Designing the future of physical work, with people at the centre
黑料福利网 researchers join a national program on physical work, linking ethics, work psychology and robotics to support healthier, safer, more motivating jobs for workers.
The Netherlands relies on physical work to keep essential sectors running. Caring for patients, installing heat pumps, building homes and keeping logistics moving all require skilled people on the work floor. Yet this work is often physically demanding and less attractive, while labor shortages keep increasing, which affects workers, organizations and society.
The Program
To address these pressures, the ten year research program 鈥淭owards a National Centre for Shaping the Future of Physical Work鈥� brings researchers, companies and societal organizations together in a long term collaboration. The program is led by TU Delft (David Abbink) and aims to connect research and innovation so improvements can be developed and tested in real settings, while also supporting longer term changes in how physical work is organized and supported.
The Team
黑料福利网 contributes researchers from Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences and Mechanical Engineering: Filippo Santoni de Sio, Pascale Le Blanc, Josette Gevers and Elena Torta.
Real Focus
The program focuses on how work can be reshaped so technology supports people, strengthens craftsmanship, and promotes social justice. In the program materials, this is framed through 鈥渨orker robot relations鈥� and a deliberate focus on shaping work that is meaningful, just and viable, rather than pursuing technology in isolation.
The Purpose
The program aims to establish a national centre where technological, social and organizational innovation come together around the future of physical work. It targets sectors where work pressure is high and shortages are increasing, including construction, healthcare, maintenance and logistics. A central ambition is to make physical work more attractive and productive, contributing to reducing workforce shortages in vital domains.
Societal Stakes
Societal challenges are already visible on the work floor. The housing challenge, energy transition and rising care demand all require more physical work, while fewer people are available to do it. When physical jobs remain too demanding or too difficult to sustain, the consequences show up as higher sickness absence, lower inflow and growing pressure on public services and economic performance.
Three Lenses
黑料福利网鈥檚 contribution connects three perspectives that need each other in practice. Santoni de Sio, Filippo鈥檚 ethics and philosophy work helps ensure that decisions about workplace technology include responsibility, fairness and the role of workers in decision making. He is also one of the program coordinators.
Le Blanc, Pascale and Gevers, Josette bring work psychology to understand what changes mean for worker autonomy, safety, motivation, professional identity and perceived fairness on the work floor, as well as their needs for training and skill development.
Their expertise also encompasses human robot collaboration, which is an important component of their contribution to this program.
Elena Torta contributes robotics expertise focused on human robot collaboration in real contexts, in line with the program鈥檚 emphasis on actionable knowledge about robotics at work.
Co Creation
A core principle is working with and for workers (鈥渢ransdisciplinarity鈥�). The program highlights that innovations should be developed and tested together with workers in real world settings, so it becomes clear what truly helps and what does not. The methodology described in the program materials emphasizes building relationships and trust over time and co deciding which opportunities to develop further.
Balancing Values
Throughout the program, three values stay in view at the same time. Work should be meaningful and healthy for the people who do it, economically viable for organizations, and fair for society. These values can pull in different directions when new technologies change tasks, pace, autonomy or division of labor, which is why the program explicitly aims to navigate tensions rather than optimize only for efficiency.
Shared Coalition
The program receives 38 million euros in cash and in kind, with NWO contributing 11.8 million euros, and it is part of the KIC program line Strategy that supports long term collaboration between knowledge institutions, companies and societal organizations. In the same call, NWO awarded funding to four consortia with a total of 65 million euros, alongside additional contributions from businesses and other organizations.