A systematic review of augmented reality applications in maintenance

Abstract

Augmented Reality (AR) technologies for supporting maintenance operations have been an academic research topic for around 50 years now. In the last decade, major progresses have been made and the AR technology is getting closer to being implemented in industry. In this paper, the advantages and disadvantages of AR have been explored and quantified in terms of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for industrial maintenance. Unfortunately, some technical issues still prevent AR from being suitable for industrial applications. This paper aims to show, through the results of a systematic literature review, the current state of the art of AR in maintenance and the most relevant technical limitations. The analysis included filtering from a large number of publications to 30 primary studies published between 1997 and 2017. The results indicate a high fragmentation among hardware, software and AR solutions which lead to a high complexity for selecting and developing AR systems. The results of the study show the areas where AR technology still lacks maturity. Future research directions are also proposed encompassing hardware, tracking and user-AR interaction in industrial maintenance is proposed.

How Mobile Augmented Reality Is Applied in Education? A Systematic Literature Review

“…also addressed in the research ofPalmarini et al (2018) about the use of augmented reality features and aspects related to their maintainability, highlighting the discrepancy (fragmentation) of integration between hardware, software and augmented reality solutions.…”

Real-Time Remote Maintenance Support Based on Augmented Reality (AR)

“…Therefore, companies are maintaining an inventory of components. However, under the framework of Industry 4.0, and with the utilization of digital technologies, the existing inventory practices can be further improved through proper classification of the MRO components while additive manufacturing can facilitate in reducing lead times to produce several components [6][7][8][9][10][26][27][28].…”

“…Based on that concept, a considerable amount of research effort has been put on the design and development of real-time maintenance support tools and applications based on mobile devices to prevent unnecessary errors from happening [3][4][5][6]. With the evolution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as well as the massive break out of augmented reality (AR), the research community extended that approach by exploiting the advantages of AR for data projection during the maintenance operations [6][7][8][9][10][11]. Generally, under the framework of Industry 4.0 in an…”

Reflections on the Limited Pervasiveness of Augmented Reality in Industrial Sectors

“…On the basis of the lack of applied solutions available in the literature all over the world [6], it is easy to perceive that the technology is ahead of the processes that would made use of it, in most cases. Even though this technology has been on the market for several years [11], it still requires an extensive analysis of its applicability, due to the inexistence of processes that will make use of the potentialities. To have the ability to evaluate a plant layout, for example, it is necessary to have all diagrams in databases being updated as new information accrues.…”