Selection of the Cobot Workstation for the Learning Factory by Using the Multi-Criteria Analysis

The collaborative robots (cobots) are one of the drivers of Industry 4.0, because they allow the automation and semi-automation of the process, yet allowing the flexibility of the production plan. The main area of cobots’ application are the assembly processes. For safety reasons, the assembly process is the most common process in the Learning Factory concept. Therefore, integration of cobot workstation in the Learning Factory assembly process is crucial to demonstrate modern aspects of the assembly, and manufacturing, as well. However, it is not an easy task, since proper design for cobot workstation must be selected to allow flexibility and reconfiguration of the Learning Factory. In this research, a multi-criteria analysis approach is used to select optimal design of the cobot workstation for application in the Learning Factory. The aim was to select the mobile and flexible workstation for cobot Franka Emika that will satisfy educational and research needs of the Lean Learning Factory at University of Split. Two different multi-criteria analysis methods were used for evaluation and ranking of alternatives: SAW (Simple Additive Weighting) and TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution). The comparison of the methods is presented and selection of the optimal design of the cobot workstation has been made. In the near future, selected workstation will be manufactured, assembled and used in the Learning Factory’s everyday activities