AIXTRON participates in research project Augmented Reality in technical documentation / Research project 'AdaptAR' for technical manuals 4.0 / Desired faster updates with AR and Digital Twin / Significantly less effort expected - Seite 2

With "AdaptAR" digital new ground is broken in the product documentation. Augmented Reality offers an interactive representation of the real environment, in which, for example, a system in a factory is supplemented by computer-generated information and enriched with auditory and visual information of the processes. Every product in the factory is given a so-called Digital Twin or digital shadow.

Digital uncharted territory in documentation

This virtual image of a system, for example, is to contain all the associated job, product, process and resource data in a local database. The Digital Twin is to be continuously enriched with additional data from connected IT systems while the system is in use. This connection will optimize decision making and knowledge management. For the complete synchronization of the virtual (Digital Twin) and the real world, the data must be continuously collected, stored and processed.

Strong progress on effort

AIXTRON expects that a solution combining AR and Digital Twin will make it easier and more intelligent to create, use and maintain technical manuals than before. The possible visualization also allows a better understanding of complex processes. The AR-supported technology is to be linked with a remote service offer.

An externally called in expert can solve tasks together with the customer. In this way, user-friendliness can be further improved and time and effort significantly reduced. According to the Fraunhofer IPT, savings of up to 70% in the time and effort required to create technical instructions are estimated.

"The continuous updating of the information in the database gives us the opportunity to ensure that the system is always up to date and contains all relevant product data, throughout the entire product life cycle. Our vision is that the customer can then call up instructions for solving a task directly on site using a Smart Device such as a tablet or Smart Glasses and receive guidance from external specialists via a remote service," explains Thomas Leipold from AIXTRON. The company is already taking a first step in this direction.