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Many assembly processes, particularly in the manufacture of aircraft components, are still carried out by humans manually. In addition to rationalization aspects, high quality requirements, non-ergonomic activities, the lack of well-qualified workers etc. may require the use of automation technology. Through novel possibilities of human-robot-cooperation these challenges can be met through a skills-based division of labor. Tasks are assigned to humans and robots in a way that the respective strengths can be used most efficiently. This article presents, how assembly processes can get empowered for human-robot-cooperation, using a specific work description for humans and robots, an assembly priority chart and suitable robot programs, to prepare for a skills-based task assignment. In the area of formerly exclusively manual assembly, the operations for the assembly of the product must first be described in detail.

The global competition challenges aircraft manufacturers in high wage countries. The assembly of large components happens manually in fixed position assembly. Especially the completion of the inner fuselage structure is done 100% manually. The shells have to be joined with rivets and several hundred clips have to be assembled to connect the shell to the frames. The poise of the worker is not ergonomic so a lot of physical stress is added to the worker and minimizes the working ability. Aircraft manufacturers need a lot of different production resources and qualified persons for the production, which provokes higher costs. Due to these high costs there is a demand for automated reconfigurable assembly systems, which offer a high flexibility and lower manufacturing costs. The research project “IProGro” deals with this challenge and develops innovative production systems for large parts.