Hands-free and alert computing is advancing across a variety of industries, thanks to the emergence of extended reality (XR), the general technology category that includes augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality. (MR). Companies are adopting XR for a variety of business purposes, from aircraft repair and manufacturing optimization to employee training and remote support for field service personnel.

With AR, employees access information through smartphones, tablets, and heads-up displays, with software that overlays digital images and text on top of physical objects in the real world. With VR, apps running on headsets immerse users in a digital environment. MR combines elements of AR and VR.

Business adoption of AR/VR technology increased in 2020, but when the coronavirus hit, analyst research firm IDC lowered its worldwide spending estimates for the category to $10.7 billion from $18.8 billion, since the companies prioritized other investments to guarantee the continuity of the business. Moving forward, however, remote work requirements, contactless business processes, and increased meeting venues suggest an increase in expected demand for AR/VR technology, says IDC analyst Marcus Torchia.

Given fears of contracting COVID-19 through superficial contact, several transactions are ripe for digitization, says Chris Stegner, founder and CEO of Very Big Things, a digital design consultancy. For example, banks can use software to approximate the physical design and functions of their ATMs on smartphones to withdraw money or perform other transactions. “If you’re at an ATM, you shouldn’t have to swipe a card,” Stegner says, adding that his firm is exploring such virtual solutions.

For now, anecdotal evidence suggests more companies are running AR/VR projects and pilots at the factory level.

AR to collaborate on tire design

In late 2019, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. began testing a RealWear AR headset to help virtualize certain operations at industrial manufacturing facilities, from Akron, Ohio, to Luxembourg, says John Wright, IT senior director of technology. global tire manufacturer. whose team supports more than 1,500 Goodyear engineers.

The RealWear display, which fits neatly under a helmet and can be controlled via voice commands, helps Goodyear collaborate with suppliers and customers to design, build and test its tires on various automotive machines, an effort whose importance grew when COVID-19 occurred. limited travel around the world earlier this year.

Thanks to RealWear’s integration with Microsoft Teams, Goodyear production engineers collaborated with designers in Germany to test how big the tires would be on the mining machines, Wright says. In addition, engineers who previously could be called to production floors in the early hours of the morning to work on production line issues can now provide remote support to personnel donning RealWear onsite through on-site chat sessions. teams.

“The fact that it’s hands-free and built on an industrial scale is ideal for us,” Wright tells CIO.com. With more use cases coming to light, the company has scaled its original pilot use of six headphones to more than 40, Wright says.

AR on the chip foundry floor

GlobalFoundries is using AR to record factory work for training purposes, part of the company’s approach to finding new “innovation levers,” says DP Prakash, the chipmaker’s global head of innovation. The limitations of Moore’s Law are forcing chipmakers like GlobalFoundries to shift their focus from making circuits smaller to experimenting with new designs, Prakash says.

GlobalFoundries is using RealWear head-up displays and PTC AR software to help record factory work, including chiller maintenance in real time, and to store, edit, and replay the information with contextual overlays to empower workers interns or other novices. Prakash says. The AR approach allows GlobalFoundries to maintain standard operating procedures 10 times faster than previous efforts with a video camera. Overall, GlobalFoundries has cut training time by up to 50 percent using AR, alleviating a pain point for the business. “The efficiency factor makes this a game changer,” says Prakash.

The AR solution also enables GlobalFoundries engineers working from any of the 10 floors of the company’s factory to stream their work via live video to a remote engineer, who can provide guidance to help the worker complete repairs. and other tasks. Such interactions are recorded, which helps the company preserve institutional knowledge.

AR finds any clue

The airline Airbus is testing Lenovo’s ThinkReality X6 glasses to help reduce errors and repair time in aircraft maintenance, says Michael Leone, who leads Lenovo’s AR/VR business initiatives. In one scenario, an Airbus technician puts on the glasses and receives instructions from an expert who guides the engineer’s work remotely via live streaming. The engineer could also access and share CAD drawings with the remote expert.

Other use cases include allowing pilots to view checklists and other documents before and during flights. Such cases of remote assistance will also become common in healthcare and manufacturing, Leone says.

Leone also envisions remote knowledge workers accessing corporate cloud services from the X6 glasses without lugging around laptops. “We’re engaging in a different way,” Leone says of Lenovo’s go-to-market approach, which currently includes 10 proof-of-concepts with companies.

XR for training in social services

While the ability to work hands-free from remote locations is a key driver for XR in industrial sectors, healthcare and social services are using XR to empower employees, says Rori DuBoff, general manager of strategy and innovation. from Accenture Interactive.

For example, Accenture is allowing inexperienced social workers to receive training simulations via VR headsets. The content uses immersive storytelling and interactive voice-based scenarios to help social workers hone their personal and decision-making skills. The goal, DuBoff says, is to get new staff up to speed with real-world scenarios as quickly as possible. And it beats recruiting consultancies to help train new hires.

“These use cases will continue to grow because the cost savings are tremendous,” says DuBoff. “These companies are taking incremental steps to move away from inefficient work.”

DuBoff expects XR use cases to proliferate as 5G emerges to eliminate the latency issues that frustrate XR today.

The potential of XR is one of the main reasons Accenture made a strategic investment in Upskill, a software maker that helps Boeing, General Electric and other companies implement AR in business environments.

Strategic recommendations

The consensus among experts is that XR will mature as technologies improve and become available at lower cost, and as companies find ways to scale solutions to increase business value. While AR in particular will gain ground among frontline workers in industrial settings through 2021, market saturation is still years away, according to Gartner.

Organizations should prioritize the development of product features, particularly in smartphones, that address high-value opportunities by identifying areas where AR experiences can improve efficiency for complex tasks, or with tasks that have high costs associated with waste and downtime, according to Gartner analyst Tuong Huy. Nguyen.

Nguyen adds that companies should also create case studies to show how their solutions demonstrate differentiation by impacting efficiency, effectiveness, and cost reduction.