Augmented Reality, Not VR, Will Be the Big Winner for Business
The introduction of AR let Lockheed Martin engineers work up to 30 percent faster.
Meanwhile, at Boeing, several teams are looking at using AR systems to perform running quality control of parts for several aircraft, including the 787 Dreamliner. AR systems also allow maintenance crews to carry out full airplane checks much quicker than was previously possible.
“Traditionally, these tasks are carried out consulting manuals and using paper and pen,” says Barry Po, director of product management at NGrain. “Using AR-systems lets you overlay any needed information, while you have both hands free, and our visual inspection and damage assessment software can make it much quicker to identify potential issues. The result is that the time it takes to do a full plane check can go from several days to a matter of hours.”
While AR in enterprises has shown impressive results, most of these come from initial pilot projects, using a limited number of devices.
AR is also facing a number of challenges, including a lack of industry standards which can make integrating AR units and software within current enterprise IT ecosystems difficult.
“Traditional software systems like ERP or WMS are not necessarily ready to integrate fully with the new technologies, like AR, that make up Factory 4.0,” Pete Wassel, CEO of Augmate, says.
AR’s Stealth Mode About to End
Enterprises are quickly becoming aware of the potential of AR, with two-thirds of companies recently interviewed by Tech Pro Research saying they were considering integrating AR solutions.
At the same time, the number of use case scenarios for AR is growing rapidly.
Training, maintenance, warehouse management, emergency response at breakdowns, co-worker location, damage assessment, work order creation, assembly product design, and marketing and sales are all being augmented.
One of the biggest use cases across industries is remote maintenance and inspection. Using AR systems, experts will be able to give advice to on-site personnel in any of a number of situations. This would not only eliminate having to fly key personnel around the world but dramatically improve response times.
“It makes it possible to create what I call ‘John Madden’ guides, where experts are able to draw instructions and point things out in real time,” Pete Wassel says.
A Future Beyond the Factory
As a species, we build knowledge on what was discovered by previous generations. We quickly realized it was impractical to rely on memory alone to do this, so we invented the printed word.
See the full story here: http://singularityhub.com/2016/04/06/augmented-reality-not-vr-will-be-the-big-winner-for-business/