When we think about concepts such as “Augmented Reality”, we are often led to consider them as something relatively outside the sphere of daily life.
The main principle of Augmented Reality is rather simple: using the real world as the point of departure and expanding some aspects of it through the addition of one or more overlays, i.e. of new levels of communication containing extra data, necessary for supplying the user with new information. In order to obtain this, we need hardware equipment composed of one or more video cameras, a screen (or special devices that can be worn, such as glasses), a central processing unit (CPU) and a graphic processing unit (GPU).
What is its purpose? To offer an added value to reality, supporting it with better information in terms of not only quantity but also quality. The most desirable development of Augmented Reality is to enrich the real experience of the user only when the user really needs it.
From this we can understand how Augmented Reality hides a potential that is still partially unexpressed in the entertainment world, unlike that which is happening, with less media relevance but with more “tangible” benefits in the industrial sector.
Augmented Reality solutions are able to provide various advantages to industrial production sectors. The numerous possibilities offered by AR, in fact, include that of intervening to prevent the occurrence of hardware faults. The avoidance of a fault allows manufacturing realities to reduce unscheduled machine shutdowns, reducing running and maintenance costs. According to a research carried out by PWC (Digital Factories 2020 Shaping the future of manufacturing) technologies such as predictive maintenance carried out in Augmented Reality will allow 98% of the companies to increase their efficiency.
The spread of Augmented Reality is strictly linked to the affirmation of the 4.0 Industry concept, a paradigm which Picchi has embraced not only with regard to the digitalisation and connection of all machinery present in production factories, but also with regard to the operations sector.
The use of various Augmented Reality solutions, in fact, makes it possible to make the design and development of a new project more efficient, delaying the need to construct a physical prototype. Technologies such as smart glasses, on the other hand, give their best during production and assembly, as well as in remote training and assistance processes.