstanding research that examines the relationship between humans and technology, providing effective tools for the development of human-centric digital twins.

The IFIP WG5.7 Special Interest Group (SIG) on "Human-Centred Systems," led by Dr. Chiara Cimini, Dr. Tamas Ruppert, and Prof. David Romero, supports the development of smart, resilient, and socially sustainable factories. They aim to design systems that reduce the physical and cognitive burden on workers, enhancing their safety and productivity. Their goal is to create competitive and sustainable cyber-physical systems in manufacturing, service, and logistics by leveraging the balance between human and technological capabilities.

The article by the Operator 4.0 Research Network demonstrates how traditional factory digital twins can be expanded to incorporate human characteristics within the Asset Administration Shell (AAS). This extension enables human-centered control and management, as demonstrated by prototypes in two use cases, where operators are equipped with wearable sensors and feedback dashboards. Referring to Industry 5.0, this approach provides an accurate digital representation of humans, offering data-based decision support to enhance operators' well-being and resilience, although ethical and regulatory challenges remain.

The article conducted by the Operator 4.0 research network demonstrates how the Industry 5.0 paradigm combines the technological foundations of Industry 4.0 with human-centricity, sustainability, and resilience, supporting the workforce and enabling the Operator 4.0 approach. A systematic literature review based on the Scopus database, employing Bibliographic Network Analysis, text mining techniques, and knowledge graphs, revealed the development levels of Operator 4.0 and the drivers and barriers for the transition to Operator 5.0. The findings indicate that while the transition to Industry 5.0 is inevitable, Industry 4.0 technologies are not yet sufficiently integrated with human factors, thus the article can serve as a guide for developments and help industrial managers prepare for this change.

Gartner just published the top 10 strategic technology trends for 2024 report. The Augmented connected workforce is in 9th place, which is the main goal of the Operator 4.0 research network led by our research group.

It was a great pleasure to meet again with the part of the Operator 4.0 research network at the APMS Conference in Trondheim. We discussed a lot, and we heard so many great presentations about human-centered solutions.

Our Special Session proposal is accepted for the 18th IFAC Symposium on Information Control Problems in Manufacturing, in Austria. We are inviting the researchers to apply your work to Human-centric Digital Twins for Human-centred Manufacturing special session. For more details please find the call for papers and our special session description.

Tamás Ruppert will be a co-chair at the APMS 2023 Conference, in Norway. He will hold the Workforce Evolutionary Pathways in Smart Manufacturing Systems Special Session with Chiara Cimini.

The first Operator 4.0 Symposium took place between May 22nd and 24th, 2023, hosted by the Faculty of Engineering at University of Pannonia. Prominent researchers from the Operator 4.0 research network led by Dr. Tamás Ruppert  and Prod. David Romero participated in the event, coming from more than 12 countries, a total of 23 participants. The first day of the symposium was held behind closed doors, during which the group decided to release a Manifesto establishing human-centered research directions, to be followed by further statements. Additionally, a collaborative network will be established from the Operator 4.0 laboratories managed by the 17 institutions associated with the groups. The event was attended by, among others, the creators of the Operator 4.0 concept: Prof. Dr. David Romero from Mexico and Prof. Dr. Johan Stahre from Sweden. The symposium was inaugurated by Dean Dr. Sándor Németh and Vice Rector Prof. Dr. János Abonyi. 

In 2022 we finally met in Stuttgart to discuss lot of ideas and projects. The 27th IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA), was held from 6th-9th September 2022 in Stuttgart, Germany. During the special session at the ETFA conference in Stuttgart. We organised a special session about Industry 5.0 – Augmenting the Human Worker in Balanced Automation Systems. You can find the published and presented papers in the SS here.