"Augmented Reality" For the Assembly Line

silkySlim writes "EETimes has a short article about a combination data goggles and earpiece device to replace big manuals and reduce training time for assembly line workers. 'In one possible scenario, a technician with data goggles bends over the engine block of a luxury car and removes the covering. He is receiving instructions through an ear piece telling him what to do next while his data goggles mark the screws and bolts on which he must next place his tool.' Apparently, it's already in use by several automotive companies. There's some additional papers also available."

Comments

Not suitable for prolonged use

[GillBates0]

Solutions are still far from perfect. The quality of data goggles and displays drew general criticism. "The data goggles aren't suitable for using for a whole day," said Lukasser of EADS. Bernd Lühr of Airbus Germany agreed. "The hardware problems in the goggles and trackers still need to be solved".

I tried one of the AR displays a few months back. The main reason why I thought that particular model was unsuitable for prolonged use, was that the text and other information appeared at a different depth from the object I was observing. The AR information was displayed at a fixed "infinite" depth.This made it impossible to focus on both the text and object at the same time, requiring me to adjust my eye focus everytime I wanted to read something. This constant refocussing caused a good amount of discomfort.

Adjusting the depth of the text to make sure it is exactly superimposed on the object that is being viewed is quite challenging, especially when the viewer moves his line of sight frequently.

An alternate design that some people find easier to adjust to uses a display mounted on a single eye (with the RW showing up in a dimmed background). I haven't tried these, but supposedly they are easier to get used to.