For better or for worse, augmented reality ("AR") is charging forward in the consumer space—but there’s a place for AR in the industrial world as well. We’re not quite at the point of putting Microsoft HoloLens kits on the heads of roughnecks working out on oil rigs, but when it comes to complex machinery out in remote locations, augmenting what field engineers can see and do can have a tremendous impact on a company’s bottom line.
By way of example, GE is focusing efforts on constructing an extensible "field maintenance manual" intended to be used for industrial equipment. The use case being tested in the labs is with oil and gas; researchers in GE’s Research Center in Brazil are building software that they hope will replace the need to deal with bulky printed maintenance manuals—manuals which have to be kept up to date and which lack any kind of interactivity.
To learn a bit more about augmented reality in industry, Ars spoke with Dr. Camila Nunes, a scientist in charge of software and productivity analytics with GE Brazil. Nunes has an extensive background in oil and gas, having done graduate and postdoctoral work with Petrobras, the largest Brazilian energy corporation (and, indeed, the largest company in the Southern Hemisphere). At GE, Nunes works on bringing to life the interactive field maintenance manual concept.
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