# Automation and Robotics Pilot Lines in the Context of Industry 5.0
## 5 Discussion
[PERSON] et al. highlight this issue, providing an example of the differences in environmental impact analysis results in the battery production sector [26]. Regarding the alignment with the principles of Industry 5.0 and zero defects, pilot lines demonstrate a perfect fit. While pilot lines experienced a surge during the era of Industry 4.0, under the new paradigm of Industry 5.0, they have the potential to become key elements. The Industry 5.0 component related to technology is evident in the relevance of pilot lines. General technologies and manufacturing-specific advancements are constantly evolving. Having an environment for prototyping, interoperability, and validation is crucial for advancing on the TRL scale. The human-centricity promoted by Industry 5.0, which is expected to arrive to production lines, also has an opportunity for testing and validation in pilot lines. In fact, many concepts of human-centricity, human-machine collaboration, and explainability are being evaluated in pilot lines. Lastly, although some challenges have been mentioned regarding the scalability of certain sustainability analyses from pilot lines to full-scale production lines, it is clear that pilot lines can be used to obtain some indicators and facilitate decision-making. Pilot lines also allow for the development of quality control models and predictive maintenance tools, aligning with zero defects and first-time-right principles, thereby reducing times, consumption, and waste. It is important to mention that in certain cases, there is little distinction between pilot lines and testbeds. In theory, pilot lines are more focused on industrial environments, emphasizing integration, scaling, and production-oriented viability analysis. Testbeds, on the other hand, are primarily oriented towards experimenting with technologies in somewhat controlled settings. Pilot lines would be at higher Technology Readiness Levels and closer to production, whereas testbeds would be nearer to laboratory validation stages. Due to rapid technological evolution and availability of different technical solutions, pilot lines are often being used for experimentation and quick technological validation. As a result, there is some overlap between the two concepts. Sometimes, there is also some overlapping with research and development showrooms. In principle, pilot lines are focused on validating production-related processes, while showrooms are more orientedtowards showcasing products or proof of concepts for commercial purposes. However, the configurations of these showrooms tend to be scaled-down systems where technologies can be validated. This overlapping also occurs when talking about competence centers. Both have equipment for research and development, and interest in the skilling of workers. Pilot lines are usually smaller in scale and focus more on validating technologies and processes, while competence centers are typically organizations for driving innovation. In many cases within the competence centers, there are pilot lines as detailed in [43, 48]. In general, these overlaps do not reduce the importance of the pilot lines, but rather contextualize them and place them in broader ecosystems.