The emergence of new technologies including Industry 4.0, has spawned a new generation of connected, robotic and smart factories. With the digital revolution, the boundaries between the physical and digital world are shrinking, giving life to an interconnected 4.0 factory where employees, machines and products closely interact. Industry 4.0 is a real challenge for French industry.
The last twenty years have witnessed great advances in research and innovation in Virtual Reality (RV) and Augmented Reality (AR) environments.
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality eases collaborative engineering, generating common work environments for design equipment which is located separately. Results of this research on Virtual Reality have mainly been applied in the automotive and aeronautic industry, where currently VR is successfully used for design and assembly review tasks.
Figure – Augmented Reality for design
Indeed, when we think of virtual reality, we often tend to imagine computer games and console games. While these are exciting applications for many, virtual reality takes on a whole new dimension in the industry.
Unlike Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) allows you to add information to your visual field. Superimposed on the real world, these visuals are juxtaposed with the visible environment. Take the example of maintenance operations: pointing equipment with an augmented reality tool, the appropriate procedures will appear in the field of view of the operator. Therefore, it can intervene quickly by following the information displayed.
Industrial applications of Augmented Reality are transforming the way new products are designed, bringing new possibilities. Computer simulations provide a better insight into the behaviour of materials and equipment in the real world.
The direct benefits are an optimisation of handling and operation times, a proper use of materials, and an execution of the right task at the right time. Augmented Reality also avoids certain manual operations of location or identification of elements, which are sometimes time consuming.
Augmented Reality subtly blends reality and virtual information, which makes it possible to explain complex phenomena while relating them to the scale of the real environment.
Augmented reality makes it easy to learn by identifying and manipulating elements. So, learning is “gamified” (transformed into play) but remains in a real environment while permitting solicitation of Kinesthetic (learning by gesture) and visual memory.
References:
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264416619_Industrial_applications_of_virtual_reality_environments_and_augmented_reality
- https://www.esi-group.com/fr/solutions-logicielles/realite-virtuelle/realite-virtuelle-et-applications-industrielles
- https://usitab.com/la-realite-augmentee-simpose-au-coeur-de-lindustrie-4-0/
- https://www.visiativ-industry.fr/realite-augmentee-dans-l-industrie/
- https://www.usinenouvelle.com/editorial/quand-l-usine-passe-a-la-realite-augmentee.N681634
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