Mixed Reality
Technology enables many things, including entering and immersing oneself in a virtual world. But not for every purpose!
What is Mixed Reality?
Mixed Reality (MR) combines real and virtual environments, allowing users to interact with both simultaneously. In industrial production, MR offers benefits such as real-time machine data visualization, immersive training and maintenance, and the ability to test digital prototypes in the real world. It enhances efficiency, improves training processes, and allows for better design testing by merging physical and digital spaces.
Alphagate analyzes the potential use of Mixed Reality (MR) in machine operation as part of its UX process. If the need for MR arises, it will be integrated into the control concept to enhance usability and efficiency, ensuring the technology aligns with user needs and optimizes the operational experience.
Why Mixed Reality for the mechanical engineering industry?
When: When it comes to onboarding new employees or further training existing teams.
Why: Mixed Reality (MR) can make training more efficient and realistic by simulating virtual machines or production processes. Employees can perform hands-on exercises in a safe, virtual environment before working with real machines. This allows for risk-free learning, ensuring they are better prepared for real-world operations.
Benefits: MR training reduces costs and minimizes the risk of errors during onboarding. It allows for more interactive and flexible learning experiences, where training content can be tailored to specific needs. Employees can gain practical skills in a controlled virtual environment before engaging with real machinery, ensuring greater safety and better preparedness for actual tasks.
When: When machines or systems need to be maintained or repaired.
Why: Mixed Reality (MR) can assist maintenance technicians by providing virtual guides, highlighting machine components, and displaying steps directly on the screen. This enables technicians to access precise, real-time information without needing to take their hands off the tools, improving efficiency and reducing the risk of errors during maintenance or repairs.
Benefits: MR accelerates maintenance processes and reduces downtime by displaying information directly in the technician's line of sight, allowing for more efficient work. This hands-free support enables technicians to follow instructions and diagnose issues faster, improving overall workflow and minimizing machine idle time.
When: When experts cannot be on-site, but guidance or troubleshooting is required.
Why: Mixed Reality (MR) allows remote experts to view and interact with the technician's real-time perspective, overlaying visual cues in the environment. This is especially beneficial for complex issues requiring specialized knowledge, enabling experts to provide step-by-step guidance or troubleshoot from a distance, ensuring efficient problem-solving and reducing downtime.
Benefits: Saves travel time and costs, allowing companies to quickly respond to and resolve issues, regardless of the experts' geographic location.
When: In the development phase of new machines or products.
Why: With MR, designers and engineers can virtually test and modify prototypes within real production environments before creating physical models. This allows them to visualize different machine layouts or processes and make immediate adjustments, improving the design phase and ensuring more efficient development.
Benefits: Mixed Reality (MR) shortens development times, reduces material costs for physical prototypes, and enables more accurate planning and adjustments before costly real-world production changes are made. By testing and modifying prototypes virtually, engineers and designers can optimize designs faster and more cost-effectively.