Empower Front-line Workers with Hands-free AR Procedures

PTC is expanding its Augmented Reality (AR) solutions with another powerful Vuforia product – Vuforia Expert Capture. The technology allows an expert or skilled worker to ‘capture’, or record, their manual procedures on the manufacturing floor to then deliver the recorded step-by-step instructions to new hires or other employees to perform that same procedure. 

Vuforia Expert Capture empowers front-line workers with the confidence to do their jobs with increased productivity and improved efficiency with easily viewable procedures by using a hands-free, AR-enabled, wearable headset, such as the Microsoft Hololens or RealWear HMT-1. 

How does Vuforia Expert Capture work?

Vuforia Expert Capture uses three different AR-enabled technologies to create location-specific AR guidance including Vuforia Capture, Vuforia Editor, and Vuforia View.

Vuforia Capture: An expert uses the Hololens or RealWear to record the procedure with the Vuforia Capture software downloaded into the wearable device. 

Vuforia Editor: A content creator uses Vuforia Editor, an editing software, to edit, modify, or add to the captured procedure and then publishes it.

Vuforia View: A new hire or other employee uses a Hololens, RealWear, mobile phone, or tablet device with the downloaded Vuforia View software to then perform the captured procedure.

The skilled worker, or subject-matter-expert (SME), can use voice or gesture-controlled commands to take photos or add bookmarks during the recorded procedure. The bookmarks would then allow the editor to focus in on highlighted parts of the procedure and add additional content such as a still image, a 3D CAD file, or links to other resources available through the organization’s existing content.

Who benefits from using captured AR experiences?

Your organization can benefit the most in manufacturing, service, and training uses cases where:

The knowledge from SMEs can be captured instantly without causing too much disruption from daily work activities while reducing the need for rigorous training for other workers.

PTC’s customer, Global Foundries, a global full-service semiconductor manufacturing company, has found success with the implementation of using Vuforia Expert Capture:

Michael Campbell, EVP of AR products at PTC, says in a press release, “We are excited to offer industrial enterprises a new way to use AR to leverage the tribal knowledge of SMEs and help alleviate the skills gap crisis threatening today’s industrial enterprise. Vuforia Expert Capture is a high-value, out-of-the-box solution that accelerates AR content creation that enables manufacturers to not only improve the accuracy and speed at which workers successfully complete new or unfamiliar tasks, but also to reduce training costs and time to productivity.”

Campbell, in a recent webcast that introduced the new product release, says that PTC is working on allowing users to use Vuforia Chalk, Vuforia Studio, and Vuforia Expert Capture in sync with one another. This would allow content creators to embed 3D CAD files into the procedures while editing captured processes in Vuforia Editor or it would allow employees new to procedures to essentially ‘dial-in’ to a remote expert with Vuforia Chalk to then ‘talk’ him through the procedure while seeing assisted chalk overlays onto real-world equipment.

You can start implementing AR in your organization with Vuforia Expert Capture to rapidly capture high-value procedures from the expert’s point-of-view. Contact us to talk to an AR expert: you can request more information or ask for a live demo with your team on-site.

Check out our Augmented Reality Gallery for more real-world use cases for Industrial AR.