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AREA Members Featured in IndustryWeek Article on AR in Manufacturing

AREA members Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), DAQRI, and Upskill and AREA Executive Director Mark Sage are featured in an article on AR at IndustryWeek, the long-running manufacturing industry publication. The article explores the state of AR adoption in manufacturing, weaving in the experiences and insights of NNS’ Patrick Ryan, DAQRI’s Matt Kammerait, and Upskill’s Jay Kim, along with observations from executives of GE Digital and Plex Systems. Find the article here.




The AREA Issues Call for Proposals for an AR Research Project

The AREA has issued a request for proposals for a funded research project that its members will use to better understand relevant data security risks associated with wearable enterprise AR and mitigation approaches.

Organizations with expertise in the field of data security risks and mitigation and adjacent topics are invited to respond to the invitation by January 30, 2017.

The goals of the AREA-directed research project are:

  • To clarify questions about enterprise data security risks when introducing enterprise AR using wearables
  • To define and perform preliminary validation of protocols that companies can use to conduct tests and assess risks to data security when introducing wearable enterprise AR systems

The research project will produce:

  • An AREA-branded in-depth report that: details the types of data security risks that may be of concern to IT managers managing AR delivery devices and assets; classifies the known and potential threat to data security according to potential severity levels; and proposes risk mitigation measures
  • An AREA-branded protocol for testing wearable enterprise AR devices for their hackability or data exposure threat levels
  • An AREA-branded report documenting the use of the proposed protocol to test devices for their security exposure threat levels.

All proposals will be evaluated by the AREA research committee co-chairs on the following criteria:

  • Demonstrated knowledge and use of industry best practices for research methodology
  • Clear qualifications of research organization and any partners in the domain of data security threats and mitigation, and AR, if possible
  • Review of prior research report and testing protocol samples
  • Feedback of references

The AREA will provide detailed replies to submitters on or before February 13, 2017. The research project is expected to be completed and finished deliverables produced by May 1, 2017.

Full information on the request for proposals, including a submission form, can be found here.

 




Welcome Lockheed Martin to the AREA

The newest member of the AREA is one of the largest companies in the aerospace, defense, security, and technologies industry – and an Augmented Reality pioneer.

It’s Lockheed Martin. The Bethesda, Maryland-based company, which employs 98,000 people worldwide, joined the AREA as a Sponsor member in October. Lockheed Martin will be represented on the AREA board by Christi Fiorentini, a senior manufacturing applications engineer in Lockheed’s Marietta, Georgia Aeronautics organization.

Fiorentini traces Lockheed’s involvement in AR back about 15 years, when the company’s research and development team began exploring opportunities for the technology. Each of Lockheed Martin’s business units — Aeronautics, Space Systems, Missiles and Fire Control, and Rotary and Mission Systems – has experimented with the technology. About five years ago, Fiorentini’s unit, Aeronautics, began looking into augmented reality for remote subject matter expert applications.

“The technology then wasn’t quite up to par for use in a production environment, so it got put on the back burner,” recalled Fiorentini. “Around October last year, Aeronautics gained a new interest in the technology when we observed many start-ups and smaller businesses bringing AR to fruition.”

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Lockheed Martin is seeking to incorporate augmented reality throughout the product lifecycle, from the initial design phase all the way through sustainment, with a heavy interest in manufacturing.

“We’ve been investigating the technology, going to conferences, and developing proofs of concept to build business cases, because we need to prove that this technology can work within our own boundaries so that we can make the investment,” said Fiorentini. “If we’re going to shift into this realm of technology, it’s a big move, a big status quo change, and so while I do believe the ROI is there, we need to show that it works on our actual use cases to convince our leadership to invest in it.”

That’s why Lockheed Martin joined the AREA.

“I think more people across our business are starting to realize the potential of the technology and so we’re trying to formalize our approach across the entire enterprise,” Fiorentini noted. “We’re working to bring individual players from our different business areas together and define a more strategic approach to exploit this technology. We have some upcoming pilots that we’re working on with some of the leading AR vendors, and we’re members of DMDII, the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute. As we engage more with these vendors and other enterprise members investigating this technology, we saw the AREA as being a good place to start pushing what we think should be best practice. We’re a big player in the aerospace and defense industry, so we’re looking at how we can use our influence to shape what the AR industry for enterprise is going to look like and the AREA is a great place to help convey that message.”




Digitally Assisted Assembly at Factory 2050

In a previous article, we introduced the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), a member of the AREA that develops innovative techniques and processes for high-precision manufacturing. A subsidiary, the AMRC with Boeing, collaborates with a variety of research partners in areas such as informatics, automation, robotics and Augmented and Virtual Reality. Besides aerospace, the results of this research into manufacturing are used in the automotive, construction and other high-value industries.

Earlier this year, the AMRC opened the doors of its newest manufacturing facility, Factory 2050, a glass-walled reconfigurable factory in Sheffield Business Park. The facility investigates and showcases new technologies and processes relating to Industry 4.0, including projects to explore digitally assisted assembly technologies to fill a looming skills gap in the aerospace industry.

Augmented Reality in Digitally Assisted Assembly

The Digitally Assisted Assembly (DAA) project focuses on techniques for delivering work instructions to factory operators, including the use of optical projection AR and wearables. According to the AMRC’s digital manufacturing specialist, Chris Freeman, the project allows partner companies to experience visual work instructions through a number of delivery mediums. Research includes:

  • Optimizing AR tracking methods for effectively getting a part’s position to generate a frame of reference.
  • Designing user experiences for work instructions that are projected or overlaid onto a part within the user’s field of view. These include instructions that guide users for tasks such as gluing sequences, fastener insertion, inspection, wiring looms, complex routines and more. The aim of this research is to reduce cognitive load and optimize the user experience for delivery across a variety delivery modes (e.g., projection AR) and devices from tablets to smart glasses.
  • Using location-based services to add contextualized task and environmental information in relation to the user’s position or progress within a task.

With the technology still in its infancy, one of the aims of DAA is to simply demonstrate what can be achieved with the technology. Although smart glasses and wearables aren’t proven or certified for use in manufacturing, they are nevertheless being baselined for further research and possible future production usage. The AMRC are currently following a strategy of first identifying the “low-hanging fruit” from the current state of hardware and software, which means that research associates want to find some of the most obvious and perhaps least expensive options up front.

Skype for HoloLens

Although the AMRC is studying a variety of smart glasses brands such as ODG and Vuzix, remote collaboration use cases with Skype for HoloLens is an interesting application for meeting the needs of certification processes. This use case includes methods for lineside support and remote verification to complement or replace expensive quality management activities requiring the presence of a supervisor. It may even include assistance by remote colleagues when assembly or repair problems are encountered.

Freeman notes that though such use cases aren’t spectacularly advanced in terms of tracking in comparison with other scenarios such as overlaying geometric 3D models on objects being assembled, they are nevertheless disruptive of current manufacturing practices.

Projecting Work Instructions on Large-Volume Objects

Projected Augmented Reality, sometimes referred to as “spatial Augmented Reality,” features one or more optical projectors projecting a beam of light onto a specially designed work surface or even on the parts being assembled. Thus work instructions are displayed directly on surfaces to guide operators. The DAA is currently researching methods for effectively using projection AR in conjunction with both fixtures and robotic arms in work cells.

For example, an operator assembles aircraft parts with the assistance of robots to present a part at a better angle than if it were lying on a work surface. A robotic arm can swivel or position the part as needed by the operator, and projected AR is able to guide operators through a series of specific manufacturing procedures.

Defining Success

As has been discussed in other industry contexts, return on investment on any new technology can be challenging to define (whether it’s for AR or any other). Typical ROI calculations seek to determine the amount of savings a project can bring and when that investment will pay off. In the case of AR, relevant questions include how to quantify the value of conceptualized data and geometries for its usage in performance metrics.

Further research into AR will eventually uncover such answers, but in the near term, human factors and ergonomic studies can also quantify the technology’s effectiveness. For example, the AMRC is currently conducting AR-related training scenarios to determine a variety of metrics such as memory retention and AR’s overall effectiveness, as well as usability and operator response.

Beyond Aerospace

Although research being conducted at Factory 2050 aims to advance the state of the art in aerospace manufacturing, many of the techniques and procedures derived by DAA and other projects will eventually be used in other industries, such as energy and construction. For example, assembly techniques for large-volume aerospace parts can also be applied to assembling prefabricated homes at a factory as part of modular building manufacture. Having recently opened its doors, it’s apparent that the new facilities of Factory 2050 will have an impact on both present and future manufacturing in multiple domains for many years to come.




Calculating ROI for AR Investments: One Approach

In a field as young as AR, organizations seeking to justify investments have had little historical data available to help calculate ROI. The team at AREA member Catchoom have addressed this challenge by putting together a white paper that provides a step-by-step means of calculating ROI for its CraftAR image recognition software based on an actual Catchoom customer in the healthcare industry.

Download the white paper from Catchoom to learn more.




New EPRI Report Offers Insights for Wearable AR Display Customers

Innovation in wearable technology continues to accelerate. Smart watch vendors are making so many announcements there are portals dedicated to helping customers sort through the details. There is also a portal to help customers compare the features of wearable displays for AR.

And new wearable segments are being defined. For example, Snap recently introduced its $130 Spectacles

Is this all good?

Thinly veiled behind the shiny new products is a vicious cycle.

The continual stream of announcements confirms for readers of this blog that the wearable AR display segment is still immature. This means that those customers with limited budgets seeking to select the best hands-free AR display for their projects in 2016 are likely to be disappointed when an update or new model appears, making the model they just brought in-house out of date. Risk-averse organizations may put their resources in another product category.

On the other side of this conceptual coin, the companies developing components and building integrated solutions for wearable AR must continue to invest heavily in new platforms. These investments are producing results — but without clear customer requirements, the “sweet spot” for which the products should aim is elusive. And when customers lack clear requirements, differentiating the latest offerings while avoiding hype is a continual challenge.

Breaking the cycle with specific requirements

When customers are able to prioritize their needs and provide specific product requirements and budgets, there’s hope of breaking this cycle.

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and PEREY Research & Consulting, both AREA Founding Sponsor members, have collaborated on the preparation of a new report entitled Program on Technology Innovation: State of the Art of Wearable Enterprise Augmented Reality Displays.

Targeting the buyers of wearable technology for use when performing AR-assisted tasks in utilities (and by extension, in other enterprise and industrial environments), the report seeks to demystify the key product features that can become differentiators for wearable AR solutions.

Based on these differentiators, the first multi-feature wearable AR display classification system emerges.

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Source: Program on Technology Innovation: State of the Art of Wearable Enterprise Augmented Reality Displays. EPRI, Palo Alto, CA: 2016. 3002009258.

The report also discusses challenges to widespread wearable AR display adoption in technology, user experience, financial, and regulatory/policy domains.

Descriptions of a few “lighthouse” projects in utilities companies, logistics, manufacturing, and field service provide readers valuable insight into how early adopters are making the best of what is currently available.

This report is available for download at no charge as part of the EPRI Program on Technology Innovation.

If you have comments or feedback on the report, please do not hesitate to address them to the authors, Christine Perey and John Simmins.




A Partnership Model for Augmented Reality Enterprise Deployments

Due to the potential to radically change user engagement, Augmented Reality has received considerable and growing attention in recent months. Pokémon Go certainly has helped and, in turn, generated many expectations for the advancement of AR-based solutions. In fact, the game has provided the industry with a long overdue injection of mass appeal and as a result, significant investment from (and among) tech giants around the world.

From corner shops to large utility providers, the spike in popularity of this technology has everyone buzzing about how it could improve their business. The flexibility of implementation, from improving processes to stand-out marketing solutions, has also altered the expectations of these prospective clients as they seek personalized enterprise-level AR-based solutions. Consequently, the time has come for vendors and suppliers to consider a new model when it comes to managing customer expectations.

When deploying Augmented Reality solutions in an enterprise context, it is essential to build strong partnerships with your customers, and in many cases to take on the role of a trusted advisor. This becomes more important through the stages of delivering a project—starting with defining a proof of concept (POC) to implement bleeding edge solutions with operational teams and ultimately end users, who in fact are the actual users of the technology.

While the primary value of Augmented Reality systems is to allow for the contextual overlay of information to enable better decision making, the visual data overlay and various data sources and devices that trigger location sensors all come into play—converging in the form of a complex mesh. Vendors must note that partnerships are key to solving the pieces of this puzzle.

Service Delivery—Creating Value from the Complex Mesh

This complex mesh is what ultimately garners value as the assimilation of these technologies creates new and innovative social and business ecosystems and associated processes. When addressing enterprise adaptation, one must be aware of the following questions:

  • How best can value be driven into workable solutions in an enterprise?
  • How well does it integrate with existing legacy systems?
  • Would new skills be required to introduce and manage the change?
  • Does the solution deliver increased productivity or efficiencies, i.e., better utilization of resources or allow for better decision making through information?
  • Does the solution enable new revenue models for the organization that are consistent with the existing product and service offerings?
  • In turn, how does this solution affect the profitability of the organization?
  • Last, but not least, is the business rationale clear for the implementation of such a solution?

The move towards customer-centric systems means that your customer (or your customer’s customer) is at the center of all decision making. This may be a shift from their existing system practices, meaning it’s even more critical that the chosen change management process be well aligned to the client’s corporate culture.

The Client’s Point of View—Questions to Ask When Going Beyond the POC

Some of the questions that vendors need to consider when it comes to implementing the solution beyond the POC are:

  • What is changing?
  • Why are we making the change?
  • Who will be impacted by the change?
  • How will they react to the change?
  • What can we do to proactively identify and mitigate their resistance to the change?
  • Will the solution introduce new business or revenue models?

Working as one with your customers through innovations to operations is a key factor for success. The complex mesh of AR, VR, IoT and Big Data technologies makes this even more critical as enterprises see an integration of their digital content, systems and processes.

It is essential to take a partnership mindset—where the Augmented Reality innovation solution is built both for and with the customer, and through a customer-implemented change management process—to quickly and easily create ROI as well as tangible, actionable outcomes.




Interview with JoinPad

AREA member JoinPad provides cloud-based and contextually aware software that simplifies processes in a number of industries. The company’s BrainPad product integrates enterprise resource systems and sensor networks to add Augmented Reality visualization and contextual computing to existing business processes.

This month we interview Nicolas Pezzarossa, Global Sales and Business Development Director of JoinPad, about the enterprise use cases his company is encountering for its products and services.

In which industries are you finding the greatest interest for your products and services?

We see strong interest from providers of energy supplies and infrastructure. Oil and gas has the largest proportion of such companies. Besides this, we’re finding companies in other industries getting involved with Augmented Reality:

  • Energy
  • Automotive
  • Manufacturing
  • IT hardware, infrastructure and services
  • Retail
  • Tourism

We’ve also provided solutions for use cases in these industries.

What are the reasons for AR’s popularity in these companies?

We believe it’s due to growing awareness of the value that Augmented Reality brings in conjunction with digital transformation. The ROI of individual AR use cases is becoming evident, and there’s an increasing maturity of hardware platforms for this environment.

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We’ve also received much interest in our smart glasses SDK, and as well in our Smart Assistance solution that offers guided assistance as an “augmented operator’s manual” and expert collaboration in real time.

With whom do you partner most often?

We partner with well-consolidated players active in the field of consulting to large industrial companies in IT infrastructure for manufacturing processes, where we can supply the AR-related components in an OEM-type of integration.

Has employee performance in the workplace prior to AR introduction been studied by your customers?

Most of our customers have detailed statistics about performance or time taken to complete specific tasks, and to which we can correlate our solution. In other cases we’ve performed a detailed analysis of their work processes. Our product also contains a module for work order management that enables generation of KPIs for specifically measuring this type of work performance for comparison purposes.

What are common metrics, and do you recommend customers choose their own?

We find that in most cases the most important factor is time to complete a task (for increasing efficiency). But others include the ratio of possible to actual mistakes and the value of avoided damage, as well as the level of fatigue or satisfaction of operators.

As we are discussing the consequences of a disruptive technology, another important factor is the possibility of enabling new work processes. Although this is more difficult to measure, it offers large potential for increasing efficiency.

We always emphasize the importance of evidence for a return on investment in all phases of a project. This is also essential for advocating internally to stakeholders and management for the adoption of AR.

What is your company’s recommended approach to introducing AR in an organization? Are there steps or a model or method you follow?

We take a phased approach and in a preparatory phase offer a workshop for defining possible use cases and analyzing current work processes. We then propose a proof-of-concept phase in which we offer a basic solution with limited functionality. This allows the customer to experience the new solution and see its potential. We subsequently initiate a pilot phase with actual data exchange, followed by a roll-out phase where the application is introduced into actual work processes.

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How is data prepared for your customer projects?

All data must be processed to efficiently support the use case. In particular, when connecting to an ERP system it’s important to choose the data sets specifically supporting the use cases.

Do you get involved in the design of the content that will be used in pilot projects?

Normally the customer asks us to provide the content as well as the design of the user interface. In the case of smart glasses this can involve an innovative interaction design. Key to project success is to propose visualizations that help solve the specific problem at hand and improves visual perception.

Our experiences working with customers have allowed us to develop specific templates for smart glasses applications that ensure efficient intake of the relevant information.

What is the profile of the typical person who performs the selected tasks prior to AR, and what are their attitudes?

Augmented Reality, particularly when used with smart glasses, has the major benefit that even untrained operators can perform complex tasks. But also highly trained operators benefit from availability of real time data where it matters.

In most cases operators are satisfied about working with innovative tools that they appreciate as supporting their work tasks. But the impact of new technologies on human resources and work safety must nonetheless be carefully monitored.

Do you study project risks, and do customers perform user studies?

Risk analysis is always part of our use case analysis, just like recommended fallback scenarios.

Although most customers don’t plan user studies themselves, we offer a questionnaire process both before and after a pilot for evaluating improvements for purposes of the roll-out phase.

What are the system components the customer must provide for a successful project?

This is highly dependent on the use case but there is in fact no requirement that customers provide us with system components. However at various times they do provide us with components ranging from full packages of 3D files to databases and API access.

What type of recognition and tracking technologies do you support, and what are the effects of lighting?

We work with all recognition and tracking principles (e.g., image, bar code, natural features, SLAM, depth sensing, etc.), but based on our proprietary core algorithms.

Lighting represents a challenge that in many cases can be overcome, yet it influences tracking stability. It’s always possible to correct this influence using other types of sensors, or to reduce its impact with fallback scenarios.

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Do you use IoT, and is AR content locally archived or accessed over a network?

We have specifically developed and deployed an IoT module in our AR platform BrainPad that is used today by one of our customers in the energy industry to retrieve data from sensors on industrial equipment in the field in real time. We thus fully support IoT data integration.

For AR content, there are different scenarios involving both kinds of access and integration, depending on the workflow.

What are the greatest challenges you face in current projects?

One of the largest challenges is in the need to prove ROI on every single use case, which is often complex as many industrial and manufacturing processes are highly intertwined with other processes.

What are the future plans or next steps for JoinPad?

The next steps are to further grow our activity and supply more publishable customer use cases to further support the adoption of the technology in industry. In particular, Joinpad will intensify its education effort to spread knowledge about the value and design of AR applications by conducting workshops offered to technology experts and managers, as well as in academic initiative.

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3D Studio Blomberg at Augmented World Expo 2016

Our team at 3D Studio Blomberg, along with key partners, travelled to Santa Clara, California, to attend the Augmented World Expo. The event is the largest annual conference and exhibition about Augmented Reality worldwide, with over 4000 attendees and 250 exhibitor booths. During the two days, I had the opportunity to make interesting new contacts, meet other AREA members, see and try a variety of innovative AR and VR solutions and attend the enterprise AR tracks hosted by the AREA.

Larger Players Entering the Market

Judging by the offerings on display at AWE, the ecosystem for enterprise AR products and services is expanding. Players like PTC (Vuforia), Osterhout Design Group (ODG) and Microsoft through HoloLens had observably increased their footprint at the event, and even the presence of VR products at an AR show confirmed the overall trend of a growing ecosystem. Microsoft presented its HoloLens product hosted by Vuforia and its technical capabilities are impressive. We view all this as a positive development as it will bring increased competition and more innovative market offerings.

AR in Enterprise Sessions

The AREA-hosted AR in enterprise track featured speakers and AREA members on a diverse range of topics from IoT to security. The sessions were interesting but they highlighted the array of challenges still facing companies seeking to implement Augmented Realty in the workplace. One fundamental takeaway was that widespread adoption of AR in industry isn’t solely a technological issue of AR, but rather is the result of steady improvements in the surrounding mix of technologies such as IoT, Big Data, etc. As these enabling features and technologies improve, they make the value proposition of AR even more compelling.

Another insight from the sessions was the idea of mental models and how we imagine innovations should work—but that actually turn out to be quite different in reality. We need to avoid this pitfall when thinking about AR and the problems it solves.

Lastly, partnerships are essential for expanding the ecosystem and assuring its success. For example, ODG makes great smart glasses but they need partners that create virtual content in order to get the most out of their products. All of these key ingredients will produce the necessary lifting power to make AR a killer app.

Conclusion

AWE was a rich, rewarding experience that we and our partners in attendance enjoyed immensely. As content providers for AR-enabled enterprise systems, we appreciated the opportunity to meet a variety of potential partners to which we add value. We’re looking forward to turning the ideas gained from the conference into reality, and to contributing to the exciting and growing marketplace for Augmented Reality.




New Executive Director Reports on AWE ’16 and Members Meeting

As the incoming executive director of the AR for Enterprise Alliance, I was very excited to attend my first Augmented World Expo and to meet some of the 34 members of the AREA.

AWE is one of the largest and best-attended events worldwide about Augmented Reality, and typically hosts thousands of attendees and hundreds of companies. This year’s event was no exception and did not disappoint. I was pleased to meet a high number of innovative AR companies from the AREA provider segment and attend demos of their groundbreaking solutions. It’s clear to me that AR in enterprise is here to stay and the AREA occupies a strategic position in growing the entire ecosystem to the benefit of everyone.

Benefits of AR in Enterprise

The event gave me the opportunity to speak with a range of attendees from many companies and markets. It was exciting to be asked so many different and interesting questions on many topics and one conclusion that came up time and again was the importance of AR in enterprise. The potential benefits and savings of AR is getting the attention of C-suite rather than just the innovation and technology teams. The trajectory towards a real reduction in time, costs and errors is a critical for companies as they look to streamline their business and increase the return on investment.

Enterprise AR Track at AWE ‘16

The focus on enterprise was supported by an impressive number of customers and providers presenting their experiences during the Enterprise AR track—sponsored by the AREA. I learned a lot from all the presentations but it was also instructive to listen to the members of the AREA’s customer segment. They were insightful and provided a unique perspective on the benefits and issues they experienced when implementing AR solutions within their companies. It’s clear that there are many lessons to learn and the AREA is well placed to help the AR ecosystem make effective and informed decisions based on shared knowledge and experience.

The AREA at AWE

At AWE we experienced a constant stream of people visiting our stand and asking questions. Many expressed appreciation of the AREA’s work and benefits achieved for the ecosystem. A number of them even mentioned regularly visiting the AREA website when trying to find information about AR, and that the AREA’s content was insightful and informative.

For those who hadn’t heard of us, it was useful to discuss our mission, benefits, membership options and growth. Much interest was expressed and I hope new members will join based on these discussions.

AWE was my first real experience meeting the enterprise AR community and it was a very useful and insightful experience. I look forward to following up with the many attendees I met and help drive the AREA’s development and its role in supporting this nascent ecosystem.

AREA Members Meeting

After AWE, we held an AREA Members Meeting in Palo Alto, California, on June 3. It was an honor to chair my first such meeting. AREA in-person meetings occur around three times a year and they’re a great opportunity to meet with members, discuss progress made, define future strategic plans to further develop the ecosystem and have some fun.

Thanks to Atheer for hosting the event at the beautiful Palo Alto Art Center.

The morning agenda items included:

  • Progress updates from the various AREA committees
  • Upcoming events in which the AREA can support its members

The afternoon included various brainstorming sessions around the content and the way the AREA positions itself to potential new members.

The day was full of insightful and interesting discussions, and from a personal perspective it was great to interact with many leaders and understand how we can work together as an alliance to support and grow the ecosystem and provide thought leadership to possible new customers and providers of AR.

If you are interested in joining the AREA, please complete this form.