Paving the Way to Human-Centred Intelligent Automation for SMEs - A Transdisciplinary Approach

The introduction of intelligent technology, such as AI-based robotics, holds great potential in many areas of industrial production, such as higher efficiency, optimized processes, and reduction of operator’s workload. However, for SMEs, barriers like high investment costs or lack of skilled personnel are particularly relevant. In the scope of this contribution, we present a transdisciplinary, human-centered approach aiming to identify potential for intelligent automation meeting the specific challenges of SMEs. Therefore, we aimed to bundle the requirements of different SMEs leading to more general (compared to highly specific) solutions for industrial sectors and thus reducing risks. Following the human-centered design approach, elements like early participation of employees address and reduce barriers to acceptance. In addition, the inclusion of technological and economic aspects ensures the viability of the derived automation potential in this regard. In the current contribution, we thus (1) introduce a transdisciplinary, human-centered methodology for the identification of intelligent automation potential in the context of SMEs from the very beginning. We furthermore (2) present the results of two focus groups conducted representing the first stage of the developed approach. Therefore, we exemplary investigated SMEs from the bakery and metal industries identifying suitable use cases as well as needs, potential barriers and enablers of the respective industrial sector as a first step towards a compatible and human-friendly introduction of automation.