ASSYST: Avatar baSed SYStem mainTenance

In many advanced industrial contexts, Collaborative Working Environments (CWEs) provide interesting opportunities to improve service and maintenance procedure, significantly reducing the time to repair and the risks related to system inactivity. The ASSYST framework aims to enhance existing CWEs by developing a novel maintenance paradigm based on the integration of augmented reality technologies and a tele-assistance network architecture enabling to support radar system operators during system failure detection, diagnosis and fixing. According to this approach, the support to maintenance procedures is provided by means of a virtual assistant (avatar) visualized into the operational field and able to communicate with human operator through an interaction paradigm close to the way in which humans are used to collaborate. The avatar, whose actions are based on a semantic representation of systempsilas service/maintenance workflows, provides the maximum possible level of adaptivity to userpsilas needs and a pro-active behaviour, aiding him during failure search and repair protocols in a much more effective way than conventional screen based interfaces.