[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-617828-105":59,"doc-detail-617828-en":129},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":122,"head_meta":124,"extra_data":126,"updated_unix":128},105,"en","balancing-u-type-assembly-lines-with-human-robot-collaboration-article-abstract","Balancing U-type assembly lines with human-robot collaboration - Article abstract","","Study of the U-type assembly line balancing problem with human-robot collaboration (UALBP-HRC) where cobots may either execute different tasks in parallel or cooperate with workers on the same task. A mixed-integer programming (MIP) formulation targets cycle-time minimization for a fixed number of stations. An enhanced MIP (EMIP) adds tight bounds and an initial solution, while a simulated annealing algorithm with an enhanced search procedure (ESA) addresses the NP-hardness. Experiments on adapted benchmarks and real cases validate that EMIP outperforms MIP and ESA yields promising solutions.",{"@graph":69,"@context":121},[70,84,104],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/balancing-u-type-assembly-lines-with-human-robot-collaboration-article-abstract/617828/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":98,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":99,"interactionStatistic":100},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/balancing-u-type-assembly-lines-with-human-robot-collaboration-article-abstract/617828.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Ivy","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-19",true,{"@type":101,"interactionType":102,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":103},"ViewAction",{"@type":105,"mainEntity":106},"FAQPage",[107,113,117],{"name":108,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":110},"What decisions are considered in the UALBP-HRC model?","Question",{"text":111,"@type":112},"The study considers task assignment, robot allocation, and process alternative selection within a U-type assembly line with human-robot collaboration.","Answer",{"name":114,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":115},"How does the cobot behavior differ in this work?",{"text":116,"@type":112},"The cobot can either process different tasks in parallel or collaboratively process the same task with workers.",{"name":118,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":119},"What optimization goals and solution approaches are used?",{"text":120,"@type":112},"The objective is to minimize cycle time. The paper formulates MIP and EMIP, and also develops an ESA simulated annealing algorithm due to NP-hardness.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":123,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":125,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":127,"site_id":62},617828,1792444637,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":130},{"doc_id":127,"user_id":131,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":132,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":133,"file_id":134,"file_url":135,"file_type":136,"file_size":137,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":138,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":128,"read_time":143},549758252649,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/8000253669c5317157?_k=1778319167496531819","Balancing U-type assembly lines with human-robot collaboration  \nZhaofang Maoa , Jiaxin Zhanga , Kan Fanga , Dian Huanga,b,∗ and Yiting Suna  \na College of Management and Economics, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China b School of New Media and Communication, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China  \n\n| ARTICLE INFO\u003Cbr>Keywords:\u003Cbr>U-type assembly line balancing problem\u003Cbr>Human-robot collaboration Parallel tasks Enhancement strategies | AB STRACT |\n| --- | --- |\n|  | In this work, we consider a U-type assembly line balancing problem with human-robot collaboration (UALBP-HRC), in which the collaborative robot (cobot) can either parallelly process different tasks or collaboratively process the same task with workers. A mixed-integer programming (MIP) model is formulated and the objective is to minimize the cycle time for a given number of stations. We further propose an enhanced MIP (EMIP) model by incorporating enhancement strategies, including tight lower bound, upper bound and initial solution. To the best of our knowledge, this study is among the first attempts to address the UALBP-HRC in which both parallel and collaborative tasks are allowed. Due to the NP-hardness of the problem, a simulated annealing algorithm with enhanced search procedure (ESA) is developed to effectively solve the problem. The model functionalities and algorithm effectiveness are tested using adapted standard datasets and real case studies. Extensive experiments are conducted and the results show that EMIP outperforms MIP and ESA finds promising solutions compared to MIP, EMIP, simulated annealing algorithm (SA) and genetic algorithm (GA) . The comparisons between ALBP-HRC and UALBP-HRC are also made. Eventually, the managerial insights are concluded. |\n| 1. Introduction\u003Cbr>In recent years, as a consequence of introducing the just-in-time (JIT) production principle, many manufacturers utilize U-type layouts in place of the traditional straight-line configuration (Scholl and Klein 1999 ; Hwang et al. 2008 ; Zhang et al. 2021). U-type design offers various benefits over traditional straight lines. To be specific, U-type assembly lines increase labor productivity significantly compared to straight-line layout (Aase et al. 2004) . They improve the communication and visibility among workers and sharing machine capacity is facilitated. Furthermore, the U-type assembly lines can increase or decrease the necessary number of workers, which provide more flexibility to adapt the changes of market demand (Cheng et al. 2000). As an important decision problem during the design of manufacturing system, the U-type assembly line balancing problem (UALBP) assigns tasks to stations which are located on both sides and arranged in a U-type assembly line (Urban 1998 ; Satoglu et al. 2010) . Compared to traditional assembly line balancing problem (ALBP), UALBP is more complex as tasks may be assigned by moving forward, backward, or simultaneously from both directions through the precedence diagram.\u003Cbr>The automation of manufacturing systems is a continuing trend in the industrial sector. Meanwhile, the transition to fully automated assembly systems remains an insurmountable challenge for many industries (Koltai et al. 2021) . As a result, collaborative robots are discussed as a particularly promising technology in the assembly field (Sikora and Weckenborg 2022) . Cobots are small and lightweight robots and easily fit in a station (Stecke and Mokhtarzadeh 2022) . Compared to conventional robots, cobots are more flexible and share common stations with workers without\u003Cbr>\u003Cbr>∗Corresponding author\u003Cbr>ORCID(s): 0000-0001-7511-2910 (Z. Mao) |  |\n\nZhaofang Mao et al.: Preprint submitted to Elsevier Page 1 of 42  \nphysical barriers. Cobots directly interact with workers to execute different tasks alongside or the same task with human in a common station (Wang et al. 2015) . Cobots have been increasingly used in industries to promote human–robot collaboration (HRC) (El Zaa","cbCaiieDq7Ok8iaD","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiieDq7Ok8iaD","pdf",636916,42,"English","# Introduction\n## U-type assembly line balancing and collaboration context\n## Station types and problem complexity\n## Study focus and contributions","[{\"question\":\"What decisions are considered in the UALBP-HRC model?\",\"answer\":\"The study considers task assignment, robot allocation, and process alternative selection within a U-type assembly line with human-robot collaboration.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the cobot behavior differ in this work?\",\"answer\":\"The cobot can either process different tasks in parallel or collaboratively process the same task with workers.\"},{\"question\":\"What optimization goals and solution approaches are used?\",\"answer\":\"The objective is to minimize cycle time. The paper formulates MIP and EMIP, and also develops an ESA simulated annealing algorithm due to NP-hardness.\"}]","Balancing U-type assembly lines with human-robot collaboration - Article abstract | PDF",106]