Future: Augmented Reality’s Benefits in the Enterprise
An article on Futureofbusinessandtech.com provides a neat summary on enterprise Augmented Reality: mainly that AR can boost operational efficiency, reducing time, costs and mistakes, therefore improving effectiveness of employees.
• Organisations adopting AR may expect procedural steps in order to fix machinery, or check the status of industrial equipment. An operator can see such information by pointing a device at an object and viewing the data overlaid on the object; this could be via hand held equipment or worn on the body. Enabling operators to instantly view instructions in this way without having to refer to a manual allows for greater workplace productivity. AR-enabled devices are subsequently expected to speed up tasks and reduce errors.
• Augmented Reality in the workplace allows companies to deliver real-time and up-to-date information to employees. Devices will recognise a physical target object and display appropriate images and text; this may take 2D or 3D form, and can be either stored on the device or carried through a network. AR may also be embedded into existing workflows, with asset and product life-cycle management systems having the ability to incorporate AR information into streamline presentation and delivery of data on products and parts.
• Production and maintenance costs are assured to be reduced with work being done faster and errors being less frequent. Instructions are displayed immediately, banishing the need for operators to search for manuals or call for help. Cognitive load is reduced, consequently so are mistakes, by having the right information in the right place at the right time.