With the new technology, Colgate-Palmolive employees will be able to troubleshoot machinery while keeping their hands free to work and use their voice to engage with company subject matter experts (SMEs), equipment suppliers and manufacturing teams across sites for support and cross training.  In addition, Colgate-Palmolive plans to use the devices to retrieve and capture documents and video.

“Colgate-Palmolive tested RealWear HMT-1 through successful pilots in 8 locations and is now standardizing globally on this wearable device for our manufacturing operations,” said Warren Pruitt, VP Global Engineering at Colgate-Palmolive.  “Looking ahead, we see an opportunity to use this tool beyond the plant floor for improved performance and new efficiencies.”

“Colgate-Palmolive’s global deployment signifies that industrial wearable computing has crossed the chasm into mainstream manufacturing companies,” said Andy Lowery, RealWear CEO and cofounder. “This has been a textbook example of how to move with energy and purpose, from evaluation through pilot to global deployment.”

The commercial deployment will include Librestream Onsight Connect for remote mentoring and RealWear Foresight cloud platform for app deployment.

Congress will be welcoming top vertical industry executives end-users from Manufacturing, Energy & Utilities, Connected Transport, Healthcare, and Buildings & Infrastructure.

Lars Bergstrom, Mozilla research engineering manager for VR/AR, wrote:

“We’re entering a new phase of work on JavaScript APIs here at Mozilla, that will help everyone create and share virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) projects on the open web.

The new WebXR Device API will provide the foundations to build augmented reality experiences in the browser by enabling the integration of the real-world with contextual overlays. For example, users could replace a Web page background with a skybox, that is a live image representing anything that is beyond immediate reach, such as the sky, a mountain, distant buildings, etc. Additionally, to allow users to navigate virtual spaces more naturally, WebXR will support different kinds of user inputs, including voice and gestures.

The WebXR community is working on draft specifications that target some of the constraints of today’s wireless devices. For instance, creating a skybox setting you can use to can change the background image of a web page. We’re also working on a way to expose the world-sensing capabilities of early AR platforms to the web, so developers can determine where surfaces are without needing to run complex computer vision code on a battery-powered device.

The current draft for WebXR covers light estimation, eye tracking, skyboxes, static 3D favicons, controller support, computer vision, and more. Web pages will be able to detect and query VR/AR capabilities, poll device orientation and position, and produce graphical frames at the required frame rate during an immersive AR session. Although the specification is not yet stable, Mozilla is planning to move forward based on its current state and then make all required adjustments as they become necessary.

At the beginning, support for immersive experiences will come through a specific version of Firefox, dubbed Firefox Reality, but later on it will extend to every platform where Mozilla supports WebVR, including Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, and iOS. For the iOS platform, Mozilla has already released an AR app, based on Apple’s ARKit, whose source code is available on GitHub. Mozilla iOS WebXR Viewer app is a sort of playground for Mozilla engineers to experiment with AR ideas for WebXR.

To dig deeper into WebXR, do not miss the current specification draft and the WebXR Device API Explainer, which also includes a wealth of code snippets to carry through basic tasks such as querying device capabilities, opening an XR session, outputting graphical content, etc.”

See Mozilla’s member profile: https://thearea.org/area-members/mozilla/

Apprentice.io shared with us their exciting news:

“We just closed an $8M Series A round for our platform built specifically for pharma, biotech and lab, line, suite environments.

We have raised over $10M in total capital to date now for our conversational AR and AI platform for enterprise industries.

We are the only all-day workflow solution for an entire organization — from the scientist in the lab discovering ground breaking drugs, to the operator in a manufacturing suite getting that drug to market for millions of patients around the world.

We’ve even leveraged the iPhone XS to support mobile solutions on ARKit 2 and ARCore for Android-enabled device in the lab and on the manufacturing floor. It’s an exciting time for AR!”

The Venture Reality Fund — leading early-stage investor focused on immersive and intelligent computing — and GFR Fund also joined as new investors.”

Please see the full press release and Apprentice’s member profile.

Key features and benefits of Apprentice include:

• Augmented batch records
• Tech transfer
• Seamless R&D workflows
• Instant troubleshooting and global support
• Hands are free to perform tasks guided by virtual data
• Stoppages for handwritten notations and data recordation are eliminated
• Time expenditures and financial losses caused by communication delays or remote site travel are greatly reduced
• Instant communication with remote vendors for machinery repair the moment immediate action is required
• Real-time global collaboration
• Efficient, cost-effective training
• Significant annual cost-cuts with direct SME support
• All data content is captured, recorded and exported for audit-readiness
• Avoid extensive down time from audit investigations and costly procedural deviations caused by human error

Semcon has experienced increased demand for digital content and live interaction from its customers and has invested heavily in AR/VR development to be able to visualize information. The partnership entitles Semcon to market and promote XMReality Remote Guidance and for XMReality to distribute and visualize content from Semcon in XMReality Remote Guidance. This way XMReality’s offering is broadened to encompass a solution where technical digital information and instructions, such as service instructions, can be visualized within the tool, thus empowering users to work smarter.

“We are very happy to start this collaboration with Semcon. Their capabilities to visualize information is a perfect match with our AR-enabled remote guidance tool. The agreement is therefore in line with our strategy to partner with companies that add value to our offering”, says Johan Castevall, CEO XMReality.

“Together with our expertise in product information, our collaboration creates new opportunities for our customers and their end users. AR makes it even easier to support for example service technicians by sharing and visualizing the right information at the right time”, says David Sondén, General Manager Product Information Sweden at Semcon.

“Our customers are in the forefront of digitalization. The joint offering together with Semcon enables improved digital service differentiation for our customers. Semcon are an important partner in our growing international eco system”, closes Johan Castevall.

The agreement does not imply any revenues or cost for the parties at the time of signing. Revenues will be generated from joint customer projects when new customers subscribe for the XMReality Remote Guidance software.

Ms. Hodge has also said that AR is become a vital part of the spacecraft division’s digital infrastructure, as it is increasing the efficiency, reducing troubleshooting time for design and manufacturing issues, and reducing defect rate for one spacecraft production line. She is quoted to have said that the tech can give them a competitive advantage and accelerate the company.

Many other companies, particularly in manufacturing, have been exploring AR. According to Forrester Research Inc., approximately 14.4 million US workers will use smart glasses such as Microsoft HoloLens and Google Glass in 2025, compared to 400,000 in 2018. They have also predicted that large companies will spend $3.6 billion on smart glasses in 2025, compared to $6 million in 2016.

Lockheed’s spacecraft division started exploring use of AR in production five years ago. In the last year, the company has begun experimenting with AR in the manufacturing of the Orion space vehicle being built for NASA with the purpose of travelling to Mars, due to advances in AR headsets and sufficient expertise on the software. Before this, technicians used paper instructions or 3D computer models in certain Orion manufacturing processes, whereas now, wearable AR devices overlay instructions rather than workers having to use binders of data or move across the room to view content on a computer screen.

Shelley Peterson, Augmented Reality systems engineer at Lockheed Martin, is stated to have said that since using the headsets, the time taken for a technician to understand drilling processes has been reduced to 45 minutes from eight hours. The manufacturing process of drilling and inserting panels into the Orion spacecraft previously took six weeks, but recently took only two weeks. Ms. Hodge is stated to have said that AR has also helped technicians to eliminate defects due to ease of following instructions, and that analysing ROI looks at reducing defect rate and cycle time.

Ms. Hodge has also said that software programmes given by vendors like Scope AR make it easier for IT workers at Lockheed to design 3D representations of instructions and objects overlaid on the physical world, as they require less coding. Technological challenges remain, such as headsets encountering difficulties in 3D image rendering of complex machinery, as Ms. Hodge pointed out, which need to be addressed before AR reached widespread deployment. However, the spacecraft division is further experimenting with using 3D representations of jets and weapons systems to reduce design time for military members’ defense system-related projects. Lockheed’s innovation centre in Denver plans to offer clients the chance to visualise certain weapons systems or F-35 jets in certain environments, which would reduce design time due to Lockheed’s quick, instant feedback and customer collaboration, as stated by Ms. Hodge.

Lockheed Martin’s AREA member profile can be read here.

CIMC’s focus is on innovation and promoting the development of smart manufacturing, following suit of ‘Made in China 2025’ in addition to efforts to promote integration of the Internet, artificial intelligence, big data, and the real economy. Qingdao CIMC Reefer Container Manufacture Co., Ltd (QCRC), its subsidiary, lead the piloting for the integration of IoT and MES.

As the overall platform for the pilot project, ThingWorx will connect to the company’s MES to create an integrated factory information platform and data application consumption platform in order to achieve full-course visual operations, conduct big data analysis of major technologies, and essentially aid reduction of operating costs as well as boost production efficiency. ThingWorx is the award-winning Industrial Innovation Platform from PTC consisting of tools and tech that allows users to quickly develop, deploy, and extend apps and Augmented Reality experiences. The platform includes a wide range of features, such as a variety of connectivity options, analytics, and application development tools all built around a single, real-time view of a physical object in the virtual world.

ThingWorx supports remote data collection of connected devices, manages devices / sensors, integrates with multiple enterprise-level systems, and enables independent and secure connection between devices. The analysis function and big data learning in Thing Worx also allows predictive maintenance and lowers energy consumption as well as unplanned downtime of said devices. Project leaders of QCRC will be able to understand the factory’s operations, warnings, and abnormalities in real-time as well as future production trends.

Jinjie Pan, CIO at CIMC, is quoted to have said that information tech is used in the QCRC pilot project to solve the issue in business management by providing data for management, decision-making, and operations. The aim of the project is to integrate an information-based platform and automated devices as well as explore the integration of informatisation and automation.

Jerry Liu, DVP and President of Greater China, PTC, is also quoted to have said that the company is looking forward to seeing CIMC utilise ThingWorx as part of industrial IoT for digital transformation and smart manufacturing. PTC believes that the successful launch of this project will boost CIMC’s development, aid its digital transformation, and in a wider context, help to promote smart manufacturing development in China.

PTC’s AREA member profile can be read here.

In 2015, PTC purchased Vuforia, a mobile vision platform that was one of the first software developer kits to enable AR on a wide range of mobile devices, from Qualcomm. Thousands of Vuforio-based apps exist in the real world as it can be used to create AR apps for Android, iOS, and UWP. PTC also has software called Vuforia studio that allows users to create AR experiences using existing CAD assets and a simple drag-and-drop interface. Vuforia Chalk is the company’s purpose-built remote assistance app that allows field workers to communicate with experts using an AR interface. Most companies are using PTC-based tech through mobile devices present in the enterprise, although an increasing number of companies are testing on headsets from partners such as AREA member RealWear.

PTC recently acquired new tech that will be delivered in future products enabling the creation of step-by-step AR experiences by an AR headset (Waypoint) user and editing for consumption (Reality Editor). This software will increase ease of streamlining knowledge transfer between professionals and trainees for companies.

The article states that one of the powerful things about AR is that is has the potential to allow humans to see into IoT, which PTV demonstrated during its keynote. Another demonstration was made of moving a digitally created control switch from an AR interface to a physical control panel, and PTC also created a working manufacturing line on the expo floor to demonstrate the integration of IoT, AR, and robots. One working session that PTC ran during the show was about connecting AR to business value, in which real-world advice was given to IT decision makers trying to integrate AR with sectors such as manufacturing, service, and sales.

It is mentioned in the article that PTC is aware that partnerships are key to building out new tech such as AR and IoT, as they had announced in the weeks before the show their partnerships with companies such as ANSYS, Elysium, and Rockwell Automation. The article concludes by addressing PTC’s awareness that, despite mobile AR being powerful, AR on headsets is game-changing for workers requiring a hands-free experience, and this will be a key driver for AR’s progress in the enterprise.

With a broad range of system-related technical trainings and advanced trainings, a total of 31 Bosch Training Centers worldwide support automotive workshops in keeping up with technical developments concerning vehicle servicing and repair. The training center in Plochingen close to Stuttgart (Germany) develops the courses and trains more than 3 500 workshop employees annually. For the first time ever, Bosch will now use the innovative Augmented Reality technology for its technical service trainings thus literally increasing the transparency of the training contents for the participants.

Practical insights into future learning

During the Automechanika fair in Frankfurt, Bosch offers daily accredited trainings on high-voltage engines. Automotive mechatronics can get acquainted with the new training technology free of charge after pre-registration. By means of Augmented Reality technology, the differences between hybrid and fully electric vehicles, the functions and features of different high-voltage components as well as troubleshooting strategies – among others – are explained to the participants. The transparent AR-assisted depiction provides the mechatronics with a detailed insight into the structure and the functionality of high-voltage components. Besides information on electric vehicle components, the participants are also provided with exciting insights into future learning. Supported by experts on site, they are able to experience the new Augmented Reality training method live. In addition, AR experts will also show and explain this new technology at the Bosch exhibition stand in hall 9.

Different training scenarios using Augmented Reality

Starting in autumn/winter 2018, Bosch will offer the first service training supported by Augmented Reality, the two-day apprenticeship for “high-voltage technicians – working on intrinsically safe HV vehicles” carried out at the Bosch Service Training Centers in Plochingen (Germany) and Ballerup (Denmark). Once they passed the final exam, the trainees are allowed to de-energize HV systems of hybrid, electric and fuel-cell vehicles and to work on HV components. An additional service training for the “calibration of driver assistance systems” supported by Augmented Reality is planned as well.

Bosch developed a special Augmented Reality Platform (CAP) specifically for AR applications. It allows publishing new contents and applications – also for the training sector in particular – in a device-independent manner. Fed with locally and centrally stored contents, the platform compiles the required data for each specific AR application. This even allows different training scenarios to be implemented. In “Trainer Mode”, the trainer controls the devices of the participants and decides which case shall be displayed on their devices. And yet each participant keeps an individual point of view – for instance onto the engine compartment. The whole group of participants and each and every one of them can actively follow and experience the explanations the trainer provides for each training situation. In “Trainee Mode”, the trainer accesses any participant’s device. He can thus provide useful hints and tips and explain the next steps lucidly.

Augmented Reality (AR) complements reality overlaying useful additional information. In case the workshop employee points his smartphone or tablet camera – or even his smart glasses – onto an area on the vehicle’s engine compartment featuring AR information, explanations, 3D objects or videos are added to the real image. In this manner, AR technology shows structures hidden behind panels, for instance, such as the cable harness behind the dashboard.

For further detailed information on the Bosch AR workshops and online registration.

ABI Research’s ranking system, “Smart Manufacturing Platform Ranking”, saw 11 major companies in the industry analysed on a variety of different factors.

The platforms were reviewed on its innovation, originality, plans to deploy and support transformative technologies, digital twins, edge intelligence, protocol adaptability, robotics integration among other transformative technologies like blockchain and Artificial Intelligence.

The assessment also saw the platforms studied on its progress in establishing partnerships, connecting assets, integrating with enterprise and cloud systems, security, regional coverage, in addition to its upfront costs and current business model.

PTC, SAP, Schneider Electric and Siemens all tied for first place in digital twins, and PTC and Telit drew for highest in protocol adaptability and connectivity.

However, it was confirmed that PTC was considered the best platform overall.

“PTC emerged as the leader, excelling with its innovative initiatives across transformative technologies, and GE Predix came in second,” said Pierce Owen, Principal Analyst of Smart Manufacturing at ABI Research.

Last month, it was confirmed that Rockwell Automation would partner with PTC in an equity investment and strategic partnership believed to be worth $1bn.