Up close with augmented reality. More than pictures and a thousand words. | Knorr-Bremse Group

It has now become so commonplace to hold video conferences via Teams, even in the office, that people hardly remember how they used to conduct meetings, especially for teams spread out over several locations. Many weekly meetings start with a laugh over a new video background, mechanics in the workshop simply turn their mobile phone around during the video call to show the expert at the hotline PC a live image of what is currently raising questions on site. Florian Amann, Technology Team Lead at Knorr-Bremse Commercial Vehicle Systems in the unit headed by Thorsten Dankwort (T/R-IE): “This is standard today. Now, with augmented reality, we can take the next step.”

More than a mobile video conference

“In fact, the AR system can do far more than just make video conferencing mobile,” explains Korbinian Paul, an expert in digitalization technologies. “At its core, an AR system consists of a conferencing platform and more or less sophisticated smart glasses. It offers a user interface for the conferencing system via voice control, delivers audio via headphones and shows the conference participants what the user is currently seeing in their location via an integrated video camera. Meanwhile, they have both hands free to directly perform even complex tasks.”

In contrast to a virtual reality (VR) system, which shows the viewer an exclusively digital environment, the AR glasses provide a clear view of the actual objects present and can additionally overlay documents or graphics via a display. “Reality, enhanced by supplementary information, all in one field of vision, with the extra option of simultaneously consulting with colleagues – that opens up a lot of new possibilities,” says Paul.