Is Augmented Reality (AR) the future of indus­trial main­ten­ance? In March we were able to present possible appli­ca­tions for AR in service and main­ten­ance at the CeBIT in Hannover. The visi­tors expe­ri­enced an industry-oriented scenario, which was supported by Micro­soft Holo­Lens glasses and VIOS AR. In our AR demons­trator, a compo­nent from aircraft cons­truc­tion was examined for mate­rial defects. The compo­nent could be examined for defects by an ultra­sonic measu­ring device. The proce­dure is called Non-destruc­tive testing (NDT) — the exami­na­tion of a mate­rial for defects without dama­ging it. Usually the tech­ni­cian has to look at the screen of the instru­ment to which the gauge is connected to see the measu­re­ment results. This neces­sity is elimi­nated with the use of the Holo­Lens, allo­wing more effi­cient work. During the demo, possible error areas for exami­na­tion and the measu­re­ment results were displayed on the Holo­Lens in a suitable manner. The tech­ni­cian is thus guided and instructed through the main­ten­ance process. But how did our AR demons­trator go down with the visi­tors? Does AR have the poten­tial to speed up and simplify main­ten­ance processes or do they become unneces­s­a­rily compli­cated? To answer these and other ques­tions, we coll­ected feed­back from our visi­tors during CeBIT. The HoLo­lens offers state-of-the-art tech­no­logy and is only available in Germany since November 2016. Ther­e­fore it was inte­res­ting for us to know how many of the visi­tors had used a Holo­Lens before. Only 18% had already had expe­ri­ence with the glasses, while 82% were trying them for the first time at our stand. The result shows that AR and the Holo­Lens do not yet have as much presence as for example Virtual Reality (VR), which has been presented frequently at trade fairs for several years.

The next ques­tions deal speci­fi­cally with our AR demons­trator. First of all, we wanted to know if our demo is consis­tent and under­stan­dable or not. There were four possible answers: very nega­tive, nega­tive, posi­tive and very posi­tive. Only 3% of the visi­tors answered the ques­tion nega­tively and did not find the design of the demo consis­tent and under­stan­dable. The over­whel­ming majo­rity (97%) got along well and 60% even gave a very posi­tive evalua­tion. Expe­ri­ence with the Holo­Lens obviously did not play a big role in this ques­tion either, because both first-time users and users with expe­ri­ence answered the ques­tion very simi­larly on average.

The next ques­tion dealt with the opera­tion of the Holo­Lens. We wanted to know if the demo is easy to use or not. Again the vast majo­rity of visi­tors (88%) answered the ques­tion posi­tively. But this time there were also very nega­tive answers and 9% nega­tive answers. The reason for this can partly be found in the comm­ents of the visi­tors. The small field of vision of the glasses was criti­cized several times. This is due to the compact design directly on the head. More compu­ting power would lead to a high heat deve­lo­p­ment. However, the first impres­sion fades after a short intro­duc­tion. The percep­tion gets used to the field of vision quite quickly. In addi­tion, there are appli­ca­tions where it can be useful to be able to perceive reality without being influenced. Occa­sio­nally, the gestures used to control the demo didn’t work opti­mally either. This again shows how new the tech­no­logy is and that the gesture control can cause problems, espe­ci­ally when using the Holo­Lens for the first time.

The key ques­tion for us was: Does the use of the Holo­Lens in such a scenario bring an advan­tage, or in other words, does it make it easier to complete the task? This is decisive for whether Augmented Reality has the poten­tial to be used in service and main­ten­ance. And indeed, 100% of the visi­tors were of the opinion that the task could be completed more easily with the Holo­Lens and VIOS AR. More than half (58%) even saw a signi­fi­cant relief. Espe­ci­ally the evalua­tion of the last ques­tion showed us that Augmented Reality has the poten­tial to make digit

Loading...