InnoTeamS - Augmented-Reality for service and maintenance

AR for assembling instructions and AR-based tele-consultation

Rapid developments in the field of "mobile computing" have caused enormous performance enhancement for Pocket PCs, PDAs and smart phones over the past few years. Systems supporting 3D computer graphics are already available today and this development will continue over the next few years. These mobile systems are optimally suitable for Augmented Reality (AR) applications; they will considerably increase the applicability and acceptability of mobile AR applications.

These prerequisites are the motivation for the co-operation between Fraunhofer IGD, Rittal GmbH & Co. and InnoTeamS GmbH. The AR scenarios developed were based on technologies from the EU Project ULTRA (www.ist-ultra.org) and combine the following hardware components:

• A mobile computer system
• A video camera which perceives the surroundings of the user
• A head-mounted display

The biggest technical challenge of AR applications consists of the development of the tracking technology. The tracking technology is responsible for the exact recording of the position and the orientation of the user. Markerless tracking technologies are developed at the Fraunhofer IGD so that AR applications can also be used in industrial environments (for instance with heavy pollution and changeable lighting). The potential of AR for the support of service technicians is illustrated in two scenarios within the co-operation project of Fraunhofer IGD, Rittal Gmbh / Co. and InnoTeamS GmbH:

• AR assembling instructions
• AR-based tele-consultation

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