I work in high volume manufacturing factory. AR has literally become the buzzword cliche that keeps popping up over and over.
I have serious doubts about AR use in things like assembly instructions. Turns out, it is probably ok for training but if you do a task 30 times, your brain develops a memory for how to do it and you don't need to wear AR glasses. For maintenance techs, which is how Google Glass is marketed, it is too much of a hassle to put on the glasses, have a software team write the application and maintain it and then after spending $200k on this boondoggle AR project, what is the ROI? I really don't see it as of any value... maybe there is a positive ROI for airplane maintenance.
I am really not convinced. It looks like a solution in search of a problem. Are there any AR goggles used in manufacturing industry on a mass scale?
I can see why this would be useful than reading a 400 page instructions. This is simulation and it adds value during training.
As I said, there are edge cases where AR/VR makes a lot of sense. HUDs in fighter jets for example are tremendously useful. But my complain is mostly about people wanting to jam some new tech in, take on a lot of tech debt, spend $$$ in a fortune 500 company only to find that there is no real problem to be solved.
Should we spend $120k consulting with a software company to develop an iPad based checklist? Not to mention yearly maintenance of that codebase. Printed paper + pen works just fine in 90% of the cases for 99.99% less cost! You have to ask - how many people are going through this "old school" paper trail? 100? 1000? 10 million? I've seen AR in manufacturing roadmap slides where there are like 13 workers and they are all with 25+ years of experience and the management wants to do their AR boondoggle. Frustrating.
I have serious doubts about AR use in things like assembly instructions. Turns out, it is probably ok for training but if you do a task 30 times, your brain develops a memory for how to do it and you don't need to wear AR glasses. For maintenance techs, which is how Google Glass is marketed, it is too much of a hassle to put on the glasses, have a software team write the application and maintain it and then after spending $200k on this boondoggle AR project, what is the ROI? I really don't see it as of any value... maybe there is a positive ROI for airplane maintenance.
I am really not convinced. It looks like a solution in search of a problem. Are there any AR goggles used in manufacturing industry on a mass scale?