Industrial Augmented Reality – Who’s Actually Using It?

Never tried it.

I have very limited experience with augmented reality. Maybe tried it once or twice.

My impression: its cool, but would not want to use it for more than 30 min. The weight of the hardware disorientation are the reasons.

My workplace has no need for VR because our products dont even crossover with that sort of technology. However in the seattle, wa area I do have friends and distant contacts that work with VR in a capacity.

One works in meta/facebook as a ee contractor. Majority of engineers in their redmond, wa office are contractors from what my friend told me.

Another is a mechanical engineer in valve at bellevue. Valve is pretty tight-lipped with their operations obviously, but they are really investing into hardware that includes vr.

Its popular here but personally not involved in it.

Yes we sometimes use an ar-enable remote assistance software and it works like this, an on-site technician(me) needs help, the technician will receive a link from a expert to initiate a video call so the expert can see what the technician sees. Then the technician receives a guidance enable with the help of augmented reality and the technician then will see all the instructions and steps to do that one task.

People are so excited about augmented reality, but I don’t get it. Much of what a dealer tech does is repetitive, so once you’ve seen something the first time, you don’t need to see it again.

A well-done 2 minute video from the manufacturer would serve just as well. When I have seen it implemented, it’s amazing that you can give someone a ghost image to match up, and they can’t seem to even hold the phone the right way, or do the work correctly.

You mentioned the word “tool” a couple times, and that’s exactly how I see it. I have tools that I only use once or twice a year, and they’re definitely important when a job comes along where I need them.

I think augmented reality is the same – it isn’t going to solve every problem, but it has a small place here and there.

We dont use AR and there is no use for AR in the automotive world. The only thing that would be helpful is 3d wiring diagrams/part diagrams with locations and routing on a vehicle.

But that would be on a desktop monitor, not in some overpriced pair of glasses or holding our phones, with small screens at the car. AR has literally nothing to offer in the field of automotive repair that wouldn’t be better done by a better diagram on a desktop.

Manufacturers have already started using 3d models to illustrate location. I don’t mean those either.

I mean little 3d models that can be spun around.

I have never used augmented reality in my line of work.

I’ve seen it, and i’d love to see more of it. Mostly at trade shows mainly and on social media.

I think it could be utilised well with gis data and infield asbuilts. I’ve seen people overlaying photos/asbuilt data into head sets so you can “see through” the ground.

It’s an exciting space, I look forward to it becoming more prevalent.

Unfortunately, no I do not have any experience with augmented reality within any of my jobs. However.

When I was still in the usmc, I saw some boeing representatives working with a VR setup to see and learn and understand a type of engine and where everything was on it and how to get to it. So I think it’s possible that VR is being used by engineers to help bridge a gap between engineers and maintenance personnel to better understand how to design engines and other stuff in a way that it’s not as difficult to repair and operate the equipment or engines.

I’ve never seen anyone use AR for a job, at least not in electrical. I know for interior design it’s used, but i’ve never even heard of AR being used for electrical.

Mainly because I don’t see it being useful at all.

I have some experience but not with using it. I design instrumentation and electrical systems for a specific use and we incorporate some augmented reality into the design for the benefit of the end operator and servicing.

Though that’s not my speciality, we have people who specialise in those things, I just help define where they could be useful.

I’ve had no experience at all with any type of augmented reality stuff unfortunately. Basically zero experience with VR stuff too myself.

Other than watching stuff like google glass pop up years ago and basic things like phone aps (pokemon go etc.) Certainly nothing close to that during my time working in defence manufacturing.

I know very little about any of it, but I do find the idea of implementing AR technology into day to day life very interesting.

I think the jump to VR was too much for the tech at the time.

Should have focussed more on AR years ago. VR seems to be better now, but AR has some amazing possibilities of real world applications.

I’d love to see heads up displays inside car windows, like fighter jets. I love those apps (if they’re around, I assume they are) that let you see where/how your furniture could fit inside an empty room, like when your inspecting a rental/empty house, you could quickly check how your pre-scanned furniture would fill the space.

No, I haven’t at all. Skirted around the edges having been involved with digital and hd development in the early 90s.

Been mostly telecom since.

Not at all. I do mechanical design of engineered controls and instrumentation.

No I haven’t used AR in my current position. There is no current need for AR as seeing the full control network through a pair of glasses would be chaotic haha although a basic AR for potential fault finding and system overlay would be great.

Though not used by myself it is something we do offer to customers for hand picking operations. Initially it was just a voice guide to help the worker find a location quicker but now with a visual que it has a significant effect on production times.

As for vr, yes it is something we use to design and build a fully self sustaining logistics system. With VR it allows our engineers to see first hand how the system will operate within the confines of the facility and get maximum space all while constructing and modifying to the clients needs.

Once constructed the client is free to walk the system and give their input. I hope this give you abit of an insight but I’m afraid that is all the information I have.

As technology advances the equipment will become cheaper to make and become more consumer friendly. At the moment its really only the largest of corporations that have integrated it like pharmaceuticals and such.

I enjoy sharing the knowledge i’ve acquired in the trades i’ve worked in first hand! However, sadly to say, augmented reality doesn’t pertain to my field of expertise, actually. Industrial automation, more so, refers to digital-to-mechanical operations.

One large example you may be familiar with is a cnc “machine”. The controllers, drives, motors, auxiliary, etc.

All make up different types of user-controlled automation; and it just so happens to be widely used in industrial work. That can refer to processing plants, warehouse facilities, and even mail services operate industrial automation techniques for processing mail! As to why I don’t, or rather can’t, use augmented reality in my particular line of work is because it’s physically hands-on.

There’s nothing to really be virtual with in this practice, when it comes to fixing real-world problems on real-world devices. It takes a specific level of consciousness to be able to diagnose and repair these units – that no machine would be cable of doing, just because they have no way of connecting and monitoring equipment from as early as the 1960’s (or sometimes earlier!).

For those who could use augmented reality, however, it would be interesting to see contractors utilizing it in the field! I’ve always had over a decade of framing houses with my step father, so i’ve also built from the foundation to the roof. But being able to kind of see an augmented house on the plot you’re building, before it’s done, would be extremely cool to experience – and I imagine that it could actually benefit architects, being able to see the possibilities before they’re built.

Although, admittedly, this is partially already done in modeling software – adding the actual scene to the visualization, i’d imagine, could help.

Experience with AR at work? No. But I know how it works and would love to implement AR into our work.

Technician need to locate problems from the electronics/electrical to mechanical parts. Would save our time and a lot of advantages not just for us but our industry.

I actually don’t have any experience with it, professionally nor personally. I do find AR to be a fascinating thing, however.

When googleglass was a thing, I believed that it would have been revolutionary.

Unfortunately the space needed for all that processing is just too bulky, and trying to save space by transmitting it to a phone to process on it, then to send it back up to display seems like it free up space no longer needed to process, but just fills it back up with transmitters instead.

Plus, the horrors of what that would do for battery life hahaha.

I love the idea of VR and in my various experiments have built cool 3d interfaces that were soundly rejected. Typical users of scada are in a fantastically stodgy industry.

Change is bad might as well be their company mottos. One of the biggest pipeline companies in the world uses a 35 year old scada system.

One operations manager told me not to bother with touchscreen interfaces because operators hate lifting their arms. Every major scada upgrade that I have seen was born of extreme necessity.

One vax/vms based system was upgraded due to the hardware no longer having backups; otherwise they would have happily left it running for years more. Other systems were upgraded because the capacity of the old system could not accommodate newly purchased assets needing control.

Support companies dropping support sometimes happens, and drives an upgrade. Regulatory requirements might drive an upgrade but in most industries they can usually add procedures to compensate for the system being crap.

For example terrible encryption might be compensated for by using better networking gear that lets the crap data go through an encrypted network. A requirement to properly encrypt a database might be done by moving the old crap system which can’t encrypt squat onto a vm which was set to run on an encrypted drive.

Even something as basic as using vms is resisted except for where it buys more life for the old crap. Solaris can run on a vm on new hardware as few modern servers will run solaris anymore.

Often with scada systems you will see all these schematic type screens. Often tucked away in some corner is a screen the operators really look at.

It will have a list of a few critical numbers such as a pressure that is the number they chase. This might be one sensor in 500.

The rest are meaningless to them most of the time. Alarms are also coming by the truckload and usually silenced/ignored in some form.

The only time the wholistic view comes into play is when something goes wrong. Then they look at things like schematics to see what is happening.

My company builds tools which can save 100s of millions usd per year for many companies. They don’t want them.

They would prefer things in their world view. They would love to save money paying rent.

They would love to finance new operations at a lower interest rate. They would love to reduce headcount.

But tell them they can run their equipment slightly differently resulting in more output at less cost and they are confused. Isn’t their system running at top efficiency? But we have a report from our engineers saying it is.

Where VR might be a sell is for existing scada vendors to fool the non operators into buying it. For example one lrt control room I was in had giant monitors running more than halfway around the room with a mix of train positions and security videos.

It was very impressive. Nobody used it or wanted it.

The system was done up in artist renderings of the control room by the winning company where they convinced city staff this was what a control room of the future looked like. It looked good on tv and for tours.

As an example of the sort of problem doing a truly new scada is to watch an existing deployment do a minor upgrade. Everyone holds their breath, crosses their fingers and rubs their lucky charm; hoping they won’t be writing the report as to why the whole infrastructure shutdown that day.

Now convince them to multiply that stress by 1 million. Then add the misery of how they view what is genuinely better as worse.

On this last I could go on for hours more.

I personally haven’t had a need for AR but my work hasn’t leant itself to that level of sophistication. Most of the challenges that, in my mind, AR solves involve immediate information presentation the likes of which my technicians simply don’t benefit from.

My guys are fabricating consumer and commercial goods from metal, not building the space shuttle or dealing with chemicals in a tank. I’m sure a savvy salesman could justify several use cases at my plant but the capital expenditure outweighs the benefit at this time.

We don’t use augmented reality currently, but I could see how it would be useful in manufacturing assisting in assembly.

If a company comes up with a solution for AR cad it would be a game changer for quality and manufacturing through put.

Auto updates for new revisions with alerts, now that would be a dream.

Ar is not present in most of the manufacturing environments. The closest thing to AR I ever use at work is a thermal imaging camera to see hotspots, and even then a thermal gun is easier for anything other than troubleshooting as I usually know what I’m looking for.

No I don’t. Before I went on my own as a independent contractor my old company was just scratching the surface with augmented reality.

It was a hard hat with a built in eye piece that would help indicate what you were looking at, in my case it was at a dairy filling plant. The little time I played around with it, I could see it being a big benefit for maintenance and construction workers, also engineers.

I’ve never been exposed to augmented reality in the work place, no.

Augmented reality was no part of the industry I worked in. We dealt with manufacturing and repair/reman of industrial gantry crane machines, rail jack machines, and assembling hydraulic manifolds, lines, and cylinders.

I have never used augmented reality in day to day operations for a number of reasons, but namely because the technology, while beneficial in many ways, is still in its infancy and therefore will not easily be embraced by companies who are still using windows xp for human interfaces and obsolete plc’s to power their aging machinery. The money is being invested poorly because the primary focus is to maintain existing equipment instead of innovate and implement new technologies.

In a nutshell, innovation is seen as a risky investment when a less efficient investment is a safer bet.

I’ve never used augmented reality but it has got me wondering. We did have tablets we carried around.

Tablets insured less paper usage and a quick access to engineer drawings, email and scanning off time towards work orders. I’ve worked a lot with cad models in solidworks and built very large slip rings.

Being able to go into solidworks and move the model around, subtract items and cut the model up how ever I liked was much more helpful than the guess work that would come from just looking at the engineer drawing. Augmented reality seems like it would be a more efficient aspect of that.

Being able to walk around, compare and get a good visual. I collaborated with engineers often on design and best approach at dealing with a problem.

When answering questions I would frequently construct and deconstruct things in my mind. I believe being able to give a visual with augmented reality, could provide a better understanding of ideas but then again, we had cad models which pretty much did the same thing.

Though I never worked with augmented reality, there is a app I enjoy, skyview. It allows you to view the stars, planets and constellations and provides interesting information with the use of the camera on your phone.

I imagine in a industrial setting it would provide a ergonomic solution to a more efficient productivity.

I personally have not worked with an augmented reality device. I interviewed with a company that used them as an interface between techician and engineer and I thought their configuration was very promising.

In my current line of work I dont think that an AR device could survive the environment, but im definitely positive about the benefits it could provide to technical and mechanical labor. I would purchase one for my own use if it were affordable, z87+ rated, and not constricted by software that was too complex, just being able to overlay drawings or video during work would be very useful.

The reason I say the AR would likely not survive is that there is often a heavy atmosphere of rock dust and it seeps into everything. It also gets extremely hot even without the dust.

In the military I worked on a submarine and I think an AR would have been amazing for that but it probably wouldnt be allowed for security reasons.

No, we don’t deal with augmented reality.

Nope, none. None of my customers have ever mentioned it.

I do work primarily in steel mills and foundries.

Not to my knowledge. We did have computer based simulators that acted like an fps.

Been out for awhile.

I’ve seen some applications of it. Used to be an operations/maintenance engineer in a prior role with “a major us oil refiner and they had a technology that essentially made like a google street view 360 degree camera walk through of several refining units.

Not really sure how useful that ended up being. I’ve used 3d laser scans in multiple applications as an engineer for measurements.

Had some tanks get dented in a big hurricane and took laser measurements of the dents to determine if they were safe to operate. I’ve also used laser measurements for design work on bigger projects.

I’ve seen small scale implementation of what I think could be very useful augmented reality where qr codes are put on pumps/motors/tanks to link you to maintenance history/documentation and equipment specs. I think that could be particularly useful for maintenance techs working on machinery.

Some bigger companies have really well implemented cmms systems and could easily implement this kind of augmented reality. Most smaller companies have haphazardly implemented cmms systems and would need to do a lot of work to get there.

I’m at one of those smaller companies now and recently tried to compile a master asset list of one of my facilities, but found huge discrepancies in our cmms and upon further investigation discovered that there’s really no functional location structure or way to track maintenance history because a system was never really implemented.

Nope that sh&%’s stupid.

No we do not have experience with augmented reality at this stage. The tech we used is heavily safety based and needs to be as close to the real world as possible.

Mayby one day we will be able to use the technology to simulate faults or trains passing.

The real opportunity in the field of industrial maintenance would be in voice capture, semantic segmentation and search. Basically you have a bunch of mechanics talking about what they did to a machine, what adjustments they made and so forth.

Most of these guys are pretty smart but not that literate. If you want them to take notes you are in for a rough time.

Then six months later you can search the record. I don’t know if like an openai application would work here.

The jargon used is so informal that maybe even gpt3 would be rendered useless. No engineer would refer to a machine’s “ass end” but every mechanic would.

Reality is already augmented pretty well in the form of smartphones. Cluttering up the visual field with extraneous information is probably going to hurt more than help.

I get what you’re saying, like it would be awesome to have the 3d cad drawing exploded in front of you and then snapped to a point cloud of the machine in front of you. Like an x-ray via digital twin.

The idea that machine builders would provide this is a little absurd. As it stands I would settle for a decent pdf.

We just got one machine and they forgot the electrical schematic and parts list.

We did not use any ar, nor was any being implemented at any fabs I knew of in the world. The resurgence of VR was in its infancy at the time (2010-2015).

That being said, due to my VR combat flight sim hobby, I look forward to the day where AR is advanced enough to have a realworld cockpit with AR views (apparently the norwegian airforce has this setup).

I’m still in trade school. So I don’t have any experience using augmented reality, and my school doesn’t touch into that area, we’re mostly learning hydraulics, piping, cnc, plc and your three types of wiring residential, commercial, and industrial.

I work in a warehouse that provides fulfillment for customer’s online orders also known as an efc (electronic fulfillment center). My role is as a maintenance technician.

I make sure the automated systems are running smoothly, repair any breakdowns or jams, and perform scheduled maintenance on all systems.The only time I have used AR in my work was when I didn’t have a tape measure handy and needed an length estimate over a short distance.

It’s not accurate, and it’s a pain to maneuver, but when you are up 65ft in a boom lift and don’t want to come down it will do. I used my iphone 11 pro and the airmeasure app.

If we could get more accurate and more different types of AR I could see it being useful in the future for taking measurements from the floor, and looking at system operation in realtime.

I also want to highlight that the measurement thing would be helpful, but being able to look at the system through a phone or tablet using AR and see what areas are faulting, or even just floating identifiers for components would be much more useful in the future.

Finding the issue and identifying what exact area needs attention would be a very welcome addition to our arsenal. Right now our system allows us to use a browser based map of the conveyors and shuttle system, but it isn’t very detailed and it looks like a bunch of spaghetti on top of itself.

It takes quite a few months of working with it to get familiar with what is what, and even then after 3 years in here, I get confused.

No I have not used augmented reality in my profession. Skilled tradespeople do this in their head.

A carpenter can see the final product as he constructs just as a technician can see the inner workings of a machine as he diagnoses a problem. If you can’t do this, you may not be a good fit for the trades.

Having said that. I have seen google glass used to view technical information during assembly operations in an equipment manufacturers assembly plant.

This type of use makes a lot of sense. If I had wearable tech to support my activities I would want something that can give me what I can’t do in my head such as display temperatures, zoom and magnification in addition to being able to view technical information.

I hope I have understood the question and subject matter and have given a useful opinion.

Ive heard of it but dont know anything about it.

I don’t have any experience with it in my experience of running a water treatment plant and maintaining the electrical control systems/components. I don’t think I know anyone in the industrial control industry that has used it either.

I do know what’s about though, maybe some day I’ll get a chance to utilize it. Seems like it would be most useful as a training tool.

I have not worked with augmented reality. The industries I primarily work in don’t utilize it.