AR is beginning to have an impact in business contexts, as a wider range of enterprises pilot and adopt AR capabilities. The global market for enterprise AR applications is estimated to reach $14.2 billion by 2022, according to ARtillery Research. In a 2018 HBR-Analytics Services survey, 49 percent of respondents were piloting or had deployed some form of mixed reality in their company workflows, and 68 percent said that mixed reality would play an important role in achieving strategic goals.

AR is currently delivering significant value in areas such as training and simulation, work instructions, remote assistance, inspection and repairs, and knowledge capture.

According to PTC’s 2019 State of Industrial Augmented Reality report, however, pockets of AR innovation are taking place in verticals including consumer packaged goods, retail, architecture and construction, professional services, and education. Here, the tools are enabling new sales and marketing experiences, improving operational efficiency, increasing engineering quality, and creating new products and services.

Four use cases from companies that are deploying AR today:

1. Unilever’s AR use case: Remote assistance and knowledge sharing

Global consumer goods manufacturer Unilever estimates that it will lose some 330 years of collective work and domain experience in just one of its European factories as its aging workforce retires. That loss of expertise in its plants ­– and lack of know-how among newer hires ­– can lead to costly downtime in its facilities.

The company began working with AR training and knowledge solutions provider ScopeAR, exploring ways to reduce that downtime with a live AR support application that allows technicians to collaborate with experts remotely. Users can share their view of a situation with a remote expert, and the AR maps work instructions and expert collaboration directly onto an object or area. Unilever says that it has seen a 50 percent reduction in downtime in facilities where the AR tools are in use, creating a direct ROI of 1,717 percent of the initial investment.

2. Boeing’s AR use case: Wiring an airplane

Historically, engineers would consult 20-foot-long paper diagrams as they did their work.

The wiring of an aircraft has always been a big pain point, both in production and during inspection, according to Paul Davies, a Boeing research & technology engineer. What’s more, it’s a process with no room for error. Historically, engineers would have to consult their 20-foot-long paper diagrams of the complex and detailed wiring requirements as they did their work. Not only was the process inefficient, but it was also almost impossible to do correctly the first time, resulting in significant rewiring work for each plane.

Today, some of those engineers instead put on Microsoft Hololens that display digital 3D writing diagrams directly on KC-46 tankers and 767 freighters they are wiring. Initial studies indicate that the AR approach results in a 90 percent improvement in first-time quality when compared to using two-dimensional information on the airplane, and cut the time required to do the wiring work by 30 percent. That saves millions of dollars per aircraft, the company says.

3. DHL Supply Chain’s AR use case: Better warehouse operations

Smartglasses help personnel locate, scan, sort, and move inventory without handheld scanners.

DHL was one of the first companies to explore AR back in 2014 and has recently expanded its “vision picking program” worldwide. The third-party logistics provider gives warehouse workers smartglasses (currently the latest version of Google Glass Enterprise Edition) which help them locate, scan, sort, and move inventory without using handheld scanners or referencing paper forms.

The integrated heads-up display overlays key parcel information within the company’s logistics hubs, scans barcodes, and relays instructions in real time. Workers using the glasses are 15 percent more productive, according to DHL. DHL has been progressively rolling them out to more of its warehouses around the world during the last few years, most recently expanding use to its internal express hubs in Brussels and Los Angeles, with plans to roll them out at airports in New York, Cincinnati, and Chicago. Looking ahead, DHL Supply Chain COO and CIO Markus Voss said the glasses could eventually be upgraded with object recognition.

4. Lowe’s AR use case: Making DIY less painful

Home improvement retailer Lowe’s has focused on one particular statistic that could be the key to its continued growth: 32 percent of home improvement projects are abandoned before they even start. That amounts to some $70 billion. In fact, it’s one of the problems the company’s Lowe’s Innovation Labs has dedicated itself to solving – and AR has proven a particularly valuable tool in developing new solutions. Lowe’s Vision Navigation app overlays turn-by-turn digital directions, enabling customers to navigate its stores more efficiently. Customers shopping for two or more items were able to find products two times faster than with self-navigation, and the AR app also help associates (particularly new ones) do the same.

Industrial organizations leave millions in potential revenue on the table each year due to production line downtime, defects, and waste. Augmented reality is helping today’s manufacturers become more agile and efficient by empowering frontline workers with on-the-job procedural guidance and more effective training.

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Korry Kobel, director of engineering at JLG Industries, discussed the benefits of incorporating AR technology into the service technician field while speaking at the Access, Lifts and Handlers (ALH) Conference & Awards on September 12-13, 2019, in San Diego.

Augmented or “mixed reality” technology has been gathering pace across a multitude of industries for its ability to overlay digital information to the human field of view in real time. Kobel believes equipment service technicians could really benefit from using this technology, as well.  ­

With the adoption of AR, construction equipment service technicians could have the opportunity to optimize their service workflows, and they would have the tools to attract a new generation of service technicians.

Optimizing Service Workflows

Historically, service technicians have had to search through manuals upon manuals to find the information they needed. This could be a lengthy process if the technicians didn’t already have an idea of where to quickly find that information.

With time, service technicians were then able to transfer that information to desktops. The adoption of desktops was useful, but service technicians couldn’t carry their desktops everywhere they went. It wasn’t until the laptop and smartphone that they could easily access and reference information wherever they needed.

But now, it can go a step even further. With AR, service technicians would be able to hold up their smartphone or device to see the information displayed right in front of them as an overlay. All they would need is a camera and the software to run the technology.

For example, AR could help technicians quickly execute field repairs. A technician would be able to go up to a machine, hold his phone in front of it and see instructions, data or other valuable information displayed right on the screen.

Kobel explained that sometimes technicians go into environments that are loud and chaotic. AR would help simplify that, and allow the technician to do his or her job without the added distractions.

“Augmented reality is that tool that can help cut through the noise and chaos,” Kobel said.

The ability to simplify their workspace with AR would optimize service workflows and allow technicians to resolve technical issues more efficiently than ever before.

 Attracting a New Generation

The equipment industry is having more and more challenges finding service technicians, Kobel pointed out. He recalled a poll which said that 64% of Millennials wouldn’t work in the industry even if they were paid more that $100,000 a year.

Kobel attributed this to what he called the “expectation of education.” More Millennials have and are getting four-year degrees than past generations. This means that over time the industry has seen a decline in service technicians as more workers are seeking higher education.

There is a likelihood that Generation Z will follow with the same expectation of education, and possibly even more so. Those in Generation Z have grown up with information always at their fingertips, said Kobel. Their expectations of learning are simply much higher, yet he remains optimistic.

“The good news is that over a third of the generation is willing to work in this industry,” he said. “So, I don’t think it’s as bleak as the poll shows.

Kobel explained that adopting AR technology could help attract this new generation of technicians because it would give them what they already expect—which is instant access to information.

AR would modernize the industry, and it would also help the new generation of technicians enter the field much faster. It would serve as a highly detailed visual training tool that would allow new technicians to view and learn specific equipment details. The on-the-spot training would cut loss of productivity and would help new technicians enter the industry with ease.

For Kobel, there is no doubt that adopting AR into the equipment industry would play a significant role in changing how technicians do their work in a positive way. It would help them access information and resolve technical issues much faster. It would also help the industry attract a new generation of workers by meeting their growing expectations of technology.

Joint activities between the IIC and the AREA will include:

• Collaboration on joint marketing activities through established liaison channels
• Collaboration on AR related use cases, requirements, security, safety, and research
• Collaboration on testbeds

“Augmented Reality has a tremendous potential to help enterprises of all kinds increase productivity, lower costs and improve safety – from manufacturing advances to service efficiencies,” said Wael William Diab, Chair of the IIC Liaison Working Group and Secretary of the IIC Steering Committee. “By working together, our organizations can continue to help accelerate the adoption of the IIoT across many industries.”

“It is vital to the mission of the AREA and the success of its enterprise members to help advance the convergence of the Industrial Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality,” said Mark Sage, Executive Director of the AREA. “Our partnership with the IIC and its Liaison Working Group enables us to strengthen our focus on helping the ecosystem players increase their efficiency and improve their business performance.”

The IIC Liaison Working Group is the gateway for formal relationships with standards and open-source organizations, consortia, alliances, certification and testing bodies and government entities/agencies. The agreement with the AREA is one of a number of agreements made by the IIC’s Liaison Working Group. For a list of current liaisons, click here.

Read the press release in full.

In summary, the markets covered in this piece are:

Healthcare

including surgeons and physicians, assistance for those with disabilities and biometric displays

Retail & Advertising

including virtual shopping and advertising

Education & Travel

including customized, continuous learning, training and travel

Manufacturing

including Design, Supply chain optimization and Quality assurance & accessible expertise

Transportation & Navigation

including Autonomous vehicles and navigation

Entertainment

including Gaming, Art and Shows

—

The author finishes the article with some final thoughts: while AR headset manufacturers and mixed reality developers race to build enterprise solutions from manufacturing to transportation, AR’s use in consumer products is following close behind.

Magic Leap leads the way in developing consumer experiences we’ve long been waiting for, as the “Magicverse” of localized AR displays in shared physical spaces will reinvent our modes of connection.

And as AR-supportive hardware is now built into today’s newest smartphones, businesses have an invaluable opportunity to gamify products and immerse millions of consumers in service-related AR experiences.

Even beyond the most obvious first-order AR business cases, new industries to support the augmented world of 2030 will soon surge in market competition, whether headset hardware, data storage solutions, sensors, or holograph and projection technologies.

The full original article can be read here.

Wearable technologies are all the rage in the warehouse these days, with workers being accessorized with everything from smart glasses to smart watches and even wrist-strapped barcode scanners that promise to increase intelligence and productivity. But, one wearable that warrants a closer look in the coming months is the “heads-up display” or HUD.

Heads-up displays were first used by military fighter jet pilots who needed to be able to see data related to their aircrafts with the head positioned “up” and looking forward, instead of angled down looking at lower instruments. But the military isn’t the only one taking advantage of HUD technologies today.

Auto manufacturers are now integrating windshield-projected heads-up displays as both standard and optional features in certain models to help keep drivers’ eyes on the road in the digital age, and HUDs are being sold by third parties as standalone devices, much like GPS devices were in their early days.

However, the mounted heads-up displays described in these two scenarios are a bit different than the type of HUD technology that other manufacturers and their supply chain partners are setting their sights on right now.

This article focuses on an interview between Zebra’s in-house expert Todd Boone to paint a picture of how heads-up display technologies could be used in your factory, warehouse or distribution center and what they will likely look like.

Questions and topics covered in detail in the interview:

With the proliferation of mobile devices these days, why would warehouse or factory workers need a heads-up display? Can’t they access all the data need on their mobile computer, scanner or tablet, depending on their job?

Other issues covered in detail in this blog post include considerations for workers who wear prescription glasses, issues of comfort, weight, ruggedness and issues for adoption.

The full interview with all the questions answered can be read here.

Fink writes, “Brainxchange has consolidated its position at the nexus of the growing enterprise XR ecosystem, with the ability to bring together both augmented reality companies and the large enterprises that are now testing and implementing XR solutions.

For EWTS, Brainxchange focused on securing participation from the end user, and achieved a 75-25 ratio of buyers to sellers. They invited process innovation executives from Fortune 1000 companies from all over the world one at a time to share their experiences implementing XR in their workflows.

Michael Gonzalez, Head of Audience Development at BrainXchange told us when he identifies end users that are seriously considering or actively deploying XR, he will go above and beyond to get them to attend, even if that means calling 47 times over two years. As a result, for the first time at an XR conference, buyers outnumbered sellers. Their use cases were front and center, illustrating why enterprise XR is at an inflection point.

The use cases revealed qualities companies look for when bringing new solutions to their specific business process. While spatial computing had its powerful cameo at the show, mundane tasks like VR training, remote experts (see-what-I-see), and work instructions were the stars, though glamorous they are not. The emerging killer apps were again confirmed to be training and simulation, knowledge capture, remote experts, and work instructions.

All aspects of XR are discussed including platforms and hardware such as head mounted displays.   A number of AR providers who are also AREA members are mentioned in the article – which also features product visuals, new features and information about new releases.

AREA members featured in the article who attended EWTS 2019 and showcased products include:

Upskill, REFLEK’T, Epson, Scope AR, PTC Vuforia, Qualcomm, Vuzix and RealWear, ThirdEye and Lenovo.

To read the full original article click here – Process Innovation Execs Define XR in Dallas.

In this modern age, technology has become so intertwined with our own lives that we no longer notice how embedded it is in our day-to-day activities. Furthermore, it is accepted that in just a few years, many of today’s jobs will not even exist. When it comes to medicine, the situation is no different; each day there is something new going on, and to row against the stream does not seem to be the best way of navigating the waves of technological change.

In 2006, Kasuo Miyake et al published an article entitled “Vein imaging: a new method of near infrared imaging, where a processed image is projected onto the skin for the enhancement of vein treatment,” describing the use of augmented reality (AR) for vein treatment. Since that time, many improvements have arrived and the tool has been incorporated as part of many phlebologists’ daily routine.

When the work was published in 2006, it was proven that AR could identify veins that were invisible to the naked eye and too shallow for ultrasound detection—today, some high frequency US transducers can also identify and measure those veins. The AR devices emit a near infrared light, which is absorbed by the blood and reflected by adjacent tissues. The information is captured, processed and projected onto the skin surface in real time.

Real time imaging is especially useful when performing transdermal laser and CLaCS (Cryo-Laser Cryo-Sclerotherapy). It allows us to observe the vessel’s immediate response, its spasm and the effectiveness—or not—of our laser settings, and helps us to find the best spot for puncture after lasing, even on darker skin. Moreover, the technology allows us to always select the best projection colour for each type of skin, ensuring that we can see the image.

There are a few AR devices available, but the better the equipment, the faster its image processing and lesser the parallax effect (the difference we find between the vein’s real position and the projection we get from the device onto the skin). Nevertheless, there are a few easy tricks for punctures, such as aligning the needle image to the vein image, which help us to overcome this drawback.

Read the full original article here. 

The project began in September 2017 and is now concluded.

This recently completed project was funded by the EPRI’s Technology Innovation program (first two years) and in this final year it was supported by members of Program 62-Occupational Health and Safety.  In addition, this project received in-kind support of the augmented reality equipment by EPRI’s Program 161 – Information & Communication Technology – John Simmins of Alfred University and Norm McCullough.

Some of the key findings of this report included:

• A system of hardware, software, and experimental protocol was developed to measure the electromyography (EMG) activity of major neck and shoulder muscles and eye blink rate while two
• groups of utility workers—power plant operators and manhole workers—used the HoloLens and HMT-1 to conduct common tasks.  In addition, we assessed situational awareness.
• The extra weight of the HoloLens and HMT-1 did not, in general, increase the EMG activity of the neck and upper shoulder muscles.
• The HoloLens decreased blink rate 6 to 11 blinks per minute for the manhole workers when they performed two of the tasks: manhole inspection and taping a splice. A decrease in blink rate is an
• indicator of eye strain, which includes dry-eye syndrome.
• The power plant operators rated the HMT-1 easier to use and more comfortable than the HoloLens.  The manhole workers rated the HMT-1 more comfortable than the HoloLens.
• The perceived ratings of situational awareness—that is, the ability to detect objects around the worker and conduct work safely—did not vary significantly between the two AR devices.

An important caveat with these findings is that the tasks were of rather short duration.  As a first of its kind, we have drawn some lessons learned about potential new work.  We recommend that that future studies should be done addressing longer tasks.  Also, AR technologies are advancing and future studies should reflect those advances.  For example, the HoloLens used in this project was 1^st gen.

EPRI previously published a literature review on this topic, which was the most downloaded report in 2018 from EPRI Program 62-Occupational Health and Safety.  This report is still available at www.epri.com and remains in the public domain.

The title of the report is: Program on Technology Innovation: Augmented Reality—Literature Review of Human Factors Issues in the Electric Power Industry. EPRI, Palo Alto, CA: 2018. 3002012532.

The AREA team and on behalf of all our members would like to congratulate all those involved in the project and for making this available in the public domain.

XRHealth offers virtual reality and augmented reality solutions to hospitals, healthcare facilities, and patients and provides an engaging, therapeutic experience that helps alleviate pain, improve motor function, assess cognitive functioning, and encourages overall wellness and health. Both the VRHealth and ARHealth portals offer real-time analytics so that healthcare practitioners could evaluate patient progress and have clear insights on patient data.

“The Allscripts and XRHealth partnership will provide doctors one platform to view all critical patient information,” says Eran Orr, CEO of XRHealth. “All patient health records and data will be in one location so that medical professionals can easily see how therapies are helping their patients and can make necessary adjustments in real-time. The partnership marks the first time, worldwide, that VR/AR apps will be an integral part of an EHR platform.”

“Allscripts is excited about the opportunity to partner with XRHealth. We’re looking forward to bringing their innovative VR and AR applications to market for our clients through the Allscripts Developer Program,” says Tina Joros, Vice President & General Manager Open and Allscripts Practice Financial Platform.

The Allscripts Developer Program (ADP) offers both proprietary and FHIR® enabled APIs to connect third-party applications, devices and other innovative healthcare technologies with Allscripts products. Allscripts has been supporting API integration since 2007 and is enabling over a billion data exchanges each year ­– the largest documented utilization of APIs in healthcare.