AR uses IoT sensors
and computer vision to overlay the real world with digital information
COVER STORY
factory operators and engineers streamline their processes.
SICK’S MOVE INTO AR Germany-headquartered technology company SICK recently launched an augmented reality assistant called SARA (the SICK Augmented Reality Assistant) that it expects to be particularly useful for process engineers and manufacturing plant operators. Originally a hardware manufacturer, the company moved into sensors then digitalisation, and now AR, as digital solutions consultant for SICK Charlie Walker explains.
SARA EXPLAINED SARA is the company’s fi rst augmented reality tool. It is a programmable software package that retrieves data from sensors or PLC gateways and presents it to operators in a readable format. The sensor might be a Siemens PLC, a Rockwell PLC or an app detailing weather channel information for example. All factories or warehouses now
contain intelligent sensors systems and analysers that provide raw data to gateways. This data is converted to smart information via the cloud and on premises digital solutions. As Walker explains, “getting data
is no longer an issue, it’s how best to use it that has many engineers and operators thinking.” And SICK’s engineers and operators
thought very hard about how make factory data available to its customers. As such, the SARA engine converts
A
ugmented reality was the stuff of science fi ction for decades – The Terminator had visual
access to swathes of data, as did the cyborgs in Bladerunner 2049. Augmented (AR) tools in the process and manufacturing industry now very much resemble these early sci-fi representations. AR technology relies on IoT sensors
and computer vision to overlay the real world with digital information, thereby enhancing the viewer’s perception of their surroundings. Now that so many elements of a factory
infrastructure contain IoT sensors, AR is fast becoming the next step towards digitalising industry. The World Economic Forum issued
a white paper in 2022 that identifi ed the manufacturer’s relationship with technology as one that had moved on from automation to augmenting the capabilities of the workforce. Similarly Gartner, in its group outlook for 2024, identifi ed the ‘augmented connected workforce’ as one of ten key strategic trends of note. AR is just one element of the
digital revolution (along with robotics, automation and more) that will help
raw data into the standard OASIS IoT MQTT format which Walker describes as “a very manageable protocol” then provides information where it’s needed via tablets and smart phones as long as they have an Android or Apple operating system and camera.
A DEVICE AGNOSTIC TOOL Walker makes it very clear that the data doesn’t need to come from IoT- enabled SICK devices, “although of course it can,” he says. Once installed, an operator will
use their device to view information related to a factory’s IoT connected inventory (pipes, robots, valves or stock) via diagnostic information that will appear as lines, arrows
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