Conclusion
"Cobot": between innovation and technological illusion

The discourse surrounding Industry 4.0—and even more so Industry 5.0—places humans at the center of the value chain. In this context, the so-called “collaborative” robot plays a central role: it promises to reconcile technological innovation, industrial performance, and the continued role of workers on the factory floor. This article examines whether there has been a shift in the industrial production paradigm—driven by the new industrial revolutions—and the role of the new collaborative robot, which began to spread in the second half of the 2010s. To explore this shift and its promises, this article employs an interdisciplinary approach, combining robotics engineering, history, and the epistemology of technology.

The emergence of the first collaborative robot can be attributed to numerous factors and research efforts which, particularly beginning in the 1980s, gave rise to new ways of managing...