Augmented Reality 4.0: Opportunities and Challenges for Smart FactoriesGülay EKREN, Sinop University Birgit OBERER, Sakarya University Alptekin ERKOLLAR, Sakarya University

Industry 4.0 stands for the fourth industrial revolution and alsoindicates a new digital industrial technology that createsdisruptive changes in the process of industrial production.Industry 4.0 describes a paradigm shift in production technologyby boosting manufacturing productivity, shifting economics,creating big investments, fostering industrial growth and alsorevenue growth, modifying the profile of the workforce, changingsupply chains, business models and business processes andinnovation opportunities significantly.

What is the Potential of Augmented Reality?

According to the estimation of Digi-Capital (2015), AugmentedReality (AR)/Virtual Reality (VR) could hit $150 billion revenue by2020, as $120 billion for AR and $30 billion for VR. AR has themajority of market share and grows quickly.

Introduction

A Typical AR Ecosystem

Reference: https://scramboo.com/augmented-reality-explained

Trigger pop-up information

window as work orders.

AR software recognizes image

content and automatically

overlays images, buttons, texts,

3D animated videos, etc.

Trigger additional guidance,

instructions, or more info.

A typical AR view for a smart factory

Reference image: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ngrain-augmented-reality-player/id712572730?mt=8

Main areas of industrial AR applications

Manufacturing

Logistics

Guidance/Assistance

Assembly

Training

Product creation

Integrating AR into the industrial areas:Opportunities and Challenges

Hardware and Software Requirements of a Typical AR Tool

This study aims to explore the opportunities and challenges of ARfor Industry 4.0 and the smart factory. It provides an informationfor academics and practitioners for helping them in prioritizingtheir steps toward Industry 4.0.

Reference: https://centricdigital.com/blog/digital-trends/augmented-and-virtual-reality-trends-for-2017/

Features Minimum Hardware Requirements

Battery life at minimum 12 hours under typical use

Wireless connectivity the latest low power Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 802.11 standards and the latest GSM cellular device standard

On-board storage at minimum on-board memory storage of 128 GB

Temperature working in ambient temperatures of 0oC to 50oC

Display visible displays in full ambient light conditions

Scanning QR code visibility of 2 by 2 inches from a minimum of 5 feet

Weight a head-mounted device of maximum 125 grams

Image target AR objects shall be scaled and anchored to the physical world without the requirement for an image target.

Additional features 3D view, an accelerometer, a wearable Bluetooth button, eye tracking, GPS, wireless microphone, wired or wireless

loudspeaker, web browser

Functions Minimum Software Requirements

Authoring AR content API links to connect other databases and websites, a user interface, displaying PDF, HTML, MP4, PPT and animated

slide show files

Selecting content storage from localization (on the smart device), cloud-based or secured server (hosted by a company behind firewalls)

Visual tracking not required the use of a specific type or style

Zooming and rotation Zooming in and out of, and rotating 3D content

Sharing Taking a snapshot or recording a video with the smart device display or session to share with others

Remote controlling “phone a friend” and obtaining guidance from a remote expert, sharing the content and vision of what they are

seeing

Annotation the ability for the SME and the worker to annotate within the field, to be notified when “called” by a worker, to

receive video calls from the worker on both desktop and mobile platforms, to send a file to the worker, to share

their desktop with a worker

Creating workflows Creating workflows by guiding step-by-step instructions to a worker including 3D animations

Assigning files Assigning files to a QR Code or to a third party notification (e.g. documents, drawings, videos, 3D animations, etc.)

Logging status Assigning a note or record to a QR code and then to review the note log for the QR Code, to log into the application

for the worker and SME

Connecting to IoT Including third party provided data, and also specific locations by creating a localization tags through the use of QR

codes, near field, RFID, and/or Bluetooth tags data. QR codes can be assigned to assets on the production floor.

1

• When the user sees the real world, digital content adds the user’s view via the camera and display of a handheld devices or a webcam of a PC

2

• Then, a method in AR software recognizes how, when, and where digital content should be applied to this real world view and creates the AR scene

3

• Next, AR software overlays a set of digital content (images, texts, videos etc.) and related interactions (pop-up infowindows, additional guidance, instructions, etc.)

4

• These processes are prepared in advance by content providers through a dedicated content management system and are stored locally in the user’s device or can be delivered on-demand web links

Opportunities

•Reinforcement

•Cost

•User interfaces

•Remote troubleshooting

Challenges

•Security and privacy

•Experience

•Battery life

•Screen size