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According to automation.com there are six district benefits to using AR in manufacturing and the 5th benefit is “Providing a safer and more comfortable work environment”. Specifically, the article states that the use of AR enables workers to be complete tasks hands free and reduce numbers of trips around the workspace for items. This enables the worker to have less exertion during their workday which translates to less physical stress. Six Benefits of Augmented Reality in Manufacturing (automation.com)
1. Increasing productivity through augmented reality
AR is a solution whose effectiveness and value to the industry are more proven than ever to increase industrial productivity. When used in factory and production processes, there are many gains you can make in your quest for operational excellence. In addition to allowing you to be more effective and fast in each of your tasks (assembly, inspection, maintenance), such a solution will enable you to be more efficient by optimizing processes and providing digital instructions for operators.
2. Improving quality through AR – The detection and reduction of non-conformities are one of the main objectives of the teams in charge of inspection and quality. As we all know, the slightest error can be extremely costly and leads to a series of time-consuming corrective actions, such as:
3. Connecting the field with new digital capability
What if the augmented operator was the connection point that could reconcile the real and virtual worlds? Displaying digital data from the design teams on the shop floor places allows the operator to interact with the data. AR becomes the link to creating a tangible connection between the Virtual (and all the digital information from the engineering office), with the Real, meaning the operations happening on the field. Implementing an augmented reality solution, especially if the chosen technology offers integration capabilities with the existing systems (MES, for example), may be the answer to the digital gap between V + R.
4. Supporting the future operator by boosting skills development
Integrating AR solutions in your factory can positively affect team training. The simple fact of using augmented reality contributes to your operators’ training and increases their skills. Using digital work instructions projected in the field or visualized through a tablet or augmented reality glasses, your field teams receive the right information at the right time and become operational more quickly. It is proven that using a virtual world facilitates the assimilation of information communicated and its application in the field. This way, your operators develop much more intuitive gestures allowing them to become more autonomous and to respond well to possible issues. In addition, it also facilitates the memorization of the information that you transmit to your teams. Integrating an augmented reality solution fits perfectly into a training strategy. It facilitates the transmission of knowledge within your company and develops your operators’ autonomy more quickly, thanks to its more intuitive content.
5. Providing a safer and more comfortable work environment
Better security and fewer errors for your industry. Augmented reality technologies can also improve your factories’ safety and comfort. Complex assembly operations or maintenance actions provide significant support, consider many risk factors and detail faults with better accuracy than any other resource (documentation or technicians).
6. Optimize documentation, traceability and reporting
Augmented reality supports a solution for better industrial traceability. Getting the right information at the right place at the right time can be complex. Manufacturers need to be aware of a lack or break in collecting field data and documentation that is not up to date and too difficult to use. Using augmented reality in your plant can positively impact your traceability. A good AR solution offers “as-built” data collection capabilities in the field with automated reporting, which provides full visibility into the assembly and inspection processes throughout the product production and distribution chain. We help industries optimize their traceability with innovative digital solutions that provide automatic data collection directly from the field following quality control. With such a solution’s capabilities, you can conduct documented inspections for internal traceability purposes and better communication with your customers.
Eye strain can occur from using the device for hours at a time due to potential cyber sickness. Cyber sickness is a form of motion sickness that occurs when someone uses an HMD but is more common in VR than AR. However, if the content that is being viewed in an AR device is not at a specific framerate, then it is possible for cyber sickness to occur in an AR simulation. Some research studies show that 40-70% of people experience cyber sickness while using XR devices. Some of the symptoms of cyber sickness includes headache, cold sweat, feeling warm, and dizziness. Motion and Cyber Sickness – Balance & Dizziness Canada (balanceanddizziness.org)
Fit and accessibility are two additional limitations of specific augmented reality headsets. For example, the Magic Leap 1 headset is worn more at the crown of the head facing downward instead of level on the head like other HMD devices. Also, the potential interpupillary distance on these headsets cannot be calibrated. Lastly is accessibility for glasses wearers. Most but not all HMD devices on the market have mitigations built in for this issue. For example, the HoloLens allows for users to wear their own glasses but Magic Leap devices do not. This is something to consider when purchasing and deploying these devices enterprise wide.
A great example of AR benefits in a highly mobile real world scenario is the new Audi Activesphere concept car. If we are thinking of comfort and safety Audi is one of the leaders in the automotive industry in those areas. Product safety | audi.com In 2023, Audi began developing a concept car that entrusts the use of the Magic Leap 2 headset to operate their new Activesphere concept vehicle. Audi prides themselves as one of the more reliable brands in the car industry and it says a lot about the benefits of AR in physical safety and not only from a professional standpoint but also user experience as well.
Audi Article & Video Links:
Personal Example:
At ORETTC, we use Augmented Reality in multiple application but our main application is for first responder training. Particularly, law enforcement training scenarios. Our training traditionally consists of officers and agents shooting chalk rounds at one another in a shoot house scenario. These chalk rounds are fairly painful for anyone who is shot by them. However, the use of AR will allow these participants the chance to virtually shoot at adversaries in a simulation instead of one another.
Additional Research Articles:
References: https://www.automation.com/en-us/articles/july-2023/six-benefits-augmented-reality-manufacturing
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