The emerging of the fourth industrial revolution, also known as Industry 4.0 (I4.0), from the advancement in several technologies is viewed not only to promote economic growth, but also to enable a greener future. The 2030 Agenda of the United Nations for sustainable development sets out clear goals for the industry to foster the economy, while preserving social well-being and ecological validity. However, the influence of I4.0 technologies on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) has not been conclusively or systematically investigated. By understanding the link between the I4.0 technologies and the SDGs, researchers can better support policymakers to consider the technological advancement in updating and harmonizing policies and strategies in different sectors (i.e., education, industry, and governmental) with the SDGs. To address this gap, academic experts in this paper have investigated the influence of I4.0 technologies on the sustainability targets identified by the UN. Key I4.0 element technologies have been classified to enable a quantitative mapping with the 17 SDGs. The results indicate that the majority of the I4.0 technologies can contribute positively to achieving the UN agenda. It was also found that the effects of the technologies on individual goals varies between direct and strong, and indirect and weak influences. The main insights and lessons learned from the mapping are provided to support future policy.

Different applications or industries use different systems for linear actuation, such as hydraulic, pneumatic or electric. Electric systems are becoming increasingly popular and are already replacing hydraulic systems in various applications. These are known to be potentially harmful to the environment, as large amounts of fluid can be released into the environment in the event of a pipe burst or other accident. This paper presents the results of a comparison between hydraulic, pneumatic and electric systems under variable conditions but with similar loads in all three systems. The common feature of all three systems is the input power, which was limited to 1.1 kW. There was no hydraulic accumulator in the hydraulic system and no pressure vessel in the pneumatic system, so no stored energy could influence the system behaviour or results. The main difference between the systems studied was the profile of displacement and power consumption. The most consistent response and lowest power consumption were obtained with the electric system, although both hydraulic and pneumatic systems can achieve consistent response with some modifications.

Increasing the accessibility of collaborative robotics requires interfaces that support intuitive teleoperation. One possibility for an intuitive interface is offered by wearable systems that measure the operator’s movement and use the information for robot control. Such wearable systems should preserve the operator’s movement capabilities and, thus, their ability to flexibly operate in the workspace. This paper presents a novel wireless wearable system that uses only inertial measurement units (IMUs) to determine the orientation of the operator’s upper body parts. An algorithm was developed to transform the measured orientations to movement commands for an industrial collaborative robot. The algorithm includes a calibration procedure, which aligns the coordinate systems of all IMUs, the operator, and the robot, and the transformation of the operator’s relative hand motions to the movement of the robot’s end effector, which takes into account the operator’s orientation relative to the robot. The developed system is demonstrated with an example of an industrial application in which a workpiece needs to be inserted into a fixture. The robot’s motion is compared between the developed system and a standard robot controller. The results confirm that the developed system is intuitive, allows for flexible control, and is robust enough for use in industrial collaborative robotic applications.

Audible sound signals detected during the resistance spot welding (RSW) of zinc coated steels were investigated in order to assess their suitability for estimating the strength of the weld. A new sonic emission indicator was introduced and compared to a commonly used emission count indicator. A new method of spot weld strength estimation based on the two indicators is presented. The advantage of the method is that it makes it possible to establish the stage when the electrode is worn out. The method enables the development of improved RSW process control algorithms.