Search

The inspection, analysis, and modification of robot programs in series production processes is a challenging recurring task in the automotive industry. Especially the holistic analysis of detected defects and the subsequent derivation and application of corrective measures to the underlying robot program is a complex task requiring extensive knowledge in multiple fields. Existing scientific literature has demonstrated that the utilisation of Augmented Reality (AR) assisted robot programming systems (ARRPS) improves programming efficiency as well as intuitiveness when compared to traditional programming methods. However, the accuracy especially of mobile AR devices limits the applicability of AR in industrial applications. We propose to leverage the iterative nature of the optimisation process common in series production and utilise the visual capabilities of the human worker to define corrective measures based on the inspected real process result. This mitigates the impact of limited tracking accuracy as the optimisation is based on the visual perception of the user and thus decoupled from the accuracy of the employed AR device. We implemented our system based on the requirements of a sealing workstation of the Mercedes-Benz Group in Germany. A conducted experiment validates the functionality and indicates that the presented strategy of iterative AR assisted robot programming enables optimisations with a similar accuracy as the Teach-In programming as well as a significantly reduced programming time. This suggests that utilising an ARRPS can be highly beneficial in the inspection, analysis, and modification of sealing applications common in automotive series production processes. As the presented iterative AR assisted robot programming is neither limited to sealing nor to the automotive sector it can be adapted for various robot-automated applications like path-welding, gluing, or painting and can extend its utility to related sectors such as aviation or the marine industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leading a socially engaged life is beneficial for the well-being of older adults. Immersive technologies, such as augmented reality (AR), have the potential to provide more engaging and vivid communication experiences compared to conventional digital tools. This qualitative study adopts a human-centered approach to discern the general attitudes and specific requirements of older adults regarding interpersonal communication facilitated by AR. We conducted semi-structured individual interviews with a sample of N = 30 older adults from Germany. During the interviews, participants evaluated storyboard illustrations depicting a fictional AR-enabled communication scenario centered around a grandparent and their adult grandchildren, which were represented as avatars within the AR environment. The study identified technological, emotional, social, and administrative requirements of older adults regarding the AR communication system. Based on these findings, we provide practical recommendations aimed at more inclusive technology design, emphasizing the significance of addressing the emotional needs of older adults, especially the perceived intimacy of AR-based interpersonal communication. Acknowledging and catering to these emotional needs is crucial, as it impacts the adoption of immersive technologies and the realization of their social benefits. This study contributes to the development of user-friendly AR systems that effectively promote and foster social engagement among older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digitalization of everyday school life has gained increasing importance for teachers in recent years. In Germany, this is especially true since the publication of the strategy on "Education in the Digital World" by the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in 2016, which calls for the acquisition of digital competencies by students. In this regard, it is of great importance that future teachers acquire important skills in the field of digitalization during their teacher training in order to effectively and pedagogically use digital media in instruction. In this paper, we present the concept of an intervention on the topic of "Simulation and Modeling" from the competency framework DiKoLAN, which provides possible guidance in relation to the question "which competencies in the field of digitalization should be taught during teacher training?" One focus of the presented concept is the technology of "Augmented Reality," which has already been described as an effective teaching and learning tool. Furthermore, evaluation results of the seminar are presented, which examine both the effectiveness in terms of conveying the desired competencies through the measurement of self-efficacy expectations, and the attitudes of the pre-service teachers towards the use of AR in science education. The evaluation of the intervention measure shows a significant increase in pre-service teachers' self-efficacy expectations across all areas of competencies to be taught, as well as a significantly more positive attitude towards the use of AR in science teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During crisis situations, emergency operators require fast information access to achieve situation awareness and make the best possible decisions. Augmented reality could be used to visualize the wealth of user-generated content available on social media and enable context-adaptive functions for emergency operators. Although emergency operators agree that social media analytics will be important for their future work, it poses a challenge to filter and visualize large amounts of social media data. We conducted a goal-directed task analysis to identify the situation awareness requirements of emergency operators. By collecting tweets during two storms in Germany we evaluated the usefulness of Twitter data for achieving situation awareness and conducted interviews with emergency operators to derive filter strategies for social media data. We synthesized the results by discussing how the unique interface of augmented reality can be used to integrate social media data into emergency control rooms for situation awareness support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world is accelerating the digitisation of many branches of the economy. In production, it is often called Industry 4.0 - the term invented by Prof. Wahlster in Germany. One branch of ' Production Digitisation' is Augmented Reality (AR)- a technology that gives a very convenient and natural human-machine interface. Users are presented with the information requested, right in front of their eyes, and can communicate with the system through simple gestures and speech. The key advantage of AR is having one's handsfree so that the user can perform his/her regular tasks, unhindered. In the first part of this paper, the concept of using AR glasses, in the quality control process, is presented. The present authors describe a proprietary support system. A specific example is then given in a real production environment on a real production process, comparing the old way with the new AR way of conducting test procedures. An evaluation of its usability is characterised using important factors that can affect the final outcome or features of the product and the manner in which it is applied in real life. In concluding, the authors focus on its advantages, the disadvantages, the technological imperfections, and the limitations and go on to deliberate on the conclusions and further research topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participants: A. Baumeister (GERMANY), J. Bleja (Germany), B. Klein (Germany), A. Kucharski (GERMANY) S. MERKEL (GERMANY), M. Ringwald (GERMANY), B. KLEIN (discussant) ISSUE: The session circles around new technologies that have gained increasing relevance for the field of gerontechnology. It follows the idea that these new technologies ask for new theories and methods not only to understand their technical functionality but also social aspects and consequences. Applying theories and methods of social sciences, sciences, and technology studies (STS) and media studies, the session follows an interdisciplinary approach. CONTENT: The symposium brings together research and evidence of the German speaking chapters of the ISG (Austria, Germany, and Switzerland) and covers a broad spectrum of recent developments. STRUCTURE: Alexander Kucharski shares insights from an exploratory study on the domestication of smart speakers by older persons in Germany. Drawing on seven case studies he explores perspectives of older smart speaker users on their real-world domestication processes of smart speakers to understand how older users negotiate(d) the appropriation, meaning and (non)-use of smart speakers and its contents/applications within their individual socio-technical contexts, i.e. life-worlds. Sebastian Merkel also deals with the topic of smart speakers by focusing on applications or so-called skills and images of ageing. He concludes that most skills addressed at older persons rather emphasize deficit-oriented/medicalized images of aging and hence user representations. J. Bleja reports on the development of a chatbot operated via smart speakers for care consultation. As a first task expert interviews have been carried out. The results indicate potential use cases, support of the anamnesis procedure being one of them. In the next two contributions, the focus is on assistive robotics. Annalies Baumeister presents a project to improve the use of a robotic arm for people with little or no arm function by an adaptive AI-based control system. In Workshops and interviews with the user groups everyday scenarios were identified which can improve significantly by this new way of user-robot-interaction. Key factor for acceptance is the embodiment of robots. Marina Ringwald presents the interdisciplinary development of an embodiment utilizing participatory design with older people as potential user group. Design options are realized in 3D models in augmented reality and evaluated in an iterative approach before a physical prototype is produced. Finally, Barbara Klein addresses the need to train professionals in the health and social care sector in these assistive digital technologies by presenting a certification course developed by a consortium of twelve partner in a European project. The materials will help professionals learn about and further communicate new solutions to support the independence and self-determination of their clients and beneficiaries. CONCLUSION: Consequently, it is argued that gerontechnology benefits from a closer cooperation and knowledge exchange of interdisciplinary research teams including professionals and user groups. Participatory design and involving older users and other stakeholders are key elements, but still more research is needed, especially when utilizing new methods such as augmented reality in the design and development processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a report from a June 11-13, 2015 conference in Oranienburg and Berlin, Germany on German and Polish memorials to Nazi war crimes hosted by the Sachsenhausen memorial and museum as well as the Berlin center for historical research at the Polish Academy of Sciences. Topics of presentations delivered Polish and German collective memories of the 20th century, the design and construction of verious sorts of memorials, and the use of an augmented reality system at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp memorial.

In this paper, the authors reviewed the empirical augmented reality (AR) and online education studies, and those focused on designing or development of AR to help students learn, published in SSCI, SCI-EXPANDED, and A&HCI journals from 2003 to 2012. The authors in this study found that the number of AR and online education studies has significantly increased since 2009. Based on this review, it is found that contributors from Spain, Romania, Taiwan, and Germany had the most publications on AR and online education during 2003 to 2012. Moreover, the analysis of these selected papers reveals that most empirical AR and online education studies were conducted at universities, as well as in computer science courses. Furthermore, the quantitative research method was used more in the reviewed papers. The findings and analysis from this review may provide potential directions and insights for future AR and online education research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digitalization of production environment, also called Industry 4.0 (the term invented by Wahlster Wolfgang in Germany) is now one of the hottest topics in the computer science departments at universities and companies. One of the most significant topics in this area is augmented reality (AR). The interest in AR has grown especially after the introduction of the Microsoft HoloLens in 2016, which made this technology available for researchers and developers all around the world. It is divided into numerous subtopics and technologies. These wireless, see-through glasses give a very natural human-machine interface, with the possibility to present certain necessary information right in front of the user's eyes as 3D virtual objects, in parallel with the observation of the real world, and the possibility to communicate with the system by simple gestures and speech. Scientists noted that in-depth studies connected to the effects of AR applications are presently sparse. In the first part of this paper, the authors recall the research from 2019 about the new method of manual wiring support with the AR glasses. In the second part, the study (tests) for this method carried out by the research team is described. The method was applied in the actual production environment with consideration of the actual production process, which is manual wiring of the industrial enclosures (control cabinets). Finally, authors deliberate on conclusions, technology's imperfections, limitations, and future possible development of the presented solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bayard-Alpert (BA) type hot cathode ionisation gauge is widely used to measure neutral pressure precisely in vacuum system below 10−3 Torr pressure. Neutral pressure measurement in magnetic confinement fusion experiments is quite challenging for standard BA type gauge due to higher pressure limitation and its ionisation is affected by strong magnetic and electrical fields. To overcome the above limitations, a special hot cathode ionisation gauge, named ASDEX Pressure Gauge (APG) system was developed by G. Haas at the Max-Planck-Institute, Germany. The APG system can work in high magnetic field up to 6 T and high temperature plasma environment with broad pressure measurement range from 10−1 to 10−6 mbar with fast response (<10 msec) and good noise immunity. In the present work, we report the design and development of control and data acquisition of ASDEX Pressure Gauge (APG) for ADITYA Tokamak to measure real time neutral pressure during the high temperature plasma. The developed system can achieve synchronous control of gauge controller using General Purpose Interface Bus (GPIB) and data acquisition of ion emission current of gauge head using Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) based data acquisition module. Initially, the APG calibration with standard BA type hot cathode ionization gauge had been carried out using the test set-up of low magnetic field and ultrahigh vacuum system with gases like H 2 , Ar, He. For APG calibration for various pressure ranges of these gases, precise gas feed control system has been developed using controller based hardware and LabVIEW based software. After testing and calibration, the APG was installed on ADITYA tokamak and calibrated under high magnetic field of ADITYA. The developed APG control system is configurable for presenting the gauge parameters before the plasma discharge. During plasma discharge, the analog signal equivalent to neutral pressure is acquired in real-time using simultaneous sampling analog to digital converter (ADC) module. The acquired raw data and processed real time pressure can provide valuable neutral pressure/density information of Tokamak plasma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]