Human-Centered Automation

Mission

Human work will continue to change fundamentally in the coming years in the wake of advancing automation, demographic change and the premise of sustainability. That said, human labor will remain a central asset of the reality of life in democratic societies. Findings from research in artificial intelligence and cognitive systems, new approaches in cooperative robotics and intelligent automation as conducted in CITEC are leading to improvements in the autonomy, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness of hybrid human-machine constellations. As a result, opportunities, but also risks, arise in the design of the future of work with intelligent technical systems in many areas of work ranging from industry to services and mobility to health.

In contrast to a purely technology-driven view of automation, the basic motivation of the CoR-Lab is to pursue a human-centered approach that considers the roles, capabilities, and needs of employees over the entire life cycle of a technical system with a defined degree of automation in its respective context and derives design principles for its sustainable use.

As the Innovation Lab for Human-Centered Automation the CoR-Lab provides with its team and technical equipment an excellent environment that connects interdisciplinary research as carried out in CITEC with external partners such as Fraunhofer IOSB-INA, the Honda-Research Institute Europe or the Technology Network it’s OWL on Intelligent-Technical Systems for Sustainable Products and Production. With its organization, environment and partner network, it offers a framework for innovative research and development on human-centered automation.