Smart people
In smart manufacturing – using artificial intelligence, collaborative robots, automation and digitalisation – maintaining human leadership is a growing challenge. XPRES addresses this through human-centric research to empower future operators.
XPRES places human-centricity in the research agenda to empower future operators with four enhanced human abilities, i.e. by:
- augmented robot such as an exoskeleton to perform durable tasks beyond one’s physical limit with consistent work accuracy
- extra cognitive system to advise the operator for global optimal decision-making
- mixed reality such as augmented reality and digital twin to see not only what is invisible now but also what may happen in the future, and
- co-intelligence to empower the operator using the full potential of artificial and human intelligence.
A futuristic perspective [1] of smart people is exemplified by the diagram below using (5) brain-controlled robots to assist (6) human-centric assembly. With the four enhanced human abilities, the aim is to energise, advise, support and empower (EASE) a human operator physically and intellectually.

