How to visualize recorded production data in Virtual Reality? How to use state of the art Augmented Reality displays that can show robot data? This paper introduces an opensource ICT framework approach for combining Unity-based Mixed Reality applications with robotic production equipment using ROS Industrial. This publication gives details on the implementation and demonstrates the use as a data analysis tool in the context of scientific exchange within the area of Mixed Reality enabled human-robot co-production.

This paper proposes to use Virtual Reality scenarios to explore the reaction of stakeholders within an innovation process in the context of the introduction of robots working in close collaboration with users. The goal is to design the system upfront in such a way, that it is not perceived as a threat to the worker or his/her job. Within the responsible research and innovation approach, the introduction of new technology needs to be accompanied by a careful investigation of the thoughts and feelings of all stakeholders. Especially workers who are currently not working with robots but their workspace is currently undergoing an Industry 4.0 driven transformation, experience fear, that this new technology will make their jobs redundant. On the other hand, it can be observed, that successful robot interaction processes, on the one hand, increase the overall productivity, but also can enhance human well-being. The feeling of 'teamwork' with the artificial intelligence entity can develop to be equally positive and motivating. To be able to design future workspaces which will result in a 'teamwork' perception instead of the 'fear' perception, the use of VR can be applied.

This design paper describes the development of custom built interface between a force-replicating virtual reality (VR) haptic interface glove, and a user. The ability to convey haptic information – both kinematic and tactile – is a critical barrier in creating comprehensive simulations. Haptic interface gloves can convey haptic information, but often the haptic “signal” is diluted by sensory “noise,” miscuing the user’s brain. Our goal is to convey compelling interactions – such as grasping, squeezing, and pressing – with virtual objects by improving one such haptic interface glove, the SenseGlove, through a redesign of the user-glove interface, soft glove. The redesign revolves around three critical design factors – comfort, realism, and performance – and three critical design areas – thimble/fingertip, palm, and haptic feedback. This paper introduces the redesign method and compares the two designs with a quantitative user study. The benefit of the improved soft glove can be shown by a significant improvement of the design factors, quantified through QUESI, NASA-TLX, and comfort questionnaires.

The causes and treatment solutions of congenital heart defects are difficult to address and discuss between patient and doctor. This is mainly due to the complex spatial nature of congenital cardiac defects, which makes it difficult for the patients to envision the defect without prior anatomical knowledge and renders the comprehension largely dependent on doctors' (variable) skills to describe the anomaly. To improve communication, 3D printed hearts have been developed, yet these are expensive, difficult to manage for the large collection of defects, and require substantial oral explanation. In addition, the correlation with cardiac function remains rather abstract. Instead, we propose an augmented reality solution, involving a see-through head-mounted display (HMD) extended with a built-in heart rate monitor. In order to increase the presence and the conversational power, the heartbeat of the patient is used to drive an animation of a supersized, floating heart visualisation; enabling the user to inspect a specific heart condition from all sides. To enable this, a universal add-on casing was developed for the HoloLens. Heuristic analysis and pilot tests with $6+15$ participants reveal limitations of the implementation and show that the solution does increase comprehension, although more has to be done to enable a robust system.

In order to support the decision-making process of industry on how to implement Augmented Reality (AR) in production, this article wants to provide guidance through a set of comparative user studies. The results are obtained from the feedback of 160 participants who performed the same repair task on a switch cabinet of an industrial robot. The studies compare several AR instruction applications on different display devices (head-mounted display, handheld tablet PC and projection-based spatial AR) with baseline conditions (paper instructions and phone support), both in a single-user and a collaborative setting. Next to insights on the performance of the individual device types for the single mode operation, the study is able to show significant indications on AR techniques are being especially helpful in a collaborative setting.

This paper describes the development of custom built interface between a force-replicating Virtual Reality (VR) haptic glove, and a user. The ability to convey haptic information - both kinesthetic and tactile - is a critical barrier in creating comprehensive simulations. Haptic interface gloves can convey haptic information, but often the haptic signal is diluted by sensory noise, miscuing the users brain. Our goal is to convey compelling interactions with virtual objects, such as grasping, squeezing, and pressing by improving one such haptic interface glove - the Sense Glove - through a redesign of the user-glove interface - Soft Glove. The redesign revolves around three critical design factors - comfort, realism, and performance - and three critical design areas - thimble/fingertip, palm, and haptic feedback. This paper introduces the redesign method and compares the two designs with a quantitative user study. The benefit of the Improved Soft Glove can be shown by a significant improvement of the design factors.

The project 'Factory-in-A-day' aims at reducing the installation time of a new hybrid robot-human production line, from weeks or months that current industrial systems now take, down to one day. The ability to rapidly install (and reconfigure) production lines where robots work alongside humans will strongly reduce operating cost and open a range of new opportunities for industry. In this paper, we explore a method of collaborative fabrication planning with the help of Augmented Reality as part of the concept Augmented Fabrication. In order to plan a new production line, two co-located workers at the factory wear a Microsoft Hololens head-mounted display and thus share a common visual context on the planed position of the robots and the production machines. They are assisted by an external remote expert connected via the Internet who is virtually co-located. We developed three different visualizations of the state of the local collaboration and plan to compare them in a user study.

Within the European Factory-in-a-day project, the aim is to improve communication between automation integrator and factory owner, in their analysis of feasibility and appropriateness of automating a manual task. A visualisation tool with preconfigured workflows and working principles, with specific focus on efficient human-robot coproduction workflows can improve this process. This paper describes the Workflow Simulation Tool, which is part of the Human-Robot Coproduction Methodology, currently in development. The tool encompasses a portable tablet PC, which runs a visual modelling environment combined with a handheld 3D scanning solution. The tool also features pre-modelled template layouts, implementation of a checklist of persistent notes and portable visual documentation. The tool's appropriateness was iteratively validated in collaboration with automation integrators. This evaluation showed that offering an interactive visual simulation enriches the dialogue during conceptual design and helps in revealing requirements that otherwise only appear during or after implementation.