<p style="text-align: justify">The recent worldwide situation revealed areas of opportunity and highlighted the importance of the virtual and digital proximity when physical proximity is not possible. Elements like information sharing, fast communication and remote work/learning are gaining importance in recent days. These elements have impacted industries like education, health, and manufacturing, among several other due to the technological advances that make them possible such as the internet, the miniaturization of electronics and the Industry 4.0. First, the information sharing element is a need in every area where interconnected activities are performed and require updated data. The data is not only generated by humans but by machines and devices. Information and data sharing relies on having a fast communication, indispensable in areas where decisions taken can generate a huge impact. Last, remote work has been a key point in areas where is impossible to be on site. Extended reality (including virtual and augmented reality) is a technology that can be complemented by the three elements mentioned before and that can represent the future of work in industrial environments. The present work was carried on a manufacturing context, using augmented reality as a main tool. Augmented reality has gained importance in the last years due to its facility to show information in a visual way and its ability to represent 3D models of physical elements. Applications of this technology focus on display information and interactive tools within specific closed environments. The main goal in the present work is to explore the capabilities of augmented reality used in manufacturing environments through connectivity and digital twins. Novel features implemented include control, interactions, and display of information, not only of machines but any element connected to the industrial internet of things. The use of communication protocols increased due to the application of new technologies and the need to share information. These features can be addressed by the implementation of an infrastructure prepared to communicate with different kind of protocols. A discrete event simulation of the manufacturing cell can be represented by the digital entities which are displayed in augmented reality. This will be performed through the use of specific software to create the DES and connect it with the 3D model to visualize the process and relevant information in augmented reality. This approach aims to enhance manufacturing processes by adding augmented reality and I4.0 technologies. With this implementation, it is possible to stablish a communication environment between machines, robots and any element connected to the network. Also, this concept enables the visualization, control, interaction and obtention of information over processes in real time. Then, any person will be able to see all the process information anywhere and interact within the augmented reality model in both ways (send and receive information/commands) using an augmented reality capable device (lenses, smartphones, head-mounted displays, etc.). Therefore, augmented reality applied in combination with other I4.0 tools into manufacturing processes can lead to have high-level and intelligent processes where any activity is facilitated and able to perform faster with all the information available in place. The application of the proposed concept into modern manufacturing facilities was discussed and reviewed.</p>

Towards an Assistance and Simulation Augmented Reality Environment for the Manufacturing Area.

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IMECE/IMECE2021/volume/85543

ASME 2021 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE2021)

Supporting the need among researchers worldwide for additional online and multimedia content, ASME now offers the ASME Conference Video Collection. This platform will collect and provide long-term access to conference presentation videos, encompassing all technology areas within ASME's technical conference and events program. About 30,000-40,000 engineers across all mechanical engineering and related disciplines participate in ASME conferences each year. This includes authors of approximately 6,000 to 8,000 technical papers published by ASME, the majority of whom also submit video presentations for our virtual conferences. The video collection will be available as an add-on to existing product packages or as a separate subscription.