TOP THREE CHALLENGES FOR FULLY-IMMERSIVE AR IN CONSTRUCTION.
1. MODELS ARE TOO BIG FOR HARDWARE TO HANDLE
2. JOBSITE CONDITIONS ARE LESS THAN IDEAL FOR AR
3. PROJECT TEAMS DON’T HAVE TIME TO DISCOVER ALL THE BENEFITS OF AR
Let’s deep dive into what this means and how we solve them for you.
1. MODELS ARE TOO BIG FOR HARDWARE TO HANDLE. Today, the only approved hardware for the Jobsite use is Trimble XR-10 with HoloLens 2. Customers lovingly call it the “BIM Helmet.”
Microsoft HoloLens 2 limits how large a hologram a user can see at a time. Typically, your BIM is much larger than you can see in the HoloLens 2, so you can’t just “upload it to HoloLens” and need to use apps like Spectar to make it happen.
Spectar uses Azure Kubernetes Services to quickly, secure, and reliably convert your BIM into a file you can view on HoloLens 2 or BIM Helmet. Once converted, the user downloads the model on the BIM Helmet and can then see the model even without any internet connection.
Our HoloLens 2 app renders a model at various levels of definition, similar to how it works with computer games. Users see objects near high definition while something far away is a low definition. This feature makes it possible to see your entire model in fully-immersive AR.
2. JOBSITE CONDITIONS ARE LESS THAN IDEAL FOR AR
Users want to have a very comfortable experience viewing holograms that appear and behave real-world-like. Users expect a hologram of something stationary, like a column, to act similarly. Column’s hologram should not move, jitter, change colors, or “float.”
The stability of the hologram depends on two factors: how the device “sees” the environment, in our case, the jobsite, and how much computing power is available to render the hologram.
In construction, the environment (existing conditions) changes daily. Hence, it is crucial for the device to “see” these changes and to stay aware of its position. Microsoft HoloLens2 relies on its cameras and scanner to build a virtual model of the space for hologram rendering. Before rendering BIM Overlay, take 3-5 minutes to walk around your work area with HoloLens, so it knows where it is.
Suppose the device maps the existing conditions well and the software is well written and maintained. In that case, the user will experience BIM Overlay at 60 fps (frames per second) and consider the experience “stable.”
3. PROJECT TEAMS DON’T HAVE TIME TO DISCOVER ALL THE BENEFITS OF AR
Project teams are often left on their own to discover all the benefits of fully-immersive AR. This journey comes with challenges and setbacks as they learn a new way to interact with fully-immersive content. Even when AR is necessary for the company, the daily routine tasks take over PE’s schedules. What’s left of the team’s time is not enough for re-inventing better ways of getting things done using fully-immersive AR.
Customers rely on Spectar’s Customer Success team to help them get to “value” faster with a collection of easy-to-implement use cases.
