Carsten Matysczok’s research while affiliated with Paderborn University and other places

Today, ubiquitous available information is an increasing success factor of industrial enterprises. Mobile Computing allows to manually accessing information, independent from the user’s current location. An additional technology in this context is Wearable Computing. It supports mobile activities by automatically (context-sensitively) gathering and presenting relevant information to the user. Within the wearIT@work project several Wearable Computing applications have been developed in order to demonstrate the overall benefit and maturity of this technology. However, these Wearable Computing applications display information in form of simple text or video. In contrast, Augmented Reality (AR) uses interactive 3D-objects to facilitate the user’s understanding of complex tasks. Combining both technologies in order to exploit their particular capabilities seems promising; not at last, since on a general level differences in their basic technologies can be unveiled hardly. In this paper, we propose a systematic approach to enhance Wearable Computing applications with Augmented Reality functionalities. Thereby, the necessary decision making and development processes are standardized and simplified. The approach has been applied to an existing Wearable Computing application in the field of automotive assembly training. We followed the proposed phases resulting in an economically reasonable concept for a Wearable Augmented Reality system that facilitates the trainee’s understanding of complex assembly tasks.

Nowadays companies operate in a difficult environment: the dynamics of innovations increase and product life cycles become shorter. Furthermore products and the corresponding manufacturing processes get more and more complex. Therefore, companies need new methods for the planning of manufacturing systems. One promising approach in this context is digital factory/virtual production—the modeling and analysis of computer models of the planned factory with the objective to reduce time and costs. For the modeling and analysis various simulation methods and programs have been developed. They are a highly valuable support for planning and visualizing the manufacturing system. But there is one major disadvantage: only experienced and long trained experts are able to operate with these programs. The graphical user interface is very complex and not intuitive to use. This results in an extensive and error-prone modeling of complex simulation models and a time-consuming interpretation of the simulation results.To overcome these weak points, intuitive and understandable man–machine interfaces like augmented and virtual reality can be used. This paper describes the architecture of a system which uses the technologies of augmented and virtual reality to support the planning process of complex manufacturing systems. The proposed system assists the user in modeling, the validation of the simulation model, and the subsequent optimization of the production system. A general application of the VR- and AR-technologies and of the simulation is realized by the development of appropriate linking and integration mechanisms. For the visualization of the arising 3D-data within the VR- and AR-environments, a dedicated 3D-rendering library is used.

The game and entertainment industry plays an enormous role within the development and extensive usage of new technologies. They are one major technology driver concerning the development of powerful graphics hardware, innovative interaction devices and efficient game engines.Actual game developments show the trend to include the player with his whole body - the time of sitting in darkened rooms in front of a computer monitor is outdated. Therefore, special hard-and software components have been developed and new user interfaces have been designed allowing an unprecedented game play.The subsequent consequential step is to play games everywhere (independent from time and place), to include the game player completely in the game (high level of immersion) and to integrate the game seamlessly into reality (blurring the edges of reality and virtuality). Therefore, new and innovative technologies must be used. One of these technology is Augmented Reality.In this paper, we describe the use of Augmented Reality to enable an immersive and realistic game play in real environments. As game we chose bowling. To support the bowling game with AR-technology a dedicated concept has been developed. The level of game realism is enhanced by an integrated real-time kinematics multi-body system simulation. A first prototypical realization, which is used for user testings, confirms the previously identified potentials of AR-technology within game entertainment.

Today prototypes are used in the automobile industry in the design phases of new cars. In many cases, there is no complete prototype of the car. Only some components like the platform can be used. Further components like the car body or the interior design are only available as 3D models in the computer. Here the technology of augmented reality can be used for the completion of these rudimentary prototypes. This work describes the field of applications of AR-technology within the design phases of new cars. The developed applications complete real automobile prototypes by virtual components to show design variants or to support design reviews. Therefore a group of users can select virtual car components out of a virtual component menu and place them on a real car in a cooperative way. The interaction with the AR-scene is done by hand gestures. The evaluation of the applications was done at Volkswagen AG.

Today a high-quality automotive design is one essential factor for the success of a new automobile. The increasing safety, comfort and communication functionalities require coherent visibility and design and handling concepts to avoid irritations of the driver. As a consequence prototypes are used in the automobile industry within the design phases of new cars. This paper describes some examples about how the technology augmented reality can be used to support the automobile development process. In particular we use augmented reality for the completion of rudimentary prototypes. These prototypes consist of only a few real parts. Here the technology of augmented reality can be used for the completion of the prototype. The developed applications complete real automobile prototypes by virtual components to show design variants or to support design reviews. The evaluation of the applications was done at Volkswagen AG.

Kurzfassung Die Simulation von Produktionsabläufen ist heutzutage ein verbreitetes Instrument. Mit ihr können sowohl strategische als auch taktische Entscheidungen abgesichert werden. Ist ein Modell für einen Prozess einmal geschaffen, lassen sich schnell verschiedene Varianten des Prozesses analysieren. Auch Fragen, wie z.B. „Wie viel mehr kann ich durch den Einsatz eines weiteren Flurfördergeräts produzieren?“, sind einfacher zu beantworten. Der Modellierung und Analyse von Materialflüssen kommt somit eine sehr hohe Bedeutung zu. In diesem Zusammenhang werden beispielsweise Programme wie eM-Plant und eM-Workplace der Firma Tecnomatix oder Taylor ED von Enterprise Dynamics eingesetzt, um den oben genannten Planungsprozess zu unterstützen. Nachteil dieser Systeme ist aber das wenig intuitive User-Interface. Es erfordert in der Regel sehr gut geschulte Benutzer, sodass die Erzeugung komplexer Simulationsmodelle mit einem hohen Zeitaufwand verbunden ist. Durch die Nutzung einer innovativen Mensch-Maschine-Schnittstelle, wie der AR-Technologie, können diese Nachteile eliminiert werden.

Nowadays the simulation of production sequences is a common tool in order to safeguard strategic and tactical decisions. Once a model for a process has been developed, various alternatives of this process can be analyzed easily. Therefore, questions like "How much more can I produce when using one more fork lifters?" can be quickly answered. Thus the modeling and analysis of material flows are of particular importance. In this context programs like eM-Plant and eM-Workplace from Tecnomatix or Taylor ED from Enterprise Dynamics are used in order to support the above mentioned planning process. However one drawback of these systems is the little intuitive user interface. Normally well-trained users are required, so that the development of complex simulation models requires a lot of time. By using an innovative user interface, like the AR-technology, those drawbacks can be eliminated.

In the automobile industry virtual prototypes are often used within the product development process. Here computer models of cars which are still under development are generated and analyzed to reduce the time and costs for building and testing real prototypes. In this context the technology of augmented reality offers a new perspective. In this paper we describe a system architecture for a PC-cluster consisting of AR nodes for the image processing and VR nodes for the parallel rendering. The AR nodes analyze the live video coming from two cameras and calculate the tracking data for the VR nodes. According to the tracking data the VR nodes render the 3D objects in parallel. The rendered images are sent back to the AR nodes where they are mixed with the life video. The proposed scalable architecture provides a very high image quality and rendering performance. This allows the superimposing of highly polygonal 3D models at high frame rates and excellent image quality.