Virtual reality and augmented reality technologies in the mechanical sector are designed to offer contractors a leg up, namely saving time in the field.

Edmonton, AB-based ScopeAR has developed AR technology that lends itself to the mechanical industry–though, the company’s clientele is primarily in manufacturing and aerospace, according to Scott Montgomerie, the founder, CEO and chief technology officer. Despite the benefits, he said the HVAC industry has been less receptive.

“Businesses that don’t adapt to new technologies are going to get left behind by a company that is,” he added.

Since 2011, ScopeAR has rolled out two augmented reality products in the space: Remote AR and WorkLink. The former has the ability to connect remote workers, such as a contractor in the field troubleshooting a piece of HVAC equipment, with an expert through a digital app.

“With our tool, you would be able to circle [a] red wire with a line in 3D space [for example],” Montgomerie explained. That circle is then visible to the expert in real-time. “It enhances that ability to communicate between that person with knowledge and technicians,” he added.  WorkLink, on the other hand, allows the user to create “smart instructions,” as opposed to paper instructions, in augmented reality

“What that means is essentially overlaying rich 3D models on top of a piece of equipment to show you step by step how to do something,” Montgomerie said. “If you’re looking at a wiring panel on a furnace, you can actually see a 3D illustration of the circuit board with 3D representations of the wires, the layout. It’s really intuitive.”
In a 2016 study out of the University of Connecticut, former PhD candidate Rajeev Ghimire–now an electrical engineer–found that augmented-reality based troubleshooting of HVAC systems allowed technicians to improve efficiency on the job.

At the time, he said the school had difficulties troubleshooting equipment, with technicians often unable to determine the cause of malfunction or failure. For the study, technicians performed tests and repairs on equipment while wearing the Epson Moverio BT-200 and Google Smart Glass AR glasses.

“The idea was to use augmented reality-based smart glasses to help the repair technicians collectively do the guided troubleshooting first,” Ghimire said, with the second component of the study being the repair process.
The technology allowed technicians to be more efficient, ultimately minimizing the system’s downtime and eliminating the need for manuals and other paperwork.

“There is a lot of attention on this one in repair and maintenance industry, whether it be HVAC system or any other complex cyber-physical system, complex engineering system,” Ghimire said. “I hope to see this one come to industry sooner than later. This is a very promising technology.”

Read the full article here.

Read Scope AR’s member profile.

This award is part of a multi-year, follow-on agreement with a ceiling of $60 million of government funding.

“Since our founding, the opportunity and urgency to lead the charge to digitize U.S. manufacturing has only grown,” said Caralynn Nowinski Collens, CEO of UI LABS, DMDII’s parent organization. “It is essential for our national security and our prosperity that DMDII ramp up its efforts to pull manufacturers into the modern era.”

DMDII’s mission is to enable U.S. manufacturers to make every part better than the last. That requires production lines to be embedded with software and sensors that connect to the Internet. Only with this ability to send and receive data can the equipment improve itself and learn from every part produced in real time.

It is a goal far too big for any one company to solve on its own, which is why the Institute has attracted more than 300 partners, including Dow Chemical, Lockheed Martin, Rolls-Royce, Siemens, and McKinsey & Company.

Read the full press announcement from DMDII and UILabs.

The new release is designed to further empower enterprises with richer reporting and analytics, enhancements to the “See What I See” video call experience and ease of use updates that allow mobile device users to be more productive, more quickly.

The new release also expands the range of supported devices to include the recently-released Vuzix M300XL smart glasses and the Samsung Galaxy S6, S8 and Google Pixel 2XL mobile phones.

Reporting and Analytics Dashboard

A well-designed reporting and analytics dashboard is a vital information management asset for enterprises. In this release, Atheer provides a new dashboard to provide at-a-glance insight into how effectively business processes are being completed and the overall level of workforce engagement with the AR platform. Key metrics tracked by the dashboard include statistics on platform’s top users, number of calls and taskflows completed (a taskflow is a set of work instructions) – as well as the number of messages sent and the average duration of calls.

Screen Sharing for Web Users

In the course of their work, an enterprise employee in the field will often use their mobile device (smartglasses, a smartphone or a tablet) to make a video call to a remote expert or a colleague using Atheer. Typically, the scenario will involve the field employee sharing what they see and then having the remote expert annotate what the field employee sees – or send digital guidance including work instructions or annotated digital phones – to help them carry out their job.

Now, those remote experts can actually share their screens using the Atheer web console and enrich the ways in which they can help field employees. Screen sharing allows remote experts to move from being able to share specific digital assets with field employees to being able to share anything on their screen.

This new feature gives Atheer remote experts the ability to share their web-based screens during video calls with one or more web and device users. Those users can also now use annotations while sharing their screen, allowing more precise and effective collaboration.

Get More Productive, More Quickly

When using AR-enabled mobile devices, particularly smartglasses, starting applications can be tedious and time-consuming. To help enable users to be more productive, more quickly, Atheer introduces a “Kiosk Launcher” option in this release, which allows smartglasses to launch the Atheer app by default without having to navigate to it or go through any other intermediate start-up processes.

This new capability also makes access to the Atheer app more efficient for multiple users on the same device, because it allows the device to boot directly to – and stay in – the Atheer app without any user login.

Greater Device Choice and OS-specific Enhancements

The new Atheer release adds to the list of supported devices. The Atheer platform is now optimized for use on Vuzix M300XL smart glasses and additional mobile devices including the Samsung Galaxy S6, S8 and the Google Pixel 2XL.

In addition, this release includes many other enhancements including the arrival of contextualization on the Atheer iOS app – which allows users to retrieve specific content by scanning QR codes. As well, the new Android version of Atheer now includes the ability to force “over-the-air” updates to ensure users always access the most optimized version of the app based on their organization’s update settings.

Strong growth is expected to continue as global shipments climb to 68.6 million in 2023 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 66.7% over the 2019-2023 forecast period.

IDC forecasts shipments for virtual reality headsets to reach 36.7 million units in 2023 with a five-year CAGR of 46.7%.

“New headsets from brands such as Oculus, HTC, Microsoft, and others will help fuel the growth in 2019 and beyond,” said Jitesh Ubrani research manager for IDC’s Mobile Device Trackers.

“However, it’s not just new products from headset makers that will drive the AR/VR market forward. Qualcomm’s latest silicon is also expected to play a major role in enabling hardware partners and providing network connectivity for content creators.”

When it comes to the overall AR/VR headset market, roughly two-thirds of all headsets will be shipped into the commercial segment in 2023 as many AR headsets and a significant portion of VR headsets will cater to this audience. The types of industries and use cases for these deployments will vary dramatically, but key vertical use cases include everything from training and services to retail and design.

“The Augmented Reality side of the headset business has been largely enterprise-focused from the start, with a few notable exceptions, and we expect that trend to continue for the foreseeable future as most consumers in the near term will experience AR through their smartphone or tablet.”

In the context of the digital transformation of industrial production lines and cyber-physical systems, construction and manufacturing tasks are often executed in parallel.

Here, it has to be guaranteed that the physical world and its digital counterpart are in the same state.  Mobile augmented reality (AR) systems offer high potential for advanced inspection tasks as reality is superimposed digitally with deviations between supplied components and their CAD specifications visible at a glance.

The next section of the piece discusses Visometry.  The VisionLib system from Visometry GmbH combines 3D data with image processing for quality control solutions. Using model-based tracking technologies, CAD data is registered in real time to objects captured in camera images.

The outstanding feature is a reliable object recognition even in low-light and dynamic environments.

Visometry also develops stationary inspection systems for complex in-line production processes, which can be quickly and flexibly adapted to different product configurations. This makes it possible to check, measure and document not only the existence but also the orientation and position of components automatically during operation.

The machine learning techniques of common systems increasingly turn out to be inflexible and of too much effort, because the so-called teaching process must be repeated if changes to the product design or another product variant occur. Disadvantages that do not arise with the VisionLib system.

The article concludes by stating that the technology is currently used and approved in the automotive industry, but has significant application in other manufacturing industries.

PTC is a technology company that made a name for itself in the CAD and PLM markets over the past 30 years, but it’s also a leader in the emerging technologies of industrial IoT (IIoT) and augmented reality (AR). On the top floor, the Customer Experience Center (CXC) highlights PTC’s breadth of experience with demonstrations of real-life customer use cases and applications.

Tucked into its own space is the PTC Reality Lab, the forward-thinking team of engineers and researchers charged with pursuing uncharted technology. The team of five – all alumni of MIT Media Lab – are at the forefront of industrial innovation, and spend every day exploring concepts and developing technologies that will enhance people’s interactions with the physical and digital worlds.

Valentin Heun holds a Ph.D from the MIT Media Lab and has long been interested in how to foster better connections between technology and humans – and how user interface design, particularly with augmented reality, can empower workers.

The full interview is worth a read in its entirety. Here is a snapshot of what is covered:

What is the vision for PTC Reality Lab?

What are some of its special features?

What are the benefits of the co-location of the PTC Reality Lab within the Customer Experience Center (CXC)?

Interview highlights from an enterprise AR perspective:

The former Media Lab motto, “demo or die” – or nowadays, “deploy or die” – permeates our lab here at PTC. What that means is that one must make something a reality and not just innovate into the blue. When we research and develop technology, we do so with a focus on the needs, problems, and applications of industrial companies.

We’re using augmented reality, generative design, additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence, industrial IoT, robotics, digital twin, just to name a few technologies, all in the context of the physical reality. These are technologies that influence or empower at least one version of what we call “reality.”

To me, this is the essence of what PTC and the PTC Reality Lab does – to shape a seamless and intuitive user experience that is only one reality.

Vital Enterprises is a company based at the Runway Innovation Hub in San Francisco. The company was founded in 2013 with the original goal to pursue healthcare applications of the newly emerging Augmented Reality smart glasses technology.

The interview is well worth reading in full for any enterprise already using smart glasses or considering doing so in manufacturing.  First comes a high level overview of Vital Enterprises, then more specific use cases which help us to understand the evolution of smartglasses technology.

They wouldn’t dream of building their own hardware but are focused on AR software.  Better for them if customers are already using smartglasses.  Some of the brands they use are Epson, ODG, Vuzix and RealWear.  RealWear Inc, also an AREA member, according to Eldritch, has a fantastic device built for industrial applications and is 100% voice controlled.

A detailed use case is discussed of a problem presented by an industrial manufacturing enterprise customer, a multinational based in Italy.  They also detail their work with Coca Cola. The article concludes with some thoughts on the new capabilities that the Vital Enterprises team is excited about and the future trends in the field of AR smart glasses.

The new Advanced Welder Training Centre (AWTC) at Regency Campus has 12 augmented reality welding simulators which can provide instant feedback on student performance, maximise safety and enhance the development of welding techniques through multiple practice welding without the need for time-consuming material preparation.

Simulators will assist local welders to become job ready and respond to the increased demand for their skills as part of the Australian government’s $90 billion continuous Naval Shipbuilding Program.

The Naval Shipbuilding College’s Paul Whetstone congratulated TAFE SA for being an innovator of industry-leading technologies.

“The College is a facilitator which helps to align training and educational institutions nationally to the needs of naval shipbuilding industry, so graduates are job-ready,” said  Whetstone.

“We collaborated with TAFE SA and Weld Australia in the analysis of welding and pipe welding requirements, specifically for naval shipbuilding industry requirements.

“The opening of the centre supports our recommendations that welding simulators be incorporated with traditional welding training to speed up the development of welding skills in novice welders,” he said.

The rate at which technology advances within naval ship construction techniques is very rapid, so having people who are experienced and willing to embrace new technologies is a step in the right direction, said Whetstone.

Last year the TAFE SA welding qualification was the first in Australia to be endorsed by the College. The Naval Shipbuilding College was established in 2018 by the Australian Government to identify and support the development of a highly skilled national workforce that will be required to deliver the $90 billion Naval Shipbuilding Enterprise.

“The connectivity, when operating at sea, was remarkable and the hands-free equipment meets our onboard safety standards,” said TT-Lines superintendent Thomas Bus

The simulations were monitored in real-time by technology provider Wärtsilä in Gothenburg and Hamburg. The company reported that using its equipment, ship crew members, field service engineers and shipyard personnel can communicate with shore-based experts anywhere in the world.

Wärtsilä Marine future technologies product manager, seals and bearings Thomas Pauly said: “Regardless of where the equipment is located on the vessel, we can provide rapid troubleshooting and technical advice, thus saving the customer both time and costs. It’s like having a service engineer onboard.”

A further demonstration of the remote guidance service capability in TT-Lines’ office highlighted potential use in dockings and shipyard overhauls.

Wärtsilä announced that it had added AR service capability for its seals and bearings business in August 2018. The use of the technology speeds up the service and repair of stern tube equipment and also enables inspections, alignment measurements, on-site machining, shaft straightening and newbuilding commissioning without having a service engineer on board.

“AR is becoming an important tool for how knowledge is shared within heavy industry, allowing workers to get the information they need, when they need it, in an intuitive way,” said Scott Montgomerie, CEO and co-founder of Scope AR, in a statement. “We are thrilled to have the support of our new and existing investors to accelerate our growth and development during a crucial inflection point in the market. It underscores, yet again, that enterprise AR is a leading driver within mixed reality thanks to the impressive ROI and growing list of use cases the technology enables.”

According to the company, some of the brands realizing efficiency gains and cost savings from Scope AR’s WorkLink and Remote AR products are Lockheed Martinand Unilever. With Remote AR, Unilever claims a 50% reduction in downtime, and Lockheed Martin reports that it has reduced overall training time by 85%, according to Scope AR.

The company has now raised a total of $15.8 million in capital. Romulus Capital led the latest round, with existing investors SignalFire, Susa Ventures, Haystack, New Stack Ventures, North American Corporation, and Angel List also participating. In addition, Krishna Gupta, founder and managing partner of Romulus Capital, and Wayne Hu, managing director of SignalFire, will take seats on the board of directors overseeing Scope AR.

Read more at Next Reality.