Augmented Reality for Training and Maintenance of Reclosers: A Case Study of a Wearable Application

This paper presents a case study of Copelia, an augmented reality application targeted for smart glasses. Copelia was developed to optimize the workflow of COPEL (Companhia Paranaense de Energia), a major Brazilian electricity company. The application assists its users in the maintenance of reclosers with features such as object recognition, augmented reality (AR), and remote calls. These features allow generalist electricians to perform tasks that would otherwise be exclusively executed by skilled professionals. Copelia was evaluated in laboratory and field tests. Results show that users resisted the application due to its novel interaction paradigm. Most of the reported issues were related to the usability of smart glasses or the graphics interface. A list of good practices was derived from the discussion of these issues. The features themselves proved to be useful, especially the guided instructions. Despite an initial negative reaction, Copelia gained appraisal by its users over time, who highlighted its usefulness for training and maintenance.