Augmented Reality

The paper describes a modular, AR-based assistance system that guides the user through a maintenance task by displaying components and meta-information step by step. By supplementing a learning success control, the system can also be used for continuing education of service technicians and operating personnel. Special emphasis was placed on an integrated information system that allows maintenance information and training tasks to be created with little effort and at the same learning and work tasks to be teached on the systems used in practice.

The phase-out of nuclear energy decided by the politicians and the goal of significantly aligning the energy mix with renewable energies will give the industry great growth potential. Digitalization and the resulting technologies, such as sensors, robotics and assistance systems, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and augmented reality, are helping companies realise their potential. The study “Industrialization of the Wind Industry” by the Technical University of Munich has shown that digitalization will have a positive effect on the “Levelized Cost of Energy” (LCOE).

In times of increasing globalization, international capital and consumer markets get more and more dynamic. To remain competitive, companies have to respond to new requirements and move away from traditional manufacturing concepts. Digitalization offers different technologies and methods to provide a remedy. The following article describes the status quo, as well as future possibilities of Virtual Production with a particular focus on Augmented Reality in the production environment. It gives a comprehensive overview of the current market situation and facilitates strategic investment decisions.

Augmented Reality has the potential to radically change both our private environment and the world of work over the coming years and decades. In a study, Prof. Michael E. Porter (Harvard Business School) and James E. Heppelmann, President and CEO of PTC, examine what Augmented Reality is, which technologies and applications will make them so important in the future, and how AR will be implemented in business practice. For example, augmented reality will change the way we learn, how we make decisions, or interact with the physical environment. But AR is not just another communication channel, but a completely new way to get in touch with people. Augmented reality is intended to bridge the gap between man’s limited mental capacity and receptivity and the ever-growing amount of data and insight that the virtual, digital product world provides.

The core task of logistics can be described by the so-called “seven R”. IT means that the right product must be available in the right condition at the right time and at the right place. In addition, further key factors of a well-functioning logistics system are the right quantity, the right costs and the right information. Providing right or incorrect information at the wrong time can have a significant repercussion on the entire process. In particular, the human being who is the recipient of the information has the demanding task of correctly select and interpret it. Therefore, the human-machine interface plays a decisive role in the communication success between human employees and the digital systems surrounding the human at work. On that account, new user interfaces that do not burden people and provide information in a way that it can be perceived intuitively are needed in the future. This is where data glasses come into play.

Technicians and service operators in machine and plant engineering need more and more information to assemble the more complex products. Additional effort is necessary, when technicians have to document their work progress or report problems. One reason for this is that production is generally not integrated into the digital flow of information. Case studies from the industry show the high potential of innovative software solutions by integrating the production perfectly into the digital information flow.

Due to the high competition on the world market, companies look for unique characteristics for their products. One opportunity is to establish a closer relationship to the customer by giving him the possibility to make last-minute change requests. This approach provides a possibility to discuss such a request at a great distance via Augmented Reality. The objective is to evaluate its feasibility and its costs on short notice and in cooperation with the customer.

The one-of-a-kind production often is characterized by a high share in manual work. Information gathering requires an essential percentage of the workers time. The article shows as Augmented Reality can help to reduce the efforts of information gathering and to increase productivity.

The comprehensive digitalization of work environment constitutes major challenges in connection with new media and an extended human-computer interaction. In this context, service and maintenance proved to be an important field of application for this form of Industry 4.0. An adequate process execution and documentation has to be secured, even under challenging conditions, e.g. malfunctions on short notice, harsh working conditions or tight timeframes. These requirements as well as the increasing digitalization promote the application of Augmented Reality solutions in this area. With a focus on maintenance of wind energy turbines, this article describes the state of the art in relation to current solution approaches and development needs in connection with a process-oriented application of Augmented Reality. Therefore, current solutions that are already on the market are considered as well as results of the joint research project “AR Maintenance System”.

The methods presented allow the splitting of classic monolithic numerical controls of industrial robots and machine tools into their functional units. The core functionalities can then be brought onto different computers in even separate places. Using techniques of augmented reality allows enriching a captured scene with additional information, as a virtual model of the industrial robot or the planned paths. Combining these approaches leads to a simplified programming task for industrial robots as the programs can be visualized in their context. This decreases setup time and improves quality.