TechViz - Blog - AR / VR for engineering

Just one month ago, we learnt that the Chinese internet giant ByteDance, owner of the popular Tik Tok app, would acquire Pico, the third largest maker of VR headsets globally. This piece of news has created quite a buzz within the XR community as it sets the stage for head-on competition between Facebook / Oculus and ByteDance / Pico, not to mention Microsoft / Hololens and the much-rumored future launch of an Apple headset. What is the impact for professional users of the foray of Big Tech into XR? Should they rejoice or worry? Are specialized makes doomed to disappear?

This article is the 2021 edition of a regular review the TechViz team carries out to help you navigate the market. There are indeed many types of XR headsets around: tethered, all-in-one, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality… This can sometimes be confusing, especially because every manufacturer uses its own terminology to boast the uniqueness of its technology.

For years, maintenance has been perceived as critical to the productivity performance, but treated as an afterthought during the development phase and as a pain point in the operation phase.

Maintainability had unmet needs that were hard to address with traditional development and production techniques. Yet, with the cost of service being built into the ownership model of an ever-larger number of products, companies are increasingly paying attention to ensure easy and efficient maintainability. The rise of new technologies, such as the Virtual and Augmented Realities (VR /AR), the Internet of Things (IoT) associated with Artificial Intelligence are changing dramatically the way it is addressed.

For machine tool manufacturers, Virtual Reality offers many important opportunities. Indeed, an increasing number of their customers have embraced the Smart Factory concept, in other words the use of advanced CAD systems as well as data-driven manufacturing. With this, the core of the tooling industry has shifted from simple machining technology to more sophisticated and advanced horizontal / vertical machining centers, Computer Numerical Control and multi-tasking part processing, making it an increasingly complex environment that Virtual Reality can help navigate.

“Digital twin” is very trendy expression, but what it covers is sometimes unclear. This popular innovation receives lots of interest from the industry and promises to boost productivity at al levels of the value chain. Why? Because it pushes back the boundaries of the virtual prototypes, allowing engineers to apprehend the product or system inside their environment. This goal can only be achieved through a VR software, in order to visualize the product in the in-service stage, and supplement the 3D model with simulation data.