Augmented Reality in Industry: Practical Applications & Benefits

What is augmented reality?

 

Augmented reality (AR) is increasingly used in industrial environments. Perhaps the Augmented Reality concept is associated with areas such as marketing and advertising, but the truth is that, industrially, it can bring many improvements and benefits to some of the production processes..

In ATRIA we work with different technologies to apply Augmented Reality. One of the most used is the projection of information through fixed projectors. It involves using high-resolution projectors that adapt to industrial conditions to display information, on a work surface, during a productive process. Another option in Augmented Reality is to use the famous augmented reality glasses, for example, the HoloLens created by Microsoft. There are several models, but the objective is, as with the projectors, to provide information during a process. Finally, we talk about tablets, as an augmented reality support, widely used in the industrial maintenance area.

What improvements does augmented reality bring to my process?

Augmented reality can bring improvements and benefits to many production processes. Some of the advantages are:

• Ergonomics improvement of people in the workplace, as for example, the need to continually consult the work guide physically is avoided.
• Productivity improvement as assemblies and connections are made faster.
• Quality improvement for failures decrease as the system guides us.

In the projectors case, the work surface is fixed, while with glasses and tablets the advantage is that the work surface does not have to be fixed, the information will be displayed dynamically according to the needs. In addition, it is not necessary to use your hands with glasses and projectors! All this information contribution reduces, in almost all cases, the tasks cycle time, mistakes and also, the training time in a new task since the process is guided at all times.

Some interesting augmented reality applications

We tell you some very interesting applications:

• Instructions and guidance in complicated assemblies. The need to have total quality in the factories makes it necessary to implement augmented reality systems that guide operators step by step to avoid generating failures. In this way the computer vision system verifies that the assembly has been correct, and the augmented reality system marks on the equipment itself what the next step is, from where it has to take the piece or where it has to be mounted.

 

• One of the processes in which augmented reality is used, it is in complex connection tasks. Using a projector or glasses, the connection points are shown and, through computer vision, each of the connections is verified and validated. Imagine a task that consists of more than 100 different connections. If we use augmented reality, a new operator who has never done this task before, can do so without making failures and without learning process.

 

• In maintenance it is very useful since all the information is digitized and without the need for physical manuals. The technician only has to carry the Tablet, which in addition to displaying the manuals, can even guide you and check the status of an installation and its components etc.

 

• The final product packaging is a very important point in the production chain. The customer is the first thing they will see about the product. With augmented reality, we will guide the packaging process to ensure that all items are packed correctly. In this case, the computer vision can also be introduced to verify that the process was successful.

 

• Guided repairs, being able to see through a computer vision system and at the same time project on the equipment that you want to repair the steps and assembly instructions.

 

• Visualization of virtual parts within the equipment, especially for equipment design stages and verification of their operation.

 

• Diagrams, real-time graphics on the manufacturing environment.

You can see some of the Augmented Reality projects we have done:

• Augmented reality system through the instructions projection to help the electronic boards assembly
• Augmented reality system to help packaging elements placement
• Projection assembly instructions

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