Advances in Manufacturing ›› 2024, Vol. 12 ›› Issue (4): 764-783.doi: 10.1007/s40436-023-00479-5

• • 上一篇    

Holorailway: an augmented reality system to support assembly operations in the railway industry

Clara Garcia, Mario Ortega, Eugenio Ivorra, Manuel Contero, Pau Mora, Mariano L. Alcañiz   

  1. Institute for Research on Human-Centered Technology, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022, Valencia, Valencia, Spain
  • 收稿日期:2023-05-08 修回日期:2023-10-16 发布日期:2024-12-06
  • 通讯作者: Eugenio Ivorra,E-mail:euivmar@upvnet.upv.es E-mail:euivmar@upvnet.upv.es
  • 作者简介:Clara Garcia is currently working as a researcher at the HumanTech institute, where she is focused on topics related to 3D scene understanding, industrial augmented and mixed reality, and artificial intelligence. She studied a Bachelor’s degree in Audiovisual Systems Engineering at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. Later on, she pursued a Master’s degree in Computer Vision at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Throughout her professional career, she has also worked at a technological centre developing computer vision solutions for satellite images. She has also worked in the light field image sector, applying image processing and computer vision approaches. Mario Ortega earned his Mathematics degree from the University of Valencia and further pursued a Diploma of Advanced Studies (DEA) in Applied Mathematics at the same institution. In 2009, he obtained a PhD in Computer Science from the Polytechnic University of Valencia. With over 20 years of research and development experience, Dr. Ortega has honed his expertise in Computer Vision, applying it to fields such as Augmented Reality and Medical Imaging. In 2004, Dr. Ortega joined Human-Tech, where he contributed to various medical image analysis projects related to neurosurgery. He now spearheads the Human-Tech scientific team, which concentrates on Augmented Reality, Computer Vision, and Natural User Interfaces. Their efforts are particularly focused on diverse applications within the industrial sector. Dr. Ortega has demonstrated a strong aptitude for securing and managing international and national research projects and has published numerous scientific articles in prestigious journals and international conferences. Eugenio Ivorra holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a Master’s degree in Automatics and Industrial Computing, both from the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV). He also obtained his Ph.D. in Automatics, Robotics and Industrial Computing from the same university in 2015. He started his research career in 2009 at the Institute of Automatics and Industrial Computing of the UPV, until 2016 when he moved to the Institute of Biomedical Research and Innovation where he currently holds the position of Senior Research Technician with a Ph.D. degree. His main research areas focus on computer vision, hyperspectral vision, and augmented reality, specifically in the detection and estimation of the 3D pose of objects. In these research areas, he has published 21 highly relevant JCR scientific articles. He has also participated in 13 RD projects both nationally and internationally. Manuel Contero is a Full Professor in the Department of Graphic Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV). He received his degree in Industrial Engineering from the UPV in 1990, and completed his Ph.D. studies at the same university in 1995. He joined the university Jaume I of Castellón in 1993 as a Faculty Assistant and later as a full-time Associate Professor, before being promoted to Full Professor at the UPV in 2008. His research areas focus on collaborative engineering, human-machine interaction, sketch-based modeling, the development of spatial skills, and the application of new technologies in education and technical training. He has directed 13 doctoral theses and supervised 59 final degree projects. He has published over 100 articles in scientific journals and participated in over 150 scientific congresses. He has also been the Principal Investigator of four National RD projects and has participated in several competitive European, national, and regional projects. Pau Mora is a graduate of Industrial Electronics and Automation Engineering from the Technical University of Valencia (UPV) since 2021 and one year later obtained a Master’s Degree in Automation and Industrial Computing at the same university. Currently, he is pursuing a Ph.D. in Automation, Robotics, and Industrial Computer Science at UPV. And working as a researcher at the Human-Tech Institute, where he is developing his doctoral thesis focused on computer vision and augmented reality. Mariano L. Alcañiz is the founding director of the Immersive Neurotechnologies Laboratory (LabLENI) at the UPV and a Full Professor at the Polytechnic University of Valencia. His research interests revolve around a better understanding and improvement of human cognition, combining knowledge and methods from computer science, psychology, and neuro-science. His work focuses on using empirical methodologies from behavioral sciences to explore people while they interact in these digital worlds, but also on research aimed at developing new ways to produce extended reality (XR) simulations. He has published over 250 academic articles, in interdisciplinary journals such as Scientific Reports and PLoS One, as well as in specific domain journals in the fields of engineering, computer science, psychology, marketing, management, and education. His work has been continuously funded by the Spanish Research Agency and the European Commission for 30 years. He has been part of several Spanish and EU scientific committees investigating the use of ICT in different disciplines. He has advised on Virtual Reality policy projects for various government agencies and companies and founded several spin-off companies related to his field of research, such as Previ and Quatechnion.
  • 基金资助:
    This work was supported by the European Commission, Project EXPERIENCE H2020-FETPROACT-EIC-07-2020-101017727.

Holorailway: an augmented reality system to support assembly operations in the railway industry

Clara Garcia, Mario Ortega, Eugenio Ivorra, Manuel Contero, Pau Mora, Mariano L. Alcañiz   

  1. Institute for Research on Human-Centered Technology, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022, Valencia, Valencia, Spain
  • Received:2023-05-08 Revised:2023-10-16 Published:2024-12-06
  • Contact: Eugenio Ivorra,E-mail:euivmar@upvnet.upv.es E-mail:euivmar@upvnet.upv.es
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the European Commission, Project EXPERIENCE H2020-FETPROACT-EIC-07-2020-101017727.

摘要: During the last two decades, industrial applications of augmented reality (AR) have been incorporated in sectors such as automotive or aeronautics in tasks including manufacturing, maintenance, and assembly. However, AR’s potential has yet to be demonstrated in the railway sector due to its complexity and difficulties in automating tasks. This work aims to present an AR system based on HoloLens 2 to assist the assembly process of insulation panels in the railway sector significantly decreasing the time required to perform the assembly. Along with the technical description of the system, an exhaustive validation process is provided where the assembly using the developed system is compared to the traditional assembly method as used by a company that has facilitated a case study. The results obtained show that the system presented outperforms the traditional solution by 78% in the time spent in the localization subtask, which means a 47% decrease in the global assembly time. Additionally, it decreases the number of errors in 88% of the cases, obtaining a more precise and almost error-free assembly process. Finally, it is also proven that using AR removes the dependence on users’ prior knowledge of the system to facilitate assembly.

The full text can be downloaded at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40436-023-00479-5

关键词: Augmented reality (AR), Railway industry, Assembly, HoloLens 2

Abstract: During the last two decades, industrial applications of augmented reality (AR) have been incorporated in sectors such as automotive or aeronautics in tasks including manufacturing, maintenance, and assembly. However, AR’s potential has yet to be demonstrated in the railway sector due to its complexity and difficulties in automating tasks. This work aims to present an AR system based on HoloLens 2 to assist the assembly process of insulation panels in the railway sector significantly decreasing the time required to perform the assembly. Along with the technical description of the system, an exhaustive validation process is provided where the assembly using the developed system is compared to the traditional assembly method as used by a company that has facilitated a case study. The results obtained show that the system presented outperforms the traditional solution by 78% in the time spent in the localization subtask, which means a 47% decrease in the global assembly time. Additionally, it decreases the number of errors in 88% of the cases, obtaining a more precise and almost error-free assembly process. Finally, it is also proven that using AR removes the dependence on users’ prior knowledge of the system to facilitate assembly.

The full text can be downloaded at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40436-023-00479-5

Key words: Augmented reality (AR), Railway industry, Assembly, HoloLens 2