Investigating maintenance operations in Industry 5.0: a cognitive-oriented tasks framework

The Industry 5.0 paradigm aims to improve, through a human-centric approach, the performance of cyber-physical production systems promoted by the fourth industrial revolution. If, on the one hand, the digitisation promoted by the Industry 4.0 paradigm provides many opportunities for improving the performance of production systems, on the other hand, it introduces a high level of complexity for operators in the execution of ordinary activities mainly from a cognitive point of view. The complexity of tasks and the increasing use of innovative technologies could overload the operator with numerous options and efforts to be made in a limited time, requiring decisions that lead to an excessive cognitive workload and reduce human well-being in work environments. In this context, maintenance activities are of utmost relevance; their inherent complexity and the direct dependence of the production performance on their proper and timely execution led to the development of dedicated support technologies and techniques known as Maintenance 4.0 (M4.0). Notably, M4.0 activities are strongly characterised by the above-outlined complexities, especially from a cognitive point of view. To this concern, the present research work consists of developing, through a literature search, a framework of the main M4.0 tasks aiming to identify the perceived cognitive workload according to the operator's profile (i.e., competencies, hard skills, age, etc.). This framework, as mentioned, represents the starting point for more in-depth analyses that will allow the identification of the proper operator to accomplish a high-cognitive M4.0 task by ensuring operator well-being and industrial performance.