How AR technologies can actively contribute to the success of the fourth industrial revolution

The development of the manufacture industry is leading to the creation of completely automated factories, representing the beginning of what is now called the “fourth global industrial revolution”.

History, in fact, has seen three different industrial revolutions passing by: from the mechanization through the use of water and steam, to the mass production supported by the electricity advent, until the third revolution, that has introduced computer technology and automated machineries in manufacturing processes.

In this scenario, Industry 4.0 will increase the importance of these machineries and optimize the computerization that has started with the 3rd industrial revolution.

All this considered, it is not surprising that augmented reality is providing a great support for this global economic transformation.

What is Industry 4.0?

The term “industry 4.0” refers to a production and business management model, that is centered on the use of machineries connected to the web.

The main purpose of this mechanism is to analyse data coming from the network, making the production cycle more efficient.

It all comes down to the idea of a perfect interconnection between machineries, instruments and operators. Robots will work side-by-side with technicians, learning and processing data in order to set a more efficient production flow.

Factories and warehouses will also be set into a system of collaborative infrastructures, that will ultimately allow a better interconnection between the supplier and the final customer.

Moreover, this new industrial model will be self-supported through the use of smart energy technologies.

In fact, future factories will be managed without any waste, using sustainable energy sources and implementing an improved energy management system.

As a result of the application of smart machineries that keep getting smarter as they get access to more data, factories will become more efficient and less wasteful, improving the global economy system.

How augmented reality interact with this new industrial model

In this setting, AR technology is 100% coherent with the principles of the fourth industrial revolution, starting from the accessibility of data, on which are based both AR devices and also the model of Industry 4.0.

Augmented reality has, in fact, the potential to collaborate to the success of “smart factories”, revolutionising the manufactural process.

More in details, AR may have a key role in a pre-production stage, allowing companies to reduce the development time of a new product and the related cost

Even from a logistic point of view, AR based technologies (such as smart glasses or wearable AR tools), guarantee a guided interaction between big data and the real environment, making it possible to optimize quality checks, reducing human errors and increasing operator’s productivity.

Augmented reality technologies are characterized by two key features:

• are hand-free
• allow a constant connection between employees and a remote support

In this way, technicians have their hands free to work, while the system suggests them step-by-step the procedures to be followed and, in case of need, they can always ask for assistance to the remote support.

Read also: Why AR wearable technologies can make the difference in 2021

These are, in fact, some of the incredible benefits of our unique AR device, Kiber 3.

Companies believe that augmented reality may be the right choice to improve their productivity, while going through the deep transformation of the manufactural industry.

In conclusion

Nobody knows what the future holds us. But we can be sure of one thing: the industrial economy will always be linked to the scientific and technological development.

As the past teaches us, Industry 4.0 is nothing but the confirmation of the deep relation between the scientific world and the industrial production.

Augmented reality is the technology on which global industry is betting on right now, believing that it will be able to lead us into the future of manufacture.