EU Horizon 2020: The ARtwin Project

A Sovereign AR Cloud for Europe 

The EU 2020 Horizon Project ARtwin (Ref.No.856994) aims at providing the European Industry and Construction 4.0 ecosystem with a sovereign cloud platform. This way a digital twin of a factory or a building could be maintained in real time. Hololight contributes to the ar cloud with its remote rendering solution Hololight Stream.  

Augmented Reality increases productivity significantly and fosters quality improvements. Nevertheless, there are still difficulties to overcome, when it comes to large-scale deployments. Operational dynamic environments exposed to variable lighting conditions may set limitations to efficient AR roll outs.  

In order to overcome this barrier, Google, Microsoft and Apple are building a 3D map of the environment in the cloud. The map can be updated and shared by any AR device. It allows collaborative AR experiences as well as more robust and accurate 3D registrations.   

Unfortunately, the early-stage ARCloud implementations do not fully meet industry and construction 4.0 requirements and European players may face a lock-in situation if no sovereign solution is proposed to them. ARtwin project aims to provide European Industry and Construction 4.0 with an ARCloud platform that meets their needs. 

Remote Rendering as Decisive Puzzle Piece  

Complex visualizations such as a Building Information Model (BIM) can only get carried out in ultra-low latency by means of an additional computing source. Therefore, the envisaged solution will be deployed on a distant private or/and edge cloud: it ensures the privacy of information. Hololight strongly supports here with Hololight Stream (Interactive Streaming for Augmented Reality), its remote rendering solution. With Hololight Stream high-polygon content can be visualized with every detail in real size.  

Benefits of the ARtwin 

The ARtwin offers a wide range of use cases in smart factories. It allows field-level planners of a factory an on-site production line planning. Furthermore, it facilitates remote production planning. Factory workers are provided with relevant contextual information about the machines they interact with. This way quick support and fast decision making is possible as well as assisted problem-solving.  

On the construction site it could look the following: Construction workers receive all the necessary information about the tasks they undertake and feedback from their supervisors. Construction managers are enabled to detect construction defects at a very early stage. Furthermore, they could even compute the construction process.   

Conclusion  

A sovereign AR Cloud platform will finally break down an important barrier, which stands in the way of AR deployment. The project has a duration of three years. Stay tuned for further project updates.