Human-Centric

Industry 5.0 envisions a transformative industrial paradigm that goes beyond mere automation, emphasizing human-centricity, sustainability, and resilience. The convergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and Blockchain forms a powerful technological foundation to achieve this vision, enabling intelligent, interconnected, and secure industrial operations. In this paper, we propose a comprehensive conceptual architecture for integrating these three technologies, facilitating seamless interaction between humans, machines, and decentralized systems. We conduct a systematic review of the existing literature, examining design patterns, practical use cases, adoption barriers, and key challenges. Additionally, we analyze real-world industrial implementations to extract insights, lessons learned, and best practices. Our findings highlight critical technical, governance, and scalability issues, including interoperability, data privacy, regulatory compliance, and infrastructure limitations. To address these challenges, we present a multiphase strategic roadmap for the deployment and adoption of AI–IoT–Blockchain convergence in human-centric industrial environments. Finally, we discuss emerging research directions, such as post-quantum blockchains, federated learning, autonomous economic agents, and resilient cyber-physical systems. Our analysis indicates that while the convergence of these technologies holds transformative potential for Industry 5.0, practical and scalable adoption requires careful system design, iterative prototyping, and robust policy frameworks. This study provides a structured reference for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers seeking to advance human-centric, sustainable, and technologically empowered industrial systems.