Drexel University has a new Immersive Research Lab which aims to give students and researchers the opportunity to use the latest augmented reality and virtual reality technologies for study, exploration and application.

AVEVA’s Industry-leading Portfolio Enables Edge-to-Enterprise Visualisation Using Hybrid Cloud, Delivering Enhanced Technical and Commercial Flexibility. Companies can benefit from unparalleled insights and work process digitalisation, for example using real-time and historical data with machine learning capabilities to predict possible faults or failures and take pre-emptive action through automated workflows supported by augmented reality tools.

Znet ran an article on AREA member Vuzix entitled AR stalwart has staying power thanks to slow growth and old school economics.  After more than two decades Vuzix is one of the oldest players in AR wearables (and the most promising).

Innovega announced their augmented and virtual reality eye strain management technology.

The Sunday Guardian ran an article about aiding experiential learning through augmented reality.

About RealWear

Every day, everywhere around the world, industrial workers face daunting challenges. They must stay alert to the performance of countless systems while navigating complex and often dangerous environments. Thousands of projects are quite literally in their hands.  If you’re responsible for improving worker safety and efficiency and safety, where do you start?  By freeing your hands.  RealWear is creating a future that prioritizes industrial worker safety, efficiency, and performance.

Empower Industrial Workers

The performance of an entire factory might hinge upon a single gauge or pump. If industrial workers can respond to changing conditions in a factory, they can reduce costly downtime. But what if they could be proactive? With the RealWear HMT-1 and HMT-1Z1, industrial workers can anticipate problems before they start. That’s how you stay on track.

Focus On Knowledge Transfer

While many companies are tracking machinery performance through the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), not all of this information is valuable at every moment. Managing this firehose of data is one of the most important IoT use cases in manufacturing and industry. How do you get the right information to industrial workers at the right time?

RealWear headsets give industrial workers an easy way to drill down on the data that matters. The HMT-1 and HMT-1Z1 industrial wearables allow workers to interact with machinery in ways that have never been possible before. With RealWear headsets, industrial workers can use voice commands to accomplish the following:

• Say what you see: call up schematics, data sheets, and more
• Record live video and take pictures on command
• Run into trouble? Call a remote mentor

This kind of knowledge transfer is exactly what industrial workers need: relevant, on-demand, and hands-free.

Make It Intuitive

Industrial workers have enough to think about without having to learn a new piece of hardware. And that’s why RealWear headsets make knowledge transfer so easy. You can get started by remembering just one phrase: “Say what you see.”

Andrew Rhodes of RealWear expressed his gratitude on behalf of RealWear to John Hitch at New Equipment Digest for an excellent overview of RealWear technology. Read the full article here: Crowning Achievement: This Industrial Wearable Reigns Supreme.

The technology helps to cut major costs such as additional manpower. Several organizations including research and development labs are investing immensely in the technology to develop solutions for enterprise and consumer segments. Mobile augmented reality market has witnessed high adoption over the years across applications including gaming, media and marketing.

Augmented Reality Market is estimated to surpass USD 50 billion by 2024. Rising applications of the technology in retail and e-commerce are expected to drive the augmented reality market growth. According to Retail Perceptions, about 61 percent of the shoppers prefer to shop at the outlets that offer AR experiences and about 40 percent are willing to pay more if they could experience the product using the technology. Retailers are increasingly investing in implementing the technology in their stores to attract customers and enhance their experience, thus fueling the augmented reality market growth.

Rapid adoption of the technology in aerospace & defense is expected to drive the augmented reality market growth. Companies are investing in leveraging the technology to improve manufacturing processes, reduce costs, and save time. For instance, Boeing is using Google Glass to construct aircraft wire harnesses. The technology helps technicians in building hugely chaotic and complex wire webs to connect electrical systems in the aircraft.

The article questions whether the expense of implementation of AR is prohibitive which is why it’s less common for small and medium sized enterprises. The high capital that is required to procure devices to implement the technology reduces its adoption.

The hardware segment of the augmented reality market is expected to grow rapidly over the forecast time span. Common applications, such as gaming and retail, use AR applications on tablets and smartphones, not requiring a dedicated hardware device such as HMDs or smart glasses.

However, enterprise uses of the technology such as designing, manufacturing, and quality check in aerospace & defense, industrial, automotive, and medical are increasingly investing in hardware such as HMDs and smart glasses.

Smart glasses are expected to grow at a fast rate owing to increasing applications in retail, gaming & entertainment, aerospace & defense, and industrial applications, propelling the augmented reality market growth. Companies are developing differentiated devices, such as voice-enabled smart glasses, to gain a competitive advantage. For instance, Vuzix is developing smart glasses with Amazon Alexa voice assistant. Amazon has developed a licensing program to allow third parties to implement Alexa in their products. This is expected to propel the augmented reality market growth.

Germany augmented reality market is expected to grow at a fast pace over the forecast time span owing to increasing applications of the technology in the automobile industry. In the race to develop driverless cars, manufacturers, such as Audi and BMW, are implementing the technology in automobiles to increase the level of self-driving capabilities. The manufacturers are also implementing the technology in manufacturing processes to improve the operational effectiveness.

The smart glasses provide visual displays of order picking instructions along with information on where items are located and where they need to be placed on a cart, freeing pickers’ hands of paper instructions and allowing them to work more efficiently and comfortably. The international trials have shown an average improvement of productivity by 15 percent and higher accuracy rates. The user-friendly and intuitive solution has also halved onboarding and training times.

“Digitalization is not just a vision or program for us at DHL Supply Chain, it’s a reality for us and our customers, and is adding value to our operations on the ground. Customers have been very happy about the productivity gains and are equally excited about using innovative technology at their warehouses,” says Markus Voss, Chief Information Officer & Chief Operating Officer, DHL Supply Chain.

After having completed a pilot program across the U.S., Mainland Europe and the UK throughout different industries such as technology, retail and consumer, DHL has now established the Vision Picking solution for the long run. The technology has matured to become a standard, replicable solution for customers, allowing faster and easier implementation in their operations, helping them to benefit from productivity gains with increased speed of operations and better picking accuracy.

Employees have been enthusiastic about being able to use state-of-the-art technology and are pleased with how light the smart glasses are, and how much more comfortable the process is now with hands-free picking. “We are very satisfied and happy that the pilot phase went so well and that we can now say augmented reality technology is one of our standard offerings at DHL Supply Chain,” Voss adds. “As one of the first logistics companies using the technology, we have truly established a new way of order picking in the industry.”

DHL has been working alongside three partners in the pilot phase. Ubimax provided the augmented reality software xPick, whereas the recently announced Glass Enterprise Edition and Vuzix M100 and M300 glasses were used as hardware. Further proofs of concept running in Asia and Australia with other partners show similar promising benefits. Following the success of its Vision Picking program, DHL is looking into additional applications for augmented and virtual reality such as trainings, maintenance, dimension calculations and more.

The MTC has been officially named as a Microsoft Mixed Reality Partner.

They will now work together to create apps and teach more companies how to use technology such as HoloLens, Microsoft’s mixed reality headset, to save time and money, and improve quality and customer service.

“The MTC supports large and small companies across the UK,” said David Varela, Technology Manager at the MTC. “Our mission is to help manufacturers in the UK compete on the global stage. One way we do that is by using HoloLens, and two Microsoft tools in particular – Remote Assist and Layout. By sending our members a HoloLens, we are able to remotely work with companies to solve their problems and help them achieve their goals. It is much easier and cheaper for everyone.”

Rather than put users in a fully computer-generated world, as virtual reality does, HoloLens allows users to place 3D digital models in the room alongside them. As the Windows-10-based product does not have wires or external cameras, or require a phone or PC connection, users can walk around the objects they create and interact with them using gestures, gaze and voice.

Remote Assist lets people collaborate remotely with heads-up, hands-free video calling, image sharing and mixed-reality annotations. With Layout, you can import 3D models to easily create and edit room layouts in real-world scale. The MTC has previously worked with customers on hundreds of scenarios, showing them the value of the technology.

The MTC built on those programs to offer their own services, including Remote Line Walk. “What would usually happen is an engineer would visit an SME, walk around the workshop and suggest technologies and processes to make them more efficient or help them overcome a challenge,” Varela said. “Now, instead of us sending a person to the site, we just ship a HoloLens to them, they put on the headset and we can deliver the same process remotely. Someone who used to need three days to do a couple of visits is now able to do three visits in one day. We can give them an expert on demand.”

HoloLens is already being used by large manufacturers and industrial customers such as Chevron and can have huge benefits for other firms in the sector, which is a major part of the UK economy.

Manufacturing makes up 10% of the economy, employs 2.6 million people and is responsible for 45% of exports, totalling £275 billion. The importance of technology to helping growth in the sector was reflected in research from the EEF, the trade body for the UK’s manufacturing sector, which found that 80% of firms believe Industry 4.0 – the blending of industrial practices and technology – will be a reality by 2025.

“We tried every device in the market and the HoloLens was the best by a good distance, and it still is,” Varela said. “The beauty of HoloLens is it’s Windows-based, so developing is far easier than for other devices. There are also integrations with Azure services, and that makes it so powerful.”

This is just the beginning of the MTC’s work with HoloLens and mixed reality. Over the past two years, it has been working with the Advanced Visualization steering committee, including large aerospace manufacturing companies to create an Azure cloud-based platform called VIVAR. VIVAR is a guided instructions platform that can be used across the manufacturing process in order to advance workplace visualisations.

Taken from their statement: “Today is a historic day for our sector: we are proud and excited to announce that Make UK is the new name for EEF.

Manufacturing is changing and so are we.  We’re better placed than ever before to support your business.

For over a century, EEF has championed UK manufacturing and manufacturers.

As Make UK, we will build on this history and legacy, providing unique support for the sector, helping you to inspire the next generation of makers, inventors and creators and grow your business whether that be in your region or across the globe.

We will continue to be the voice of manufacturing – campaigning to make it easier for businesses to operate locally and globally and listened to by Government and the media.”

About Make UK

Everything we do, from business support to championing manufacturing and engineering in the UK and the EU, is designed to help our industry thrive, innovate and compete locally and globally.

We work with and for a whole range of people, including industry leaders, managers, professional staff, apprentices, policy-makers, and the media. No matter their size or field, our members are supported by our array of tools, campaigning and business support services. We believe in UK manufacturing and its contribution to the economy and community.

Their story began with the development of their own AR smart glasses (on which they could develop their AR software), as such things did not exist at the time.  From the blog:

“Back in February of 2012, when Atheer was founded, the world was still two months away from seeing Google Glass for the first time – and a little less than three years away from the initial unveiling of Microsoft’s plans for its HoloLens headset.

But our founder, Soulaiman Itani, had an exciting idea for a new way to pioneer the next generation of computing – one that would change the way that people interact with – and use – digital information.

Soulaiman Itani’s talk from the 2014 Digital Summit at MIT (featured on their blog) he recalls the pioneering work the company did on gesture recognition – which has continued since and resulted in the many patents the company holds today.

The problem he was trying to tackle then was how to create a way for people to recognize the three-dimensional gestures that underpinned his new model for interaction using simple, affordable mobile devices. What he came up with was an inventive way of taking the information from cameras on two mobile phones to provide the kind of 3-D views that would later come to be provided by smart glasses.

“After a year of work, I had this proof of concept where I basically had two Android phones and I was able to create a button that you can click in the middle of the air, in real time, running on an ARM processor,” explained Soulaiman.

We wish all the team at Atheer a very happy 7th Birthday from all at The AREA!

The Public VR Lab, the first lab to make VR/AR/360 accessible to the public, works to provide the public with full access and consumer/creator education regarding how to use this new technology. The public can create their own non-commercial content in the public interest using free and low-cost media equipment, training, classes, and development collaboration at the Public VR Lab, or create commercial content within some parameters.

The Lab and its parent non-profit organization, Brookline Interactive Group, are building an inclusive, diverse and globally-networked Community XR field that mirrors BIG’s thirty-five-year local history providing community-based media, training, and access to equipment to the general public.

The Lab and BIG completed its first year of a new job training program for Boston-area youth focused on traditional and emerging media training and soft/hard job skills, and builds on this program by announcing a new college scholarship program focused on youth who are interested in pursuing careers in emerging media as programmers, producers or creative designers.

As part of this program, BIG and the Lab have seeded the scholarship program with donations from Brookline residents, as well as regional VR/AR enthusiasts, professionals in the industry, and former participants of the Lab’s programs, Meetup group, and hackathons.

Find out more on the Public VR Lab website.

With a panel of experts including:

• Julieta Moradei, Structural Engineering and Visualization, Arup
• Brian Kane, Head of Enterprise Product Management, HTC Vive
• Amy Peck, Founder & CEO, EndeavorVR

Key discussion points:

• Find out why identifying a real business problem that XR can help solve should always be your starting point
• Hear how building strong measurement metrics into your projects is crucial to proving success
• Discover how best to coordinate the use of assets across different business lines to demonstrate better ROI
• Should we really be talking about PoC > Pilot? Assess why initially keeping projects relatively small can make sense
• Get insight on where the biggest hurdles to wider deployment come – and how best to navigate them
• Register for the free enterprise XR webinar here. It’s on Wednesday February 20 at 12.00pm EST – and if you can’t join live, register now to receive the recordings later.

“For decades, knowledge transfer via heads-up display systems has increased situational awareness and saved lives in the military. RealWear brings those increases in safety and situational awareness to industry,” said Andy Lowery, Cofounder and CEO of RealWear.

Lowery continued: “This is why the HMT-1 is the preferred wearable choice for hazardous environments like the utility sector. Having the support of your team right there with you when handling dangerous procedures can help mitigate accidents while speeding maintenance procedures. We’re proud to see the HMT-1 help keep the lights on safely for 1.1 billion energy consumers.” [Editor Note: More images available here and video]

State Grid completed a successful comprehensive pilot in Shanghai, one of the largest cities in China. The goal, with 200 RealWear HMT-1 computers deployed in the field, was to provide real-time remote assistance safely to workers for live-line maintenance without the use of workers’ hands. Hands-free computing is critical to workers as insulated gloves cannot operate touch screens and also will occupy hands required for the work.

At a minimum, the work procedure is a three-person operation, requiring two workers in the bucket of the crane, the second worker holding tightly onto an insulated rope tied to the first worker working with his or her gloved hands, the third worker on the ground in a special insulated cabin watching the procedure on a mobile device, and even a fourth worker or more viewing remotely via laptop as though through the eyes of the first worker. The HMT-1 computer has a high-resolution video camera that the worker operates by voice, even in extremely loud environments due to its sophisticated noise-cancelling technology.

RealWear HMT-1 Tested Suitability of Device for High Voltage Use Case

RealWear, through a certified third-party testing agency, previously performed arc-flash testing of the HMT-1 to determine suitability for electrical generation, transmission, construction and maintenance industries. The agency tested the HMT-1 in its lab, following the ASTM F2621-12, the standard practice for determining response characteristics and design integrity of arc-rated finished products in an electric arc exposure. The testing system standard is used in more than 140 countries and involves exposing the HMT-1 to an open air arc at 8 kA, with a varied duration to attain a target energy exposure level (20-25 cal/cm²). That target level is a severe event that an electrical worker could be exposed to during routine work in the field. Arc Test video available here.