As discussed in Rio Tinto’s 2020 Annual Report, Rio Tinto has been focused on working safer and smarter and as part of that effort they increased their use of drones and mine pit cameras and introduced video headsets (including smart glasses) to conduct visual inspections of tailings facilities and equipment while complying with travel restrictions and physical distance requirements. At the Oyu Tolgoi underground project, Rio Tinto used Vuzix Smart Glasses to enable technical experts from all over the world to work with local teams on the project site.

“Vuzix Smart Glasses usage continues to expand across an ever-widening array of industry verticals,” said Paul Travers, Vuzix President and Chief Executive Officer. “Companies like Rio Tinto, which is a global leader in its field, continue to provide validation of the value and effectiveness of our products in real world situations.”

Read Vuzix AREA member profile

Read original press release on Vuzix website.

Jonathan Vigdorchik, M.D., last month replaced the knees of two patients, who suffered severe arthritis in their knee joints, while using special glasses that enabled him to review crucial surgical data while performing the operations.

Dr. Vigdorchik this week examined both patients, who are in their 50s, and reported they were doing well.

Augmented reality superimposes digital content, such as 3-D images or visual instructions, onto a user’s view of the real world through mobile devices and wearable headsets. Companies for years have been working with early versions of the technology in design, training and other areas. Increasingly, health-care providers have been expanding their use of AR for procedures that require extreme precision.

In knee surgery, the technology gives a surgeon the ability to see and follow operating plans projected onto the lens of smart glasses, allowing for more precise removal of bone and cartilage and more accurate positioning of a knee implant.

Read the full article on the WSJ here.

Many tech insiders and analysts believe the AR glasses will replace smartphones in the next 8-10 years.

MagicLeap, another AREA member, has now shifted its focus on selling AR glasses to industrial users.

Tech companies are exploring the technology’s business relevance and its role in the workforce enablement, customer experience and product enhancement.

AR technology holds tremendous promise for changing the way businesses operate.

Just a few of the kinds of benefits that businesses are experiencing are: contextualised information, increased workflow standardisation, hands-free assistance and documentation.

Read the full original article to find out more.

With buzz rising over virtual and augmented reality technologies, Van Harken said it was clear that this was a space in which his company belonged.

“It became very apparent the immediate benefits from those programs — the value was immediately realized and spoke volumes,” said Van Harken, co-founder and chief strategy officer for Th3rd Coast Digital Solutions. “It made our decision easy. We’re going to put more of our focus into the enterprise and training side of things.”

 Augmented reality is when a user utilizes a device to view real world environments overlaid with computer-generated perceptual information with which the user can interact. Virtual reality provides an immersive experience where a user operates in a simulated environment.

Both technologies, referred to as extended reality (XR), have long been evolving and now are finding a place in manufacturing.

Training game-changer

Some manufacturers are early adopters of these technologies for a variety of applications, from employee training to product development and marketing.

Forging a strategic partnership with Boston-based computer software and services company PTC — and its AR software development kit (SDK) Vuforia — Th3rd Coast is heavily involved in the XR space.

Van Harken said it’s a welcome addition to manufacturing.

“A lot of people in those spaces are really in an analog state — pen to paper, no traceability, no digital threads through anything,” he said. “So, just getting anything digitized in that realm is a huge step forward. But, if you can create more efficiencies with how to train people faster and better, then you create a more agile and nimble workforce that can adapt to various changing conditions in the factory.”

Still, barriers exist in adapting XR technology, as seen in the fact that primarily large manufacturers are the ones adopting it. Education is a key part of the challenge, according to Van Harken.

To address this need for market education, Van Harken and Th3rd Coast established a nonprofit news network on XR technologies. The network, found at th3rdeyexr.com, highlights different ways that enterprise users are applying these technologies.

Training is one primary application for XR, providing an immersive experience even when a user is not necessarily on the shop floor. Through these technologies, manufacturers are able to transcend ineffective user manuals and other analog training materials. 

Additionally, it’s difficult to pass down knowledge from employees who were trained with analog materials decades ago.

“When they retire, in the past, that knowledge has retired with them,” Van Harken said. “One thing that XR/AR solutions provide is a method for early-extracting and documenting that knowledge to be able to pass it on. That’s the best way they learn.”

By using XR technology to train workers in the moment, Van Harken said that it can lead to a well-rounded workforce that contains fewer specialists and more generalists. And, for an industry that suffers from a chronic talent gap and workforce shortage, wooing a new generation to the job is vital.

Budget buster?

Price is another barrier that can block small manufacturers from reaping the benefits of XR technology. However, as it evolves, the hardware and technology is slowly becoming more affordable.

For instance, an OculusGo — a virtual reality headset developed by Facebook Technologies — is available for around $200. Walmart Inc. purchased thousands of the devices as it dedicated a large portion of its training to virtual reality.

Hudsonville-based Immy Inc., which recently started doing business as Optique, has an optic display system in the works that is poised to become more accessible to manufacturers of all sizes.

“Our technology and our approach — it’s very different in the fact that it’s very cost effective to manufacture and produce,” said Optique CEO Sam Vilardi. “So, I think the barrier to entry for us isn’t going to be nearly what the competition is so it will allow us to work with smaller manufacturers.”

Outside of training, product design and development is another prime application for XR technology. Vilardi pointed to Steelcase Inc. as an example of a company that utilizes this form of technology to bring together design and development teams from across the country.

“You start to create this experience that allows you to design more effectively and more efficiently because there are a lot of nuances in design,” Vilardi said. “Some people struggle visualizing without being able to see it and touch and feel it. This technology brings it that much closer.”

Optique also looks to improve upon one other factor that can sour manufacturers on using the technology.

“The reason these hardwares have not gained adoption, to be blunt, is they leave a lot to be desired for,” Vilardi said. “The experience sucks. A lot of them create nausea, motion sickness and eye fatigue.”

Marketing tool

Furniture manufacturer Trendway Corp. worked in conjunction with Th3rd Coast to bring augmented reality to its company — but not for training or product design.

The Holland-based company developed an application in 2018 called the Trendway AR Office Builder.

Through a smartphone camera, the app allows the user to digitally place Trendway’s furniture throughout a real world space, giving customers  an idea of how it would look.

The app also links the user to product information on Trendway’s website while housing videos where product experts walk through pertinent information associated with the product.

“In our case, we put together idea starters — it could be packages or full office setups,” said Nancy Stryker, Trendway’s director of marketing.

While the app wasn’t borne out of COVID, the pandemic has forced Trendway to start forging ahead with technology it had already been considering, as is the case with many other manufacturers.

“COVID really accelerated that need and desire for these technologies,” Stryker said. “We’re finding that it’s something that will only continue to grow.”

For further information on Barriers to AR adoption in manufacturing watch The AREA Research Committee webinar.

The packaging company, which plays a prominent role in the pharma supply chain for COVID-19-related drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines, has deployed both the pre-packaged solution Dynamics 365 Remote Assist and other HoloLens 2-based applications alongside data management, CRM, AI, and other Microsoft cloud services.

Stevanato Group have instituted two key mixed reality use cases, both aimed at accelerating remote acceptance of their equipment.

They have introduced a Virtual Audit plan that relies on Dynamics 365 Remote Assist, Microsoft’s pre-built application that works with HoloLens 2 to allow a remote worker to communicate and collaborate with another person doing work on-site with equipment or goods. For Stevanato, Remote Assist serves to allow customers working remotely to observe and verify production processes for quality purposes.

Microsoft is an AREA member. Read the Microsoft AREA member profile about their work in enterprise Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality.

Attendees were often drawn to events that invited networking and imparted memorable experiences. But as Covid-19 guidelines began to impact work and personal engagements, the appetite for virtual, immersive and interactive events became increasingly important. As more businesses now turn to virtual events to drive engagement with their communities, the role of communication needs to also transform to bring value to each attendee.

Competing for attendee attention at conferences has never been easy, and in virtual settings, it is even more of a challenge. Added to that are the multiple platforms and channels used by the event organizers and the attendee. So how can communication professionals tailor attendee experiences? Here are a few ways that can help spark the creative communication required for successful experiences.

Perception Of Attendees’ Place At Events

While in-person events allow event organizers the flexibility and space to design an atmosphere that can enhance what attendees experience, virtual experiences are often limited to the event application platform. But whether an event is in person or virtual, how attendees perceive their place there can influence where and how they spend their time.

To help close the perception gap for attendees, communication professionals have the opportunity to target their communication by specific groups, interests and activities. For example, apart from the promotion of the general conference, tailoring your communication plans to specific smaller audience segments, such as invite-only virtual group gatherings with CEOs, can be a high-touch experience. Tailoring the discussion around CEO topics and coupling them with fun, interactive experiences like wine tasting can help draw other like-minded attendees who also see the value of their time at the event.

In-The-Moment Communication

The unexpected is sure to happen at events. By including in-the-moment communication as part of the event strategy, the community of attendees has a greater chance to engage by staying in the know. Communication professionals can further curate in-the-moment event experiences by hosting pop-up interview segments with attendees and speakers across social channels.

Bringing this idea to life may start with selecting an important topic that attendees may be interested in. For example, last year, 65% of North American event creators said they believed that diversity was an important focus. Communication professionals can tap into the diversity trend by hosting pop-up interviews around this topic with a “behind-the-scenes” look with speakers before their presentation. This offers the community of attendees an opportunity to engage on the social channels and draw attention to the presentation with a common theme they can relate to and find value in. Leveraging social platforms like Twitter to host these interviews can further encourage in-the-moment communication with the community. 

Thought Leaders As Conference Curators

Historically, the communication program at events has primarily been about general promotion and logistics, helping attendees get to the next activity or presentation. The larger the event size, the more logistical communication is required. But with virtual events, communication professionals have an opportunity to be more impactful by scoping their role beyond tried-and-true strategies.

One way to encourage attendees to experience the conference beyond the traditional emails and Slack channels is by identifying the micro-community segments within your attendees, then partnering with thought leaders who share common interests with those communities to serve as conference experience curators. Having industry thought leaders help guide a micro-community of attendees can create a more intimate and valued virtual experience — one that aligns interest and may even prompt more engagement.

When done well, virtual events that are immersive experiences are unique and imaginative. Communication professionals have had to deliver on traditional plans, which include press releases and blogs to promote the event. But, as virtual or hybrid events become more mainstream, communication professionals have the opportunity to redesign their role and program to become a closer collaborator to event organizers and marketing overall.

educating me on all the stuff that goes on from an enterprise standpoint. It’s a show focused on innovation, and as I say in my opening keynote, people are doing deals at CES across categories, across verticals. That’s why, when we tried to create the digital venues, we talked about how to get those lines out real quickly from one industry and one company to another. That’s what CES is so valuable for. I’ve talked to representatives from many different companies in many different industries, and that’s what they stress.”

Whilst it may be more difficult for customers to find what they are looking for this year, we will bring back to you a round up of all the enterprise AR at #CES2021

A press release on Jan 7 2021 reveals that AREA member Iristick, a provider of augmented reality (AR) smart glasses developed for industry, and Harvest Technology Group Limited, a provider of remote communication technologies, have announced that they have entered into an agreement to commence proof of concept trials for integration of Harvest’s Infinity Nodestream and Wearwolf technology into Iristick’s industrial smart glasses.

Harvest Technology Group Limited is an Australian operated group of companies whose portfolio includes Harvest Technology Pty Ltd and Harvest Infinity Pty Ltd. Harvest Technology is a bespoke subsea technology solutions provider for the energy, resources, and renewables sectors. Harvest Infinity is an innovation company developing remote control, communication, automation and monitoring solutions.

The initial agreement will continue development of the integration of the Company’s Infinity Wearwolf application into Iristick smart glasses, embedding them with the Infinity Nodestream video encryption and streaming protocols.

Wearwolf is a software application version of the Infinity Nodestream encoding platform designed to run on wearable and smartphone mobile devices. According to Harvest, Wearwolf enables live secure point-to-point video and communications at ultra-low bandwidths and over poor quality or congested networks. Video and audio can be transferred as low as 32 kbps, allowing users to communicate directly to a Nodestream decoding device.

Prototype testing was completed during December 2020 where the Wearwolf application was successfully combined with the Iristick software development kit (SDK) on a smartphone and proved to work with the cameras, microphone and screen on the Iristick smart glasses. The companies stated that trial communications were successfully made and maintained between Perth, Australia and Brussels, Belgium at 128kbps.

Iristick’s Z1 Premium AR smart glasses

Harvest states that a final commercial product is planned for launch during the first quarter of 2021 and will communicate point-to-point with Nodestream mini decoding devices and the soon-to-be released Nodestream downloadable decoder software application, which will run on laptops and desktop computers.

“We are very excited to be involved in a relationship with Iristick and look forward to our joint opportunities in the future. The synergies between our two companies are synonymous with a motivation to deliver high-quality remote communications and assistance from anywhere in the world”, said Paul Guilfoyle, Company Group Managing Director at Harvest Technology Group. “We have successfully proven our Wearwolf application on multiple wearable platforms and we are confident it can be quickly adapted for use across other wearable devices. Given the expected growth in the wearables market, we are forecasting more than 1,000 new Wearwolf licenses in 2021.”

Johan De Geyter, Iristick CEO, commented: “The global pandemic kickstarted the use of remote assistance via smart glasses as a solution to keep enterprise operations running under strict travel bans and contact restrictions. As field workers are sometimes confronted with low or no Wi-Fi connection, this collaboration can overcome that issue and make remote assistance available over low bandwidth, at any possible location, ensuring workers stay connected at any time.”

Visit Iristick website

Visit Iristick’s AREA member profile to read more about their work in Augmented Reality.

Interested in becoming a member? See AREA membership information. 

In 2015, chief creative officer Rik Shorten saw an opportunity to use newly developed virtual reality technology and 3D animations in the medical field.

“They can select one of these codes and go through it and they can work as an attending and they’ll have a whole team in front of them virtually and they can do this anytime, anywhere,” Shorten said.  Bioflight VR is based in Akron, but the company works with hospitals, universities and medical device companies across the country, including hometown Akron Children’s Hospital.  Shorten said the COVID-19 pandemic has brought into sharp focus the need for distance learning, remote training and virtual training.

“The schools are struggling to get the nurses in training their clinical hours. And so the states have moved quickly to recognize XR technologies as perfectly adequate substitutes for in-clinic training. And so this has moved that conversation forward much faster,” Shorten said.

Bioflight VR business director Pauly Suchy said the company recently teamed with Case Western Reserve to develop an application on physician empathy training. 

“A 30-minute experience but it spans over the timeline of a month where they’re experiencing all the financial, social, emotional and physical burdens that patients typically face. But it’s also, a good example of how to use this technology to standardize that learning experience so they can deliver better care,” Suchy said.

Both Shorten and Suchy said 12 hospital systems and 1,000 ER doctors currently use their platform.  Their goal is to expand that 10-fold in the coming years.  They said they know the access to quality health care resources in Ohio can make it possible. 

“The idea of a small company with limited resources, we need to get to the right people quickly. And the access here is different. It’s afforded me so many other freedoms than trying to make a small company work in Los Angeles,” Shorten said.

For more information, visit the BioflightVR website. 

The new laboratory will be exclusively dedicated to the provision of cell and gene therapy manufacturing training and will utilise both digital and established teaching platforms.

Learners will be trained using state-of-the-art equipment capable of large-scale manufacture to meet the need for skilled workers to help accelerate the scale-up of growing cell and gene therapy companies locally.

The laboratory supports the national drive for skills development within the cell and gene therapy industry, and complements existing skills initiatives coordinated by CGT Catapult, including the Advanced Therapies Skills Training Network and the Advanced Therapies Apprenticeship Community.

Hertfordshire LEP has selected five key projects to receive a share of its £16.8m allocation from Government’s Getting Building Fund, which aims to kickstart local economic recovery.

The five Hertfordshire projects are set to deliver over 1,500 high value jobs across high-tech sectors including film and TV; cell and gene therapies; advanced therapeutics; and smart construction.

The LEP’s £3m funding will allow CGT Catapult to equip the laboratory with the latest digital technologies including augmented reality, high-throughput manufacturing platforms and advanced analytics for the industrial manufacture of cell and gene therapies.

The funding will also help expand upon the industry-leading capabilities available at CGT Catapult, including at the facility in Stevenage which has been instrumental to the growth of the UK’s cell and gene therapy industry. The cell and gene therapy cluster around Stevenage has also recently been recognised as a High Potential Opportunity zone, set to attract overseas investment to the area to further strengthen the UK’s sectorial advantage.

Matthew Durdy, CEO at CGT Catapult said: “This Local Enterprise Partnership investment in the new integration laboratory in Stevenage has allowed us to move forward with this dedicated facility for the cell and gene therapy industry.

“This initiative will help to further expand the cell and gene therapy cluster around Stevenage and support the development of the UK skills base in the industry.”