An augmented reality system for training and assistance to maintenance in the industrial context

Complex Assembly and Maintenance tasks in industrial environments are excellent domains for Augmented Reality (AR) applications. The need for good training and the access to large amounts of documentation are conditions making the use of AR techniques most promising. The basic idea of Augmented Reality is to bring additional information as seamlessly as possible into the view of a user. In this paper an AR system for training and assisting in maintaining equipment in industrial context is presented. The key hardware features of the system are an optical see-through Head Mounted Display, which superimposes the augmentations in the view of the user; the tracking system, which gives the system the poses of user and equipment; and a special stand for the installation of the whole application. Aspects of the usage of an infrared optical tracking system and the calibration procedures needed for good results of the virtual overlays are discussed. Finally a scenario-based concept, which takes users step by step through training or maintenance tasks, is described.