Human-Centered HCI Practices Leading the Path to Industry 5.0: A Systematic Literature Review

In the course of digital transformation and advancing automation through artificial intelligence (AI), the manufacturing industry, in particular small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), is under pressure to move forward and face the associated challenge of redesigning both their business processes and their work organization. The importance of this transformation process increases with the introduction of new forms of human-machine collaboration, like Human-AI collaboration. To design digital transformation in a sustainable and value-adding way, well-established human-computer interaction (HCI) practices can be used as a framework. This paper explores the question of how human-centered HCI practices can be adapted to the context of the manufacturing industry, considering their unique characteristics. As a basis for this research, a literature review was conducted, examining English- and German-language articles on common HCI practices with a focus on practical use cases and empirical research in an industrial context. The review’s findings show that while traditional human-centered design principles such as user-oriented design and usability engineering are broadly considered in HCI, there are several organizational conditions that need to be considered more strongly, such as the limited resources and expertise concerning digitalization available in SMEs. Therefore, this study examines the extent to which human-centered HCI practices in the manufacturing industry can be tailored to the specific characteristics of SMEs. The findings from this review can be used in future research as a basis for developing guidelines for implementing human-centered HCI practices in SMEs. Building on this, guidelines and frameworks can be developed that consider SME specifics such as flexibility and limited resources and are application-ready for practical use. This will support a human-centric digitalization process that is sustainable and value-adding in the long term.