"14 million workers will be using smart glasses by 2025."
Forrester
Smart glasses bring wireless connectivity and imaging we enjoy on a computer or smartphone into the frames and lenses of eyewear. Smart glasses use assisted reality (AR) software to add information on top to what the wearer sees.
Some key advantages of smart glasses are:
- A voice-controlled solution that liberates your hands to stay focused on your core tasks
- Real-time point of view sharing
- On-the-spot access to information
Many challenges faced by industries in optimizing processes and empowering their workforce can be answered by smart factories that equip their frontline workers with technologies like smart glasses.
Why are companies deploying smart glasses to manufacturing sites?
Smart glasses powered by AR solutions provide immense benefits to production sites ranging from higher operational efficiency, and improved on-the-job training, to providing contextualized information and workflow digitization.
- Enhance collaboration
Smart glasses wearers can share their real-world vision with other employees or experts in real-time, based on "See what I see".
For example, Edgyn, a provider of brand protection and digital authentication solutions, wanted to provide a thorough audit of customers' production lines. Since Edgyn experts could not travel due to COVID restrictions, they equipped their customers with Vuzix smart glasses and the XpertEye platform. This allowed them to easily guide their customers with clear illustrations, text, and video instructions.
Discover the full case study here.
- Keep handsfree while manipulating machines
With smart glasses, frontline workers can stay hands-free to continue to focus on their job and work safely. Also, they can receive advice from a remote expert or go through a document or digital instructions.
- Provide instant industrial expertise and knowledge sharing
Wearables help the deskless workforce to have remote training with instant transfer of knowledge.
For instance, Sodexo uses smart glasses with XpertEye for one of its largest mining contracts in Western Australia to interact with remote sites. So, the glasses are helping city-based workers to see through the eyes of onsite field workers. It provides them with real-time and accurate insight into how sites are performing and allows them to check if off-site maintenance is required.
"A single use of smart glasses achieved the equivalent productivity savings of at least one return flight and up to 13 hours of labor."
- Benefit from AR capabilities
Smart glasses use can be expanded using an AR platform. For instance, one can highlight an area with a pointer on the video stream, draw an arrow, and add various annotations or even a chat message. This improves communication and allows adding contextual instructions.
Empowering the deskless workforce with AR smart glasses
Smart glasses have already become a necessity for higher efficiency and productivity in various industries. Undoubtedly, AR and smart glasses are transformative for businesses and keep empowering a deskless workforce, who are today still being neglected by the digital transformation.
AMA’s Assisted Reality XpertEye solution is compatible with a wide range of smart glasses models and our customers can choose and deploy those that are most suited to their applications and needs.