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Robotic systems assisting physical rehabilitation are developed for both commercial purposes and personal use. In the years to come, such devices will be used mainly by the elderly, the disabled, as well as children and adults after accidents and disorders limiting their physical capabilities. As the population is getting older, the issue becomes more and more critical. A growing number of people requiring rehabilitation generate significant costs, of which personal expenses are a major component. Providing the human personnel with appropriate mechatronic devices or replacing at least some rehabilitation medicine specialists with robots could reduce physical and mental workload of physicians. Broader application of such devices will also require lower prices and improved Human-Robot Communication (HRC) solutions. This article presents general requirements regarding the communication with rehabilitation robots, presents human-robot communication solutions developed by different manufacturers, describes the system applied in RENUS robots and indicates directions in which the HRCshould evolve.

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As manufacturing and logistics processes have a significant impact on the quality of products and services, the quality of the automation involved should be considered as well. To this end, a list of quality criteria for automating systems is proposed, consisting of qualitative exclusive, qualitative gradual and of quantitative criteria. It is shown that qualitative characteristics are much more important than quantitative ones. Provided that they fulfill the exclusive criteria, automating systems may then be compared on the basis of the gradual and quantitative ones. Since quality of automation also depends on the quality of the corresponding engineering processes, some criteria are compiled to evaluate the quality of automating, and critical points of technological regress in the design and development processes of automation systems are identified. Finally, the quality of automation as such is addressed and several requirements for it mentioned. It is indicated that automation may not always be useful, and that it can turn out harmful to society.

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The post-industrial Europe cannot effectively fight the economic crisis. The Europa 2020 strategy goal is the advancement of the European Union economy which would be impossible without re-industrialisation. To reverse the declining role of industry, the re-industrialisation will notably be based on SMEs in which the production processes are not automated enough. In result the existing, as well as new companies will invest significant efforts in Automation and Robitisation (A&R) to minimise costs by eliminating manual work. The article presents the approach for preparation of the new generation vocational courses tailored especially to meet the needs and expectations of small and medium enterprises connected with introduction of new technologies, especially connected with Automation and Robotisation.

Read more: New Approach to Automation and Robotics Vocational Education in Support of Europe