Industry 4.0 is radically reshaping the way companies produce, improve and realize their products. Manufacturers in multiple industries such as aerospace, automotive, medical, energy, technology, and construction are developing and integrating new technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, and networking. analytics, AR/VR, AI and machine learning in their production facilities and throughout their operations.
How does Industry 4.0 benefit businesses?
Dubbed “smart factories,” these facilities are now equipped with sophisticated sensors, embedded software, and AI-powered robotics that collect and analyze data and enable better decision-making. Additionally, additional efficiencies are achieved when inputs from production operations are combined with operational data from ERP, supply chain, customer service, and other business systems to generate further more visibility and insights from previously siloed information.
This digital-intensive approach has resulted in increased automation, better predictive maintenance, self-optimizing process improvements, and improved customer service levels.
All of this resulted in what is now known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution for manufacturers, engineers, design firms, and businesses in vertical markets. It’s all about collecting large amounts of big data from sensors on the factory floor, which provides real-time visibility into production assets. It also allows machines and tools to perform predictive maintenance to minimize equipment downtime and further increase efficiency.
Industry 4.0 requires advanced virtual technology
The use of advanced IoT devices in these smart factories leads to improved productivity and better overall quality. Additionally, AI-based visualization combined with virtual AR/VR technologies has replaced manual inspection procedures in many cases, reducing manufacturing errors, resulting in reduced loss to bottom line. net.
Much of this is made possible with minimal investment. For example, quality control representatives can configure cloud-based mobile devices to observe manufacturing processes from virtually anywhere. By applying machine learning algorithms, manufacturers can detect errors immediately, rather than at later stages when repair work is more expensive.
However, the real benefit comes from the more virtualized immersive AR/VR technologies.
Virtual reality allows an engineer to wear a headset that fully immerses them in a new world or environment, some even mimicking the real world. The user benefits from both a visual and sound experience intended to reproduce a real environment in a manufacturing environment.
Augmented reality is similar in concept, but it also displays digital content in the real world. Imagine a car manufacturer where an engineer holds an iPad in front of a designed car to view virtual specifications of a vehicle’s design layout or various engine specification options.
The right immersive mixed reality experience for Industry 4.0 requires a precise and persistent fusion of the real and virtual worlds. This means rendering complex models and scenes with photorealistic detail, rendered in the correct physical location (relative to the real and virtual worlds) with the correct scale and precise pose. Think of the accuracy and precise nature required to leverage augmented reality/virtual reality to design, build, or repair components for an aircraft engine or advanced surgical device used in medical applications.
This is achieved today by using discrete GPUs from one or more servers and delivering the rendered images wirelessly or remotely to head-mounted displays (HMDs) such as Microsoft HoloLens and Oculus Quest.
The Need for 3D and AI in Immersive Mixed Reality
One of the main requirements of Industry 4.0 mixed reality applications is to precisely superimpose its model or the digital twin on an object. This helps to provide work instructions for assembly and training and to detect manufacturing errors or defects. The user can also follow the object(s) and adjust the rendering as the work progresses.
Enterprise-level manufacturers are leveraging 3D environments and AI technology in their immersive mixed reality design/build projects.
Deep learning-based 3D AI allows users to identify 3D objects of arbitrary shape and size in various orientations with high accuracy in 3D space. This approach is scalable with any arbitrary shape and can be used in enterprise use cases that require overlay rendering of complex 3D models and digital twins with their real-world counterparts.
Working in cloud environments is essential
Industry 4.0 manufacturers need to be careful how they design and deploy these technologies because there is a big difference between the platform they are built on and the platform optimized for use. For example, even though technologies such as AR/VR have been in use for several years, many manufacturers have deployed virtual solutions that rely on an on-premises environment, where all technology data is stored locally.
On-premises AR/VR infrastructures limit the speed and scalability needed for today’s virtual designs, and limit the ability to share knowledge between organizations, which can be critical when designing new products and of the best way to design virtual buildouts.
Today, Industry 4.0 manufacturers are overcoming these limitations by leveraging cloud-based (or remote server-based) AR/VR platforms powered by distributed cloud architecture and 3D vision-based AI. These cloud platforms deliver the performance and scalability desired to drive industry innovation at high speed and scale.
The world of manufacturing is rapidly changing before our eyes. The technologies that power Industry 4.0 seem limitless, with outstanding results already translating into higher customer satisfaction and a stronger bottom line.
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