Due to Covid-19, restricted travel and social distancing requirements have accelerated AR-based solutions for remote assistance, since it has now become a necessity for industry operations. As opposed to video-calling applications such as Zoom or Skype, Augmented Reality is software technology allowing users to overlay graphic material onto video images via mobile network. For instance, an expert and on-site technician could both view a panel of switches on an annotatable screen connected via their own PC, phone, or tablet. The expert could then circle or drop a virtual arrow on the part that needs attention for the technician to see on the screen.

Key advantages of AR-based remote assistance noted in the article include:

• Instantaneous feedback system – users interact with the elements of their work in addition to with one another
• Highly mobile form of communication – includes annotations, on-site images, and graphic augmentation as well as a two-way voice connection
• Increases safety – e.g. reduces number of healthcare workers needed in a hospital room, limiting exposure to Covid-19
• Helps maintain workflow continuity
• More intermittent, special-purpose vehicle of communication than video conferencing

Other potential features of AR, dependent on the specific software, include:

• Retaining images
• Issuing push notifications
• Looping in multiple users
• Recording a session for future training
• Object character recognition
• Transferring files

The article concludes by stating that, even post-pandemic, AR is likely to become a prominent tool for operating personnel and frontline technicians to rely on.

VRDays Europe 2020 (November 4 – 6) will be a virtual event this year and the three-day conference and exhibition will include two programs of particular interest to organizations pursuing Enterprise AR:

Enterprise XR. Immersive technologies are an attractive solution for enterprises seeking to increase productivity while reducing costs. Virtual training and simulation can give companies a competitive advantage by delivering a knowledge retention rate of as much as 80% – four times that of traditional methods. VRDays’ Enterprise XR program will feature VR/AR suppliers of virtual training and simulation tools, European industry use cases, and speakers offering specific guidelines to help any company deploy immersive technologies.

Training & Simulation – Rescue. VRDays’ Training & Simulation – Rescue program will feature speakers discussing how immersive technologies can contribute to educating healthcare professionals and first responders. How should virtual simulations be designed in order to give the most accurate representation of real-life interventions? How can institutions combine traditional and virtual training methods? Industry partners will present a selection of best cases of virtual training for police, defense, firefighters and medics with the goal of inspiring institutions to invest in technology that will prepare professionals for the future.

Visit here to learn more and register. And, don’t miss out on the AREA’s support and participation in this event; our Executive Director, Mark Sage, will be supporting the session ‘Enterprise XR’ as an industry expert and,  we’ll be hosting a virtual AREA ‘area’. There’s lots to look forward to, not to mention that we’ve secured a special member’s discount with the organisers.

KLM, the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands, traces its history back to 1919 when Queen Wilhelmina gave it her royal stamp, making KLM one of the world’s first commercial airlines. Today, KLM’s fleet of 116 aircraft flies to 145 destinations worldwide generating more than €10 billion in revenues. In June of last year, KLM Engineering & Maintenance and Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR) officially launched a joint venture, NUVEON, for the development of new AR products for MRO (maintenance, repair & overhaul).

NUVEON’s initial solutions address training needs by using Microsoft HoloLens to bring a complete virtual aircraft into the classroom. As part of our Thought Leaders Network program, we spoke recently with Wanda Manoth-Niemoller, Director of Commercial Development for NUVEON, to learn how the new venture is progressing.

 AREA: What was the motivation for starting NUVEON?

Manoth-Niemoller: Around 2016, the KLM training department wanted to know if AR was mature enough that we could use it. We started off with a proof of concept to see if we could benefit from AR and we chose NLR as our development partner. We built and tested one module and determined it was mature enough to use in training. Our learning experts felt it was especially useful for explaining system behavior, which is very difficult to do in a classroom setting. Showing how a system works is much more effective than simply reviewing a schematic. We built two more modules and saw the potential to do more with AR, so that’s when we decided to start NUVEON.

AREA: When you were looking into AR, why did you feel that you had to develop your AR software product?

Manoth-Niemoller: Because there was no existing AR product that we could use, and we wanted to commercialize whatever we created and make it available to other companies.

AREA: You launched NUVEON last June. Where do things stand now?

Manoth-Niemoller: The original proof of concept has been accepted for training by EASA, the European Aviation Safety Agency, which is the European equivalent of the FAA. That means our software can now be used to sign off on practical tasks for MRO training. We now offer several solutions for training on the Boeing 777 and 787. And there are more products on the way.

AREA: What have been your biggest challenges so far?

Manoth-Niemoller: The biggest initial challenge was the time it took to develop the product, because it had to be an exact copy of reality for the EASA to approve it.

AREA: What’s the next big hurdle for NUVEON?

Manoth-Niemoller: The next hurdle is to extend the range of use cases we support. Our current applications are now in day-to-day use in training, and we plan to support more systems and also extend beyond training into other use cases in MRO.

AREA: What kinds of reactions have you had from the users?

Manoth-Niemoller: It depends. The reaction often has to do with what the person is accustomed to. Some people first refuse to use it until they put it on their heads. We’ve introduced it to engineers who had already been doing the job for many, many years and were not used to innovative tools like this. They don’t see the advantage of it right away – until they put it on their heads, see what it can do, and then say, “Whoa!” and they can’t stop. They want to try everything. They see that, with AR, they can do much more than they could ever do with an operational aircraft. It actually delivers a deeper level of training. It’s effective because we enable several engineers to share a single image. They then have to solve a task together, as they would do in real life, but they’re able to get into much more detail than they’d be able to do in real life.

AREA: How are you making the NUVEON solution available to other companies?

Manoth-Niemoller: We can do it in several ways. We can conduct a training course for them, because we can use the system on location. We can also sell them the tool. Or we can develop something customized to their individual specifications.

To learn more about NUVEON’s solutions – including videos – please visit the NUVEON website.

In addition to being CMO and President of RE’FLEKT, Dirk Schart is an industry expert who has been involved with Augmented Reality (AR) to one extent or another for a decade. Recently, he drew upon this perspective to explore what he sees as an inflection point in the continuing history of AR. His thesis, as detailed in his personal blog, is that a newfound urgency driven by COVID-19 is leading to an imminent upswing in AR adoption. We spoke to Dirk to discuss his ideas further. 

AREA: What is different about this moment in the history of AR? What has changed?

Schart: Two things have changed. One is that we’re not focusing on technology anymore, but rather on solutions for enterprises. Second, we’re seeing a higher level of urgency that we hadn’t seen before. These factors, to use the term from Geoffrey Moore’s 30-year-old classic book, suggest that AR is “Crossing the Chasm.” We’re moving from experimental early adopters to a more mainstream market that expects a ready-to-use, ready-to-integrate solution. COVID-19 is acting as the accelerator. COVID is driving people to use AR in real scenarios in their daily work lives. So now we have real users coming back with more specific requirements for their solutions. We’re not crossing the chasm yet, but we’re coming closer to it.

AREA: Is the pandemic accelerating certain use cases more than others?

Schart: In the past, when we talked about use cases, we talked about maintenance, operations, and training – a very high-level description of use cases. Now, we’re talking about, for example, onboarding new employees for a product launch. It’s much more concrete. We’re seeing use cases that are driven by the travel bans caused by the pandemic. The most popular one is remote support. You don’t need to have any specific hardware; you just take your phone, call, and you get guidance immediately. There are others, as well: as I mentioned, onboarding of new operators, as well as production line changeovers, as companies move production from one facility to another.

AREA: If a working vaccine is developed for COVID-19, hopefully in the near future, do you think the adoption of AR will continue at the same pace, or will companies go back to the way they did things before?

Schart: It’s a fair question. A major factor is human behavior – and humans don’t like change. But people are seeing now that they can handle things more easily with AR. And all of the managers at these companies are realizing, “We don’t need all that travel. We can save a lot of money by not traveling.” Now they realize they have the tools to do it without traveling. But it will take time. This year I expect remote support will be the catalyst for everything. But by 2021 or 2022, I think you’ll have more use cases with AR as it starts to deliver more value than existing tools. There’s also a big focus now on making more tasks digital and automated by leveraging AR and AI. That will have a big impact. At RE’FLEKT, we’ve seen a 300% increase in our monthly active users, even hitting a peak of 600% – and they’re still using it. That gives me the confidence that we’re finally showing the value. Of course, there are still problems to solve; content creation has to be easier, smart glasses are not ready, but I’m confident that we will see new use cases next year.

To read the full text of Dirk Schart’s article, please visit his blog page.

This editorial has been developed as part of the AREA Thought Leaders Network content, in collaboration with selected AREA members.

Corporations in the medical and pharmaceutical industry need to adhere to the highest standards of quality, with accuracy and precision being the keys to success. If organizations experience equipment errors or healthcare workers make mistakes, they not only put human life at risk but also incur significant consequences for payers, including financial and credibility loss. To reduce error rates and increase quality, businesses across the industry are turning to the latest technologies – including Augmented Reality (AR).

AR and VR technology is already being used and significantly improving processes in medical device manufacturing. This editorial discusses two major use cases in which AR solutions simplify workflows to reduce human error:

1. Medical device assembly
2. Production line changeover

Let’s take a closer look at exactly how AR technology can tackle key challenges in both cases, with the help of some first-hand insights from William Harding of industry leader Medtronic, recently interviewed by RE’FLEKT.

Key challenges in medical device manufacturing

Medical device manufacturing typically involves a variety of manual, semi-automatic and automatic processes which makes production particularly vulnerable to error – especially as large manufacturers need to employ the same processes across multiple facilities, often without standardization of production data. In addition, if there is a lack of training among operators it can increase the risk of mistakes made during manual tasks when medical equipment is assembled and configured.

William Harding, Distinguished Fellow at Medtronic, reveals which factors medical device manufacturers need to consider when introducing changes on the production floor:

“If I add a new process to a production line, many questions need to be addressed: How do I get the process to integrate seamlessly (e.g., communication protocols, data aggregation, and data transformation)? How do I accomplish that without using paper-based systems? The goal is to speed up efficiencies and reduce scrap while also reducing human error. When we create a new process in lean manufacturing, we need to establish the most ergonomic way for an operator to perform their tasks within a sterile environment. We also want them to complete these tasks in the most efficient way possible, while delivering a high-quality product. There are many factors to be considered.”

Prior to introducing a new manufacturing process, operators need to be trained on how to perform each step to ensure maximum efficiency and minimum error rates during production. William further explains how Medtronic originally used a cardboard replica of their manufacturing line for training purposes and what challenges came along with it:

“It used to take us two and a half weeks to build a cardboard set-up with five process stations. For one training session, we also needed at least eight to ten people off the production floor, who then weren’t engaged in manufacturing products while they were in training. It would cost us about $30,000 for one training effort with the cardboard set-up. We usually require five sessions in total to get everything right, and by the time we decide that everything is ready, we’re making changes five minutes later.”

Simplified training and operations with AR solutions

With AR technology, medical device manufacturers like Medtronic can not only manage the challenges listed above, but also benefit from significant operational improvements, as the following two use cases reveal.

1. Enhanced AR Training for device assembly and set-up 

Training around medical device set-up and configuration is traditionally based on Operating Procedure (OP) documentation that is not user-friendly. Extensive manuals, including complicated 2D diagrams and text-based instructions, make it challenging to find the right information quickly for device operators. Consequently, onboarding is time consuming and devices may be set up incorrectly and/or not used to their full potential.

Many leaders in the medical sector, including Medtronic, are turning to AR to train employees to set up and assemble their equipment. With results that decrease human errors by 90% and improve training times by 60% (see this white paper for further info) the reasons are obvious. AR training solutions allow device operators to visualize complicated OP documentation in a simple way with the right mixture of videos, text, and images that appear directly in context with the real object. This ensures that device operators always have training content available instantly on their mobile devices, tablets, or smart glasses, thereby experiencing fewer errors during device assembly and set-up.

William from Medtronic shares how AR training guides have replaced the cardboard replica during operator training at Medtronic:

“With content creation platforms like REFLEKT ONE, we can now create AR applications that allow operators to learn a new process by walking through engaging training guides on a tablet instead of using our cardboard model.”

2. Lean production line changeovers with AR-based procedures

When switching the production line from one product to the next, every minute of changeover time comes at the cost of missed revenue as production is down while teams rearrange, set-up, and configure the equipment for the next production cycle. Lean manufacturing strategies can help solve the dilemma to shorten downtime and increase the final output.

AR guidance during changeover procedures results in 40% fewer errors and a 25% faster changeover speed (see this white paper for further info). The interactive guides show operators the ideal state of the task at hand in AR next to the actual state. This way operators can always see what needs to be done as they are working. As augmented instructions guide operators through each step, the risk of error is ultimately reduced for all manual stages of the changeover.

This digitalized process is faster and more reliable as William confirms from his own experience creating AR solutions at Medtronic:

“Recently I created a solution to train operators on a manufacturing process for our Linq II battery bond (an implantable 2 lead EKG data recorder for patients). I made the content available to them online, where they could walk through it themselves and learn how to perform the process using gestures in AR. It’s a very fast and effective way of training because it saves resources and is so close to the real manufacturing environment.”

Outlook: The future of XR technology in the medical sector

These two use cases are great examples of how AR technology is already making a measurable difference in tackling key challenges in training and operations within medical device manufacturing. For the future, William forecasts a growing adoption of AR and ultimately Mixed Reality solutions at Medtronic as well as across the industry:

“Through the use of this technology in the future, I know that Medtronic will be able to more quickly understand the needs of patients, healthcare professionals, and payer’s needs, such that the lifecycles of innovation are reduced in addressing those needs. That same point can be made within the medical device manufacturing industry, specifically as it relates to product and process transfers as well as in the training of the individuals responsible for completing the assembly of those devices. However, it is my belief that AR and eventually MR technology will make the use of VR less important because users will prefer the more relatable MR environments.”

As part of the AREA’s mission to help accelerate the adoption of Enterprise Augmented Reality (AR) by supporting the growth of a comprehensive ecosystem, we are further engaging with academic institutions to provide feedback on how they can help equip the graduates of tomorrow with the AR skills needed to positively contribute to the workforce.

The AREA, together with our academic partners, has created a very short survey to capture your perspectives on educational needs for future graduates.

We would gratefully appreciate you completing this survey – it should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete.

The survey is available HERE and runs until July 31^st 2020. All contributors will receive a report summarising the findings. If you do have any questions, please contact michael@thearea.org.

Thank you for helping shape the educational future of our workforce.

The AREA Team

Researcher Eric Lyman of 3XR has provided an update on the progress of the AREA’s 7th research project. Eric and his team are tasked with examining barriers to, and recommending approaches for, using existing enterprise 3D assets in AR experiences. The project will also test the ingestion and use of enterprise 3D assets in a set of limited but representative environments. 

Research began in April when all enterprise AREA members were contacted to provide sample 3D models for testing and participate in an interview with Eric. Designed to help ascertain the most popular tools, the most compelling 3D AR use cases, and the most important 3D optimization criteria, interviews have been conducted with representatives of Boeing, Newport News Shipbuilding, Merck, and the AEC Hackathon. Eric has also interviewed AR providers Theorem, ARVizio, InstaLOD, and Hexagon, as well as NIST and MakeSEA/Catapult. 

Three organizations have generously contributed 3D CAD files to the project: Boeing, DIME Lab, Medtronic, Newport News Shipbuilding, and NIST. 

The following AR tools will be used to test reuse of the 3D CAD files: Rapid Compact DGG, InstaLOD, Simplygon, PiXYZ, Meshlab, and possibly ARVizio. 

When completed, the research project is intended to reveal: 

• The most popular AR execution and rendering engines and frameworks that support dynamic 3D asset ingestion 
• The key toolchains being used to generate 3D assets for AR applications 
• Which formats (inputs and outputs) the toolchains and frameworks support 
• Which standards are supported by the 3D and AR toolchains and frameworks
• Any failures or incompatibilities that arise when using a subset of toolchains and delivering the final models to a few specific AR devices used in enterprise. 

The final research project report, for AREA members only, will deliver an overview of the most optimal conversion processes to bring 3D assets into AR platforms. This will include: 

• A full overview of steps required, while illustrating the degree of success with each process and format tested; 
• A table graph that clearly illustrates the advantages / disadvantages of these processes both from the perspective of conversion ease, and final usability; 

• An analysis of pre-existing commercial platforms, and the creation of a table graph illustrating the pros / cons of each. 

Eric expects the work to be completed by the end of July. 

This editorial has been developed as part of the AREA Thought Leaders Network content, in collaboration with selected AREA members.

Short of time? Listen to the accompanying podcast (~10 minutes) available here.

An imperative to overcome limitations

The COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed an unprecedented impact across the global business landscape. Over recent months, many countries have implemented various forms of lockdown, severely limiting the ways that companies can do business, and, in many cases causing operations to cease. This crisis is likely to have an ongoing impact in the months ahead as we transition to a “new normal” and beyond.

This editorial discusses ways in which Augmented Reality (AR) can help mitigate the societal and business impact while supporting business continuity through the pandemic.

The restrictions placed upon both individuals and organizations have resulted in an upsurge in the use of digital technologies to support a variety of activities, including online shopping, digital and contactless payments, remote working, online education, telehealth, and entertainment. The ability to support these activities is heavily reliant upon the availability of “digital-ready” infrastructure and services.

Enterprise AR builds upon this digital infrastructure by offering the ability to juxtapose digital content over a live view of the physical world to support business processes. So how can AR help?

First, let’s examine the impacts that COVID-19 and subsequent responses have had upon business and society:

1. Social distancing measures hinder our ability to have traditional face-to-face interactions in addition to often limiting the size of groups able to gather.
2. The inability to travel and prevalence of key staff working from home are viewed as impacting the ability to conduct business, manage effective team operations, and provide local expertise where it is needed, amongst others.
3. Fewer on-site staff due to illness, self-isolation and financial restrictions impedes an organization’s ability to continue operations “as before.”
4. A lack of classroom and hands-on training makes it difficult to quickly upskill new staff or train existing staff on products and processes.
5. Disrupted supply chains are requiring manufacturing and sourcing processes to become more flexible to help ensure continuity of production.
6. The potential for virus transmission has caused a reluctance among workers to touch surfaces and objects that may have been touched by others.

Clearly, to help address these challenges, new or enhanced tools and ways of working are required. At the AREA, we believe that AR can play an effective role in mitigating a number of these obstacles and, at the same time, offering new opportunities to provide long-term business improvements.

AR can help address COVID-19 restrictions with remote assistance

A key use case of Enterprise AR is in the realm of remote assistance.  AR-enhanced remote assistance provides a live video-sharing experience between two or more people. This differs from traditional videoconferencing in that such tools use computer vision technology to “track” the movements of the device’s camera across the scene. This enables the participants to add annotations (such as redlining or other simple graphics) that “stick” onto elements in the scene and therefore remain in the same place in the physical world as viewed by the users. Such applications support highly effective collaboration between, for example, a person attending a faulty machine and a remote expert, who may be working from home. This use case helps mitigate impacts of travel reduction, reduced staffing, and, of course, social distancing.

AR-enhanced remote assistance for medical equipment procedures (YouTube movie). Image and movie courtesy of RE’FLEKT.

Sarah Reynolds, Vice President of Marketing, PTC comments, “As organizations look to maintain business continuity in this new normal, they are embracing AR to address travel restrictions, social distancing measures, and other challenges impacting their front-line workers’ ability to go on-site and operate, maintain, and repair machines of all kinds. Even when equipment or product experts can’t address technical issues in person, AR-enhanced remote assistance enables them to connect with on-site employees and even end customers to offer them contextualized information and expert guidance, helping them resolve these issues quickly and ultimately reduce downtime. AR-enabled remote assistance marries the physical and the digital worlds – allowing experts and front-line workers to digitally annotate the physical world around them to improve the clarity, precision, and accuracy of their communication and collaboration.”

AR-enhanced remote assistance enables business continuity for machine operations, servicing and repair. Image courtesy of PTC.

AR enables no-touch product interaction via virtual interfaces

A key capability of AR is the ability to superimpose a digital virtual user interface on physical equipment that may have a limited or non-existent user interface. The user is able to, depending upon the technology used, select actions by tapping on the screen of the device or, alternatively, use hand gestures or verbal commands to interact with the equipment via the AR-rendered “proxy” user interface. The provision of such abstracted interactions is key to reducing the amount of touching required by physical objects that may be used by numerous people.

There are many ways in which such AR capabilities can help medical professionals carry out their duties during the current pandemic and beyond. The BBC has reported on one such application that helps reduce the amount of physical contact between doctor and patient, while still enabling them to communicate with colleagues outside of the COVID-19 treatment area. Here, a doctor wearing a Mixed Reality headset is able to interact with medical content such as x-rays, scans or test results using hand gestures while others are able to participate in the consultation from a safe location. The article points out that this way of working also reduces the need for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as colleagues are able to participate from a safe distance.

Example of a virtual user interface projected into the physical world. Image courtesy of Augumenta.

Eve Lindroth, Marketing and Communications at Augumenta, comments, “Today, the devices and applications can be controlled hands-free. This also addresses the problem of being able to work hygienically. You do not need to touch anything to get data in front of your eyes, control processes, or to document things. You can simply use gestures or voice to tell the device what to do. Tap air, not a keyboard.”

AR can help medical equipment training

AR can also be used to help assist medical professionals by providing highly efficient and interactive training methods that can streamline the process of learning new equipment and other necessary procedures. This is critical when experienced staff are unwell and replacements need to be trained as quickly as possible.

Harry Hulme, Marketing and Communications Manager at RE’FLEKT, comments, “We’re seeing that AR is a key tool for healthcare workers during these testing times. For medical training and equipment changeovers, AR solutions substantially reduce the risk of human error while significantly reducing training and onboarding times. Moreover, the time-critical process of equipment changeover is accelerated with AR-enhanced methods.”

AR-based training with REFLEKT ONE and Microsoft HoloLens in medical and healthcare. Image courtesy of RE’FLEKT.

AR supports remote collaboration

The remote assistance use case can be generalized further to include remote collaboration.  AR enables users who are physically separated to be able to “inhabit” a shared virtual space, distributed by the AR application. This ability enables the support of numerous use cases, including shared design reviews. In this scenario, multiple users can see the 3D product models and supporting information projected onto their view (and from their relative position) of the physical world, via their AR-enabled devices.

Different design alternatives can be presented and viewed in real-time by all participants, each of whom can position themselves in their physical space to obtain a particular aspect of the digital rendition. Further, users can annotate and redline the shared environment, providing immediate visual feedback to all others.  Such capabilities are key factors in mitigating the restrictions imposed upon travel, the forming of groups and close-proximity human-to-human interaction. 

Immersive collaboration: A design review of a motorbike in 1:1 scale with a remote team. Image courtesy of Masters of Pie.

Karl Maddix, CEO of Masters of Pie, comments: “Video conferencing solves the immediate need to bring people together whereas collaboration, as enabled by Masters of Pie, is built for industry to bring both people and 3D data together. Real-time access to the underlying 3D data is imperative for effective collaboration and business continuity purposes.”

AR supports remote sales activities

AR is also proving an effective sales tool, enabling the all-important sales process to continue during the pandemic. Home shoppers can examine digital renditions of home appliances, furniture, etc. presented within their own physical space, for example. Moreover, the use of rich and interactive sales demonstrations facilitated by AR allow the potential buyer to understand the form, fit and function of a product without the need for travel, touch or close interaction with a salesperson.

AR enriches the remote shopping experience, allowing buyers to place and interact with products in their own physical environment. Image courtesy of PTC.

Sarah Reynolds of PTC comments, “AR experiences improve the end-to-end customer experience, improve purchase confidence, and ultimately streamline sales cycles, especially when customers are not able to shop in person.”

Take the next steps

In this editorial we’ve discussed a number of ways in which AR technology can help ensure business and healthcare continuity by mitigating the impacts of the various restrictions placed on the way we work. Recognizing this, many AREA member companies have introduced special offers and services to help industry during the pandemic and we applaud their support. Learn more about them here.

We invite you to discover more about how Enterprise AR is helping industry improve its business processes at The AREA.

The SAS Institute has been a world leader in analytics software for more than four decades. Today, the privately-held North Carolina-based company is expanding its reach into Augmented Reality (AR). We recently spoke with Michael Thomas, SAS Systems Architect, to learn more about his company’s approach to AR and what he refers to as “Intelligent Realities.”

AREA: What is driving the SAS Institute’s interest in Augmented Reality?

MICHAEL THOMAS: We’ve always sought to deliver our data and analytics capabilities via new devices and user interfaces as they’ve become available. In the ‘80’s, we brought them to the PC. In the ‘90’s, we brought them to the Web, and then tablets. And now we’re on to this new user interface that’s penetrating the enterprise. It’s the next place for us to provide our Artificial Intelligence (AI) and analytical data value. As a Systems Architect, I’ve been looking at these emerging technologies to figure out, at an architectural level, how they fit. As part of that, I’ve been developing AR and VR for commercial use cases

AREA: Can you tell us about some of the use cases you’ve been involved in?

MICHAEL THOMAS: One topical use case we’re tracking involves using AR for germ-fighting, along with the Internet of Things (IoT) and AI. IoT sensors are used to detect areas meriting closer scrutiny due to germ-spreading behavior, such as coughing. Custodians assigned to keeping those areas clean can then focus their efforts by using either headset AR or a spatial AR approach. Another example is in manufacturing – being able to use AR combined with IoT data and AI to give technicians the ability to more rapidly repair and proactively address issues to keep manufacturing equipment available and online. That also involves tying in remote experts. But while many remote expertise use cases are built around the idea that the expert sees the video that the proximate user is gathering with their headset, we go beyond that to take the IoT data from that piece of equipment, analyze it in real time, and give the most pertinent information to that remote expert. They can then use VR technology to better advise the remote technician.

AREA: In one of your blog posts, you argue that enterprises should not fixate on head-mounted AR devices and rather think more in broader terms of what you call “intelligent realities.” What do you mean by that?

MICHAEL THOMAS: Intelligent realities for workers means you improve work by making the reality of work better. SAS is not an AR vendor so, rather than thinking in terms of devices, we look at what form factor will enable us to manifest our value and make the customer better. It’s wide open. Does a tablet do what you need to do? If so, that’s great. We’ve had customers who have experimented with head-mounted devices and been disappointed. So they’ve shifted to pursuing other ways to make those realities more intelligent. That gets them into spatial AR, but also more pedestrian things like using transparent LED screens or projected light. As headsets get better, we expect some of that resistance to go away. But we’re just taking a broader perspective on how to make that reality better that isn’t just the latest technology.

AREA: What do you see as the next significant milestone in the adoption of AR?

MICHAEL THOMAS: I think this year will be a good year for headsets. We’re getting to a second generation of Mixed Reality headsets with a form factor where you can actually expect people to wear them for a long time. And then from there, as we get focused on commercial AR, we at SAS have the technology and the ability to give you the content that’s going to improve your reality right now. That’s our piece. And it’s going to be very exciting to see that new growth develop.

Michael Thomas has authored several thought leadership publications on Intelligent Realities that we would like to share with AREA readers. They include:

• His original paper, “Intelligent Realities For Workers Using Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Beyond”
• A related blog post: “Intelligent Realities with AI, IoT and eXtended Reality”
• An article in Control Engineering magazine on the “Benefits of Digitizing Reality for Workers in Manufacturing” 
• An IIC paper tying Intelligent Realities to digital twins, “Artificial and Human Intelligence with Digital Twins”
• A 10-minute lightning talk video for RIoT group’s IoT Demo Night, “Augmented & Virtual – The Reality of Future Work”

As organizations throughout the world cope with the quarantining and work-from-home restrictions necessitated by the global coronavirus pandemic, AREA members are springing into action to help. Many of them have launched special offers that enable organizations to use their AR tools to overcome limitations to collaboration and business continuance. 

Here are some of the offers AREA member companies have told us about: 

• Atheer has offered free licenses of its Atheer AR platform until the end of June 2020. All licenses, onboarding, and support will be provided by Atheer for free with no commitment of any type required. 
• Augmentir has announced it is offering free use of its Remote Assist tool for the remainder of 2020. Remote Assist provides a remote collaboration and support solution that can be adopted in less than 60 minutes. 
• Iristick is offering its smart glasses with three months of free software use (remote assistance). In addition, AREA members can receive a 10% discount on the company’s Z1. Essential and Z1.Premium products. 
• PTC is making its remote assistance product, Vuforia Chalk, available for free so employees can collaborate in operation, maintenance, and repair. 
• Theorem Solutions will provide free CAD translation services to any organization that has switched to producing ventilators and has found itself working with incompatible data formats.
• The Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) Design and Prototyping Group have responded to Britain’s call to produce more Personal Protective Equipment for healthcare workers by using technologies such as 3D printing and laser cutting to make up to 1,000 face shields per week. The face shields are being distributed to area hospitals. 
• Scope AR has created a Quick Start Program that supports organizations limiting travel by connecting technical experts to hands-on workers. The program leverages visual remote assistance to enable diagnoses, repairs, and upgrades, as well as bringing training to remote employees and clients via AR. 
• XMReality now offers a free premium version of Remote Guidance which will make it possible for anyone to try out Remote Guidance. The new offering provides businesses interested in learning about the benefits of remote guidance an easy and free way to see how remote guidance can improve service functions.

 We applaud these companies for their efforts and will continue to share additional AREA member company offers as we hear about them.