Industrial Smart Glasses
Industrial smart glasses are augmented reality (AR) glasses that display digital content on a see-through display just outside your field of vision. These devices typically have a camera for spatial orientation, a display for digital content, and a speaker or microphone for verbal communication.
Workers in the manufacturing industry can use smart glasses to access checklists, video tutorials, and real-time machine data. These tools allow them to resolve issues faster and reduce downtime.
IIoT
Industrial smart glasses can help employees get valuable information and alerts in real time, while performing their work. Providing native voice commands and visual direction in exact context, smart glasses eliminate the need for workers to go back to their computers or tablets and can save them precious time.
For example, manufacturing companies use connected sensors to monitor the health of their machinery and robotics, ensuring maintenance can be performed before problems arise. As a result, they can be more proactive in their monitoring and ensure that production schedules are met.
In addition, they can also track the location of machines and technicians ensuring that service calls are not delayed or missed. This helps improve customer satisfaction and ensures that a company’s products are always available for the market.
These benefits are all possible thanks to the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The IIoT is a set of technologies that connect devices and other equipment in an effort to provide a seamless network of data that can be used to drive new business opportunities. It is a broad term that encompasses numerous industries including oil and gas, energy and power generation, logistics and transportation, healthcare, manufacturing, government and agriculture.
While the IIoT has many potential benefits, it comes with risks that need to be addressed. For instance, security is one of the biggest issues that businesses face when adopting these types of technology. This is because the systems are exposed to cyber attacks, resulting in huge losses and potential damage.
This is why security needs to be built into the system from the beginning, rather than added after the fact. It’s also important to make sure that the data is encrypted in transit.
Fortunately, the industrial connectivity solutions that are available today have made substantial progress over the last several years. They are based on industrial smart glasses standards, open-source platforms and a framework that makes it easier for different industries to communicate with each other.
Another key factor is the transport layer, which moves data from the sensor to a server where it can be processed and converted into insights. This process is typically powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide a more accurate view of the world.
Remote work support / remote presence
Smart glasses make it possible to provide field technicians and service experts with real-time remote assistance, enabling them to get support whenever they need it. This allows companies to keep operations running in the field without a physical presence.
This technology is often applied in maintenance and repair work where it helps workers to perform their tasks more safely and efficiently. Using smart glasses, they can anytime connect with technical experts via an internet connection to receive instructions and get access to digital documents.
The main advantage of industrial smart glasses is that they enable hands-free operation, allowing technicians to perform their tasks in the field with both their hands free while also collaborating in real time with a remote expert. This is particularly important in the maintenance and repairing of industrial equipment.
For example, during plant inspections, field technicians can anytime connect to a remote technical expert who can see what they are seeing on their smart glasses and provide guidance or instructions to solve the problem. This saves the technician’s time and makes their job more efficient as they can follow the advice and instructions on the screen while doing the inspection.
It has been found that frontline technicians can work 37% faster with fewer errors when supported by digital work instructions. This can reduce quality defects, complaints, and claims by ensuring standardised work.
Another advantage is that the smart glasses enable hands-free communication, so technicians can easily share information with other colleagues in the team. This reduces travel costs and increases collaboration.
The glasses can also be used for training and knowledge sharing, reducing training time and helping to increase the productivity of field technicians. This is especially valuable in industries where there is a high level of complexity and low volume production.
The smart glasses can be paired with a mobile device that is specially designed to be intrinsically safe (PPE-compatible). This device can be connected to a host smartphone or tablet to display and capture data. It can be used for different types of remote assistance and collaboration software, integrating content from the cloud and the device’s own camera.
AR software
Whether you’re aiming to improve service communication, connect employees to expert guidance or create operator instructions, augmented reality (AR) software can help. The technology enables companies to deliver digital information in the context of real-world experiences, making them more accessible and empowering users to use the technology more effectively.
AR can be used in a variety of ways and with different types of hardware. However, wearable pieces are particularly useful in industrial settings due to their ergonomics, convenience, and safety benefits.
The hardware component of an AR system includes the sensors that detect the environment and relay this data to the processor and graphic processing unit (GPU). It also involves the camera, which enables live image streaming to display AR elements on a transparent surface in the user’s line of sight.
Aside from cameras, smart glasses can have gyroscopes and sensors that provide motion tracking. These sensors can detect angular velocity, orientation, and other factors to make sure that the VR objects appear in the right place at the right time.
This allows developers to create highly interactive and believable digital content. It can include virtual business cards, advertising posters, and more.
There are several different kinds of AR software, including ARCore and Vuforia Engine. The former, for example, enables developers to create and render high-quality facial renderings. Moreover, it can generate 468-point 3D models for masks and filters.
Lastly, it can be integrated with existing terminals for added functionality and ease of use. This can include barcode scanning, text recognition, image/video recording, and more.
With the technology advancing, there are many opportunities for businesses to leverage AR. It can help them increase sales, optimize operations, improve efficiency, and more.
For manufacturing, it can speed up production and increase compliance with processes and protocols. It can also connect workers to expert guidance and reduce training times.
To achieve these goals, it’s important to choose the right AR software for your specific industry and use case. It also requires a thorough development process and QA, which can be challenging for businesses without dedicated AR teams.
Productivity
In today’s economy, it is important for industrial companies to adopt technology that reduces costs and improves productivity. This can be done by implementing deep tech into their workflows and utilizing tools that provide real-time support.
In the past, completing complex tasks required organizations to send out technical experts to each job site, incurring substantial travel costs and delays. With remote-guidance capabilities available through smart glasses, employees can work directly with the expert they need without having to leave their worksite.
This allows for a fast and efficient response time. It also minimizes downtime and increases availability of production equipment.
Productivity is a key concern for industrial organizations as margins are becoming tighter. As a result, there is a growing demand for next-generation collaboration technologies that allow employees to work together in a safe and secure environment.
Unlike tablets, which require users to shift their visual focus and may even necessitate a hands-on approach, smart glasses put critical information in front of workers with an ambient industrial smart glasses display. This ensures employees are only exposed to information that’s relevant to their job at any given time.
Smart glasses can be used to deliver data to field workers in a variety of ways, including through a hardware-agnostic software platform. This enables organizations to leverage existing systems of record that govern their manufacturing operations, material handling and service, inspection and maintenance processes to deliver data to smart glasses.
This can be done through a wide range of platforms, but it is best to use one that seamlessly integrates with existing enterprise systems. This way, you’ll be able to use the same data that your team is already using and save a lot of time and effort.
Moreover, smart glasses can be used to capture knowledge that experienced employees possess and provide it to new employees who are in the process of learning their job. This will allow less-experienced workers to gain more experience quickly, reducing training costs and increasing productivity rates.
