Wolfgang Wohlgemuth

ARVIKA: augmented reality for development, production and service

The project ARVIKA, sponsored by the BMBF (ministry of education and research) and supervised by the DLR (German Aerospace Center), uses augmented reality (AR) technologies to research and create a user-oriented and system-driven support of operation procedures. It focuses on the development, production, and service of complex technical products and systems. This article aims to give an survey of the project ARVIKA. The realisation of the particular AR-applications results from the partners specified at the end of this article.

Exploiting multiple knowledge models in the development of real-time diagnostic expert systems for highly automated manufacturing plants

This paper describes the results of the DIREK Project (knowledge-based, real-time diagnosis and repair for a robotized handling and storage system), aimed at developing a real-time diagnosis system for a highly automated SNIA fibre spinning plant. The project effectively implemented a multi-model approach to diagnosis in manufacturing environments, exploiting structural, functional, behavioural and heuristic models. Among other things, particular emphasis has been placed on the plant behavioural model, which can be derived from the software code running on the PLCs which control an automated manufacturing facility. The existing diagnostic system is now operational at an SNIA plant in Italy, fully integrated with the factory environment and able to support different levels of users through distributed man-machine interfaces. The paper provides an insight into the theoretical background of the project and describes the adopted methodology, with special attention given to the knowledge acquisition problems arising in the development of the various knowledge models included in the diagnostic system. Furthermore, the architecture and functionalities of the existing system are described, along with the achieved benefits and further exploitation potential. Both IT and user perspectives are considered in the paper.

Das Verbundprojekt AVILUS

Ziel des BMBF-geforderten Projekts AVILUS war die anwendungs- und nutzerorientierte Forschung, Entwicklung und Evaluation von zukunftsorientierten Technologien im Kontext der Virtuellen und Augmentierten Realitat. Die Nutzer-Szenarien wurden von Firmen deutscher Schlusselindustrien geliefert, Technologieentwicklung und Integration wurden hauptsachlich von am Projekt beteiligten KMU und Universitaten geleistet.