Interfacing with Humans in Factories of the Future: Holonic Interface Services for Ambient Intelligence Environments

Human roles in manufacturing are changing along with developments in Industry 4.0. Integrating human workers into their shifting Industry 4.0 work environment is important and by no means easy. This paper proposes a method of interfacing with workers in factories of the future that facilitates their interaction with the digital management systems and machines around them. Holonic interface services are discussed as promising means to realize ambient intelligence environments, which are comprised of intelligent interfaces supported by computing and embedded networking technology. An architecture that manages communication through available interfacing services is presented as part of a digital administration shell for integrating a human worker into an Industry 4.0 environment. A manufacturing process case study is also presented to demonstrate the interfacing component of the architecture and the effectiveness of holonic interface services in an ambient intelligence environment.