Go green with AT #4 Augmented and Virtual Reality
What is Augmented and Virtual Reality?
Augmented and virtual reality is one of the 16 Advanced Technologies appointed by The European project Advanced Technology for Industry (ATI) with the definition:
“Augmented reality devices overlay digital information or objects with a person’s current view of reality. As such, the user is able to see his or her surroundings while also seeing the AR content. Virtual reality devices place end users into a completely new reality, obscuring the view of their existing reality. Augmented reality is enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information across multiple sensory, visual or auditory modalities. The user experience is closely interwoven with the physical world and is perceived as an immersive aspect of the real environment.”
Augmented reality and virtual reality in manufacturing
Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) provides a unique access to information through partial or complete altered realities. TheManufacturer.com points to AR as not only a new way of accessing operational information but also making the information easier to process: “AR makes that digital assistance interactive, more practical to absorb, understand and act upon, because it relies on our innate mental capacity to process a huge variety of information from the physical world.”
In an article on how virtual reality is changing manufacturing, Business.com highlights AR and VR as ways to: “improve worker safety, speed new products to market, reduce training costs, and increase productivity. Many see virtual technology as important to staying competitive in the manufacturing marketplace.”
Examples of doing so includes factory floor planning where AR and VR is used to create virtual versions of the factory to ensure quality of the design, as well as testing and trials of workflow before implementing it in the real world.
Another example is car manufacturers using VR to design, prototype and test models in real world scenarios saving production time and cost while ensuring the quality of the product.
Greener manufacturing with AR and VR
The possibilities provided in manufacturing through AR and VR offers not only more efficient production processes but also more sustainable ones. Medium.com highlights these exact features as a mean to lower strain on the earth’s resources and minimising waste by decreasing production errors and reiterations – particularly when it comes to skipping the production of prototypes and avoiding production errors.
Thearea.org have spotted the same benefits of AR and VR towards more sustainable manufacturing processes and adds the use of AR and VR to visualise and plan production. In this way, one manufacturer can simplify, optimise and help troubleshoot throughout production – again saving energy and resources in the manufacturing process.
