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The need for human-centric perspectives on smart automation are increasing as new technological advancements and global societal changes continuously re-shapes the manufacturing industry. Meeting this need is challenging and cannot be accomplished by one sole field of research expertise and requires university-industry collaboration. The research presented combines expertise from different disciplines, i.e., industrial engineering, automation and control, business administration, management, informatics, and work-integrated learning. The research group has extensive experience of such collaborations and is presently applying previous research and experiences in studies of human-centric smart automation striving to build unique research. Transdisciplinary research offers many opportunities; however, challenges include, combining methodologies, communication jargon, mutual respect for different disciplines and designing joint research studies. The research presented addresses such challenges by taking a transdisciplinary and collaborative approach bringing forth the human-centric perspective when advancing smart robotic automation. The aim is to exemplify and illustrate how to design transdisciplinary research in collaboration with industry for knowledge exchange and co-creation of new knowledge. The collaborative design emphasises the value of a transdisciplinary approach in university-industry collaboration when studying, understanding, and evolving the human-centric perspective of technological advancement in the manufacturing industry. Findings contribute design for synergizing technology development and manufacturing management to reach human-centric smart automation. The implication of the research relates to broader societal issues aligned with Industry 5.0, placing humans at the centre when introducing novel production processes and new technologies.
