In many organizations and across industries, robots are transforming the way we work. Robots are implemented to assist employees, decrease workload, or increase efficiency. As their capabilities continuously improve, collaboration between humans and robotic systems becomes more common and interdependent. Consequently, the role of the robots changes, and humans and robots now work closer together than ever.

Workplace innovation advocates the joint optimization of the social and the technical system to yield optimal organizational outcomes. The EU-funded HORIZON Europe project Fluently aims at achieving true social collaboration between humans and robots while matching extremely dynamic manufacturing contexts. Robots will be equipped with a smart interface unit (called Fluently) through which they will be able to interpret the human operator’s current state, as well as speech content, speech tone, and gestures. The human will also be equipped with a wearable which informs them about the robot’s state and actions.