Assisted Reality (aR) is helping organisations to find better ways of working, communicating, learning and delivering their services. Read this article to find out what is it and the top ways businesses can benefit from this technology.
What is Assisted Reality?
As part of the Industry 4.0 transformation, familiar XR technologies like Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are helping businesses improve productivity and enhance working environments, but what about Assisted Reality?
Unlike Augmented Reality, which can change what the user sees, Assisted Reality adds an extra layer of information to the user’s existing field of vision. It’s been designed to deliver information in the form of text, videos, images and diagrams to heighten the situational awareness of the user.
Assisted Reality devices enable users to view information via a screen, hands-free – providing the information and support they need without interfering with their real world experience. So let’s look at how businesses can benefit from this exciting technology:
How can businesses benefit from Assisted Reality?
Here are 5 key benefits for businesses who use aR devices:
Increased access to expert advice
The need for staff to successfully connect in real-time across the globe poses a logistical problem for any business, especially in the face of trying to reduce travel and associated costs. Assisted Reality devices allow companies to transform the way that they work though, creating opportunities for businesses to successfully grow and develop.
For example, Remote Expert applications deliver a hands-free, two-way video call, enabling first-line and remote workers to benefit from specialist advice. Assisted Reality allows the remote expert to see exactly what the in-situ worker is seeing, helping them to assist and resolve issues. This technology has been adopted by auto servicing and repair, maintenance and inspection, manufacturing and the telemedicine industries.
Enhanced worker safety
Assisted Reality headsets and head-mounted wearables are frequently used in manufacturing, oil and gas, and other demanding industry environments. Data can be accessed hands-free and, critically, without removing PPE, enabling delivery of the right information but with safety at the forefront.
Digital Workflows deliver detailed instructions to first-line and remote workers and are key to many organisations’ digital transformation goals as they move away from paper-based SOPs. When used with Assisted Reality wearables, digital workflows become hands-free as well, enabling workers to focus on the task in front of them – improving both safety and productivity.
Improved productivity
Head-mounted Assisted Reality devices enable technicians to view diagrams and checklists, and consult colleagues if they need help, quickly and easily. All while staying focused on the job at hand. Convenient and timesaving, the rollout of aR devices is resulting in a measurable boost in productivity.
IIoT Visualisation, for example, delivers real-time actionable information to workers about the machines they are using or servicing, enabling predictive maintenance and informed decision making. Using an onboard camera workers can quickly scan barcodes or QR codes for different machines, triggering the relevant information for that machine and displaying it on their Assisted Reality wearable. It’s fast, efficient and a key factor in improving productivity.
Superior access to information
As many Assisted Reality devices are designed to be worn and operated hands-free, there’s no need for carrying additional laptops or documents. Information can be delivered exactly when it’s needed, right into the eyes and ears of the user.
Document Navigator allows workers to easily access any documentation they need, completely hands-free. Voice-activated technology allows rapid access to files that have been uploaded and stored either on the device or a central system. No more inconvenient paperwork or having to remove PPE to access files.
Reduced costs
With many businesses moving to hybrid-working environments, there’s an increased dependency on virtual technology. Most of us are used to meeting colleagues in different locations via a screen. Assisted Reality takes this one step further, with meetings no longer confined to a desk. Workers can view what colleagues are working on via their aR device, eliminating the need for face-to-face meetings and significantly reducing travel costs. As well as reducing cost of travel, Assisted Reality is helping many businesses to reach their carbon footprint goals as well.
Where is Assisted Reality being used?
RealWear, distributed by Westbase.io, is the global leader in Assisted Reality solutions for industry. Their wearables are helping to transform the way that many industries work, and already today a diverse number of Fortune 1000 companies are successfully using aR in their organisations. For example:
Total S.A. is a broad-energy multinational company and one of the seven Big Oil organisations. The RealWear HMT-1Z1 is the only globally certified Intrinsically Safe (IS) Zone 1 aR wearable, and it allowed Total to connect onsite workers to expert colleagues anywhere in the world, enabling faster equipment diagnoses and repairs.
Honeywell International Inc. is a Fortune 100 company and global conglomerate. RealWear allowed Honeywell to perform onsite validations and testing of customers’ newly implemented industrial equipment virtually.
For work tasks that require the right information at the right time, Assisted Reality devices are allowing workers to perform their jobs to the very best of their abilities, improving safety and boosting efficiency.
Westbase.io, your aR distribution partner
As a leading distributor in the UK and EU, Westbase.io offers a broad range of partner services to support our aR portfolio. Find out more about these and our solutions by contacting our team today. You can complete our contact form by following the button below, call +44 (0) 1291 437 567, +31 35 799 2290 or email hello@westbase.io.