Industrial Augmented Reality: Connecting Machine-, NC- and Sensor-Data to an AR Maintenance Support System

Access to machine data, e.g. axis positions inside an AR maintenance application can potentially increase the usefulness of AR in maintenance. Technicians walking to the machine control for looking up information would be avoided. However, the machine control interface and data are machine manufacturer depended, making it necessary to customize the interface between the machine control and the AR maintenance application. Here, we present a solution integrating machine control access from three different machines using a middleware box. A qualitative assessment with technicians confirms the usefulness direct machine data access from an AR maintenance application.