AREA member XMReality has partnered with Futura, a converting machinery manufacturer, to develop a new remote support program for Futura’s service locations. The partnership represents a move forward in enabling XMReality to demonstrate the value of its Augmented Reality solutions to the tissue and paper industries.

Futura is a leading global supplier of tissue converting lines. Most of Futura’s machines are located in places far removed from their global service centers. The company strives to visualize a customer’s problem and guide them to a solution without physically having an onsite presence. Niklas Rengfors, VP of Sales & Marketing at XMReality, says that they are constantly trying to improve ease and efficiency of servicing remote assets.

By using XMReality’s AR-enabled remote guidance solution, a technical expert at any of Futura’s service centers can see what a remote individual sees and provide them with visual instructions to carry out tasks such as maintenance. XMReality’s tools are the Futura’s Protablet and an optional set of industrial XMReality hands-free smart glasses.

The service expert transmits back their gestures, drawings and instructions that are visually overlaid on the device image or in the smart glasses viewer. The remote software operates on both Windows and Android devices and can operate in low-bandwidth industrial environments.

For the full press release, see the link.

Intel is expected to disclose details about its Remote Eyesight Augmented Reality smart glasses at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco in August. It has been said that the AR smart glasses look like a cross between Google Glass and Microsoft’s HoloLens. They use Intel’s Collaboration Suite for WebRTC video capabilities.

Intel’s Remote EyeSight is built around the idea of interactive remote collaboration using smart glasses, possibly like using Skype on a wearable. Tech experts at Intel indicate this could be used in areas such as medicine and repairs. Intel’s smart glasses are intended to solve the issue of the HoloLens heavy headset restricting movement.

The company aims to “transform Intel’s enterprise collaboration experiences with secure, cost-effective, hands-free and Augmented Reality technologies.”

Intel has acquired startups with experience in the field, such as Replay Technologies, recently acquired by Intel. Replay Technologies develops technology used in sports replays.

An article in Forbes by Aaron Tilley mentions a number of AREA members. Augmented Reality is expected to be a $100 billion industry by 2020 (ABI Research), with much of the growth occurring in industry. The article focuses on how utilities are using Augmented Reality technology. AREA member Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) is conducting a large-scale experiment with global utilities. EPRI is a nonprofit organization funded by the electric utility industry. They hope to have 15 utilities participating and the study will be conducted over 18 months.

The focus is on improving efficiency and reducing the error rate of the workforce. The study is designed to see how the technology could improve efficiency and reduce the error rate of its workforce. Augmented Reality assists field utility workers in maintenance, repair and building. The electric utility business needs to maintain, repair and build massive infrastructure. Speeding up these processes is vital in making efficiency savings considering much of the equipment is expensive, complicated and old.

The article also mentions that EPRI will be using devices from Atheer Air and DAQRI, who are also both AREA members. John Simmins at EPRI is quoted as saying “This technology will be as commonplace as smartphones are now. You’re going to see AR everywhere.”

A new report by ABI Research forecasts Augmented Reality in the enterprise to “explode” over the next five years, with the technology adding novel functionalities to enhance productivity. The research cites remote assistance as the main field of use with increased safety and efficiencies.

It is predicted that investors and project managers will explore applications for devices, particularly wearables such as smart glasses, with shipments forecast to reach 27 million by 2021. Large investments may be made in healthcare, industry and government.

AREA member DAQRI is mentioned in the research. Eric Abbruzzese, Senior Analyst for ABI Research, comments: “For 2016, initial tests and low-volume implementations will be expanded to higher volume investment and rollout, creating a more mature and disruptive marketplace for 2017. Devices with more powerful processing and hands-free input methods, such as ODG’s R7 and DAQRI’s Smart Helmet, stand best suited for industrial and healthcare usage.”

Influential factors on device differentiation include display quality, field of view, processing power, battery life, input options and price. The research points out that some well-established developers, such as Vuzix and Optinvent, are attempting to lower prices to increase market appeal.

AREA member Boeing, who is an early adopter of Augmented Reality in the enterprise, and GE, are both key proponents in highlighting the interest surrounding AR technology, and in encouraging other enterprises to get involved.

The market has seen an influx of new competitors, however, it is anticipated that those with established manufacturing infrastructure and device experience may be better suited to meet market demand. Abbruzzese sees 2017 as an important time frame for large-scale implementations and an increase in supporting software and content.

These findings are from ABI Research’s Enterprise-Focused Augmented Reality Glasses.

On Monday, July 11th, 2016, CNBC aired a live exclusive interview with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt. Many interesting viewpoints regarding Augmented Reality in the enterprise were discussed and here are highlights below:

• Industrial scenarios, education, training, manufacturing, architecture and industrial design are going to be fundamentally changed by Augmented Reality.
• You can take the cycle time of doing repairs on a utility or refinery down by 10%. This is because you could fix everything right the first time and have a chance to visualize and manage the human data interface. That’s probably worth around $50 billion.
• The industrial applications of this are going to be worth billions of dollars of productivity.
• Commenting on how far off we are from widespread adoption of AR and IoT technologies, it’s probably around 24 months.
• There are around 20,000 field engineers repairing MR scanners, gas turbines and jet engines. We are marrying their tasks with service data right now.
• Let’s say to replace the GE installed base today would cost almost $2 trillion. So these assets that are out there, these industrial assets: I mean, the difference between the consumer internet and the industrial internet. if you get sick of your iPhone, you just throw it away and buy another one. You don’t do that with a jet engine or a gas turbine. You need it, you know, 1% more fuel is like gold for you. So our ability to deliver in this distributed global network, more productivity tools, is like gold for our customers.
• Make no mistake, Augmented Reality is going to happen. It is going to happen in the industrial space. It is going to be very productive.

Details of the full transcript and videos of the interview can be found here.

Extract from an article by Peter Brown for Electronics 360.

AREA member NGRAIN has developed a new application for Android tablets and smart glasses to be used for industrial 3D content creation. The NGRAIN Viewer allows industrial applications such as those operating heavy equipment and assemblies, to explore the use of smart glasses and 3D content without needing to develop proprietary mobile 3D applications. Since the NGRAIN Viewer is open source for Android, businesses can use the application as a starting point to create industrial applications.

The smart glasses used are the Epson BT-300 that can be worn over regular glasses and come with an OLED display. The Viewer provides the source code to bootstrap a 3D application for Android, load 3D content, view animations, play step-by-step tasks and interact with content from NGRAIN’s Producer Pro software.

According to Epson, the biggest barrier to Augmented Reality for smart glasses is the cost of content creation. By using the NGRAIN Viewer, the cost is reduced, which it is hoped will enable widespread adoption. NGRAIN’s member profile can be read here.

A press release dated July 12, 2016 reveals that research done by Index AR Solutions forecasts that Augmented Reality in the enterprise will be a $105 billion market for U.S. companies within 15 years.

The research states that those enterprises that choose to be early adopters will gain competitive advantage within their industries. The breakdown of $105 billion is portioned to $49 billion in hardware, $11 billion in software and $45 billion in services. The research authors are Index AR Solutions President and CEO Dan Arczynski, Executive Vice President and COO Dexter Lilley and Director of Operations John Arczynski.

A summary of the key findings are as follows:

• Enterprises can take advantage of current Augmented Reality technology now and achieve “dramatic top line and bottom line results”
• Augmented Reality is already ready for enterprise implementation, and ROI can be proven with revenue, cost and quality improvements
• There are no sectors and industries that cannot benefit from Augmented Reality
• The value of Augmented Reality can be realized with the first application and every subsequent one, often without large investment

The Index AR Solutions market perspective will be an interesting read for enterprise innovators keen on adopting the technology to gain competitive advantage in their industry.

The market perspective can be downloaded from the Index AR Solutions website. Index AR Solutions is teamed with Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), one of AREA’s members. Their profile can be read here.

A whitepaper published on AREA Member BrainXChange’s website is available online at the following link. The white paper is relevant for all companies wishing to understand more about the potentials of using smart eyewear in the enterprise, with particular applications in field service, manufacturing and logistics.

Some information that is covered in the short whitepaper can be found below:

• Information about how smart eyewear can be used in the workplace
• Types of applications for smart eyewear in enterprise
• Companies already making use of smart glasses
• How and why smart eyewear provides an advantage over smartphones and tablets
• How smart eyewear can benefit organizations, particularly in field service, manufacturing and logistics
• Smart eyewear integration with ERP systems
• Enablement of hands-free, two-way video communications between workers whether together or working remotely
• How cost and efficiency savings are being made
• According to Forrester Research, 14.4 million US workers will utilize smart eyewear in enterprise environments by 2025
• Gartner forecasts that by 2023, 50% of the organizations that could benefit from smart Eyewear will utilize it

AREA Member BrainXChange’s member profile can be accessed here.

An article on Automation World about Augmented Reality in industry may be of interest to many readers. The article was written about PTC’s LiveWorx event in Boston in June 2016, which marked the official go live of PTC’s Vuforia Studio Enterprise AR platform.

The article suggests that Augmented Reality may be the application that creates the need for enterprises to adopt IoT due to its proven application in industry for example industrial activities such as quality inspection, work instructions and training.

Jim Heppelman, president and CEO of PTC, said “We are pursuing Augmented Reality strongly to connect the physical, digital and human experience. Augmented Reality will completely change everything, from engineering to manufacturing to sales.”

The article highlights how their AR platform is integrated with other company software. At the event, Caterpillar demonstrated their use of AR in providing portable power at construction sites and concert events. It is frequently used for operating data for routine maintenance.

According to the article, members of Index AR Solutions highlighted uses cases for AR in industry: inspection/quality assurance, work instruction, training, workflow management, operations, safety and logistics. Based on 50 pilot projects, work instructions and training are the most mature applications of Augmented Reality. A video was shown detailing how AREA member Newport News Shipbuilding uses AR.

The main concluding point was that rather than savings being minor, enterprises must understand that savings are measuring in at 25 – 90% due to the extent to which processes are speeded up, essentially freeing up cash flow.

AREA member APX Labs has been announced by the World Economic Forum as one of its Technology Pioneers at the Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin, People’s Republic of China on June 27, 2016. The company was one of 30 selected for their potential to significantly impact business and society via new technologies and their ability to advance the “Fourth Industrial Revolution.”

The APX Labs Skylight product was selected for its ability to modernize and upskill the global industrial workforce. Companies such as General Electric, Boeing, Tesla and Shell are already making use of APX Labs’ enterprise wearable technology. Their solutions train and modernize global field service, maintenance and manufacturing personnel via their smart glasses, which deliver line-of-sight information to workers on demand.

Brian Ballard, CEO, will attend the Annual Meeting of the New Champions and will participate in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Switzerland in 2017. The company has also announced the appointments of a new executive chairman and vice chairman, Magid Abraham and Linda Abraham, who bring expertise in global technology growth. The AREA would like to extend our congratulations to the APX Labs team on being named Technology Pioneer and we wish them every success for the future of the company.

The company’s full statement can be read here and their member profile here.