Augmented Reality Guidance for Numerical Control Program Setups

Setting up a new numerical control program is a difficult and tedious task that can cause costly errors. Diagnostic information is commonly presented as abstract numerical data. Collaboratively with machine operators, we designed, implemented and evaluated Augmented Reality guidance methods based on their insights. A visual milling path trajectory was chosen for further evaluation. Results indicate that this path preview can decrease error detection time, increase detection rate, and enhance user confidence compared to a typical 2D machine panel. Users quickly noticed errors in paths, while errors related to milling depth were slower to detect.