As part of the Berlin Center for Digital Transformation, the VISCOM business unit works on smart production and maintenance environments.

The coupling of the plants and processes with their virtual images and models is to take place in real-time. Through suitable augmented reality visualization techniques, assistance is integrated into the working environment. In particular, this involves the mobile provision of context-based information for employees in their respective tasks and situations. This creates new possibilities for multimedia and multimodal interaction and cooperation with plant systems.

An essential function will be the embedding and matching the virtual images and models with the plants and processes of the physical world. Through a real-time connection of various sensor information, the physical plant behavior and the accompanying processes are digitally recorded, promptly evaluated, correlated, or adjusted with the simulated virtual models. The process and simulation evaluation results are embedded directly into the work situation and real environment on-site using suitable visualization techniques.

In the project, an industrial robot workstation will be enriched with augmented reality technologies, projection technology, real-time object recognition, gesture recognition, real-time 3D reconstruction, and a digital twin to make the whole workflow more intuitive and efficient.

The scientists of the business unit VISCOM use augmented reality technologies as well as visualization and projection techniques in the project to display information, such as instructions or questions to the operator, directly on and on the workpiece to be processed. He can make decisions at the touch of a fingertip, e.g., select the edge to be milled. The exact current position and orientation of the workpiece were determined by a camera-based object recognition system developed in-house.

The Fraunhofer institutes FOKUS, HHI, IPK, and IZM are working together on the project. The Berlin Center for Digital Transformation is funded by the governing mayor of Berlin, the senate chancellery - higher education and research and by the European Regional Development Fund (EFRE).