AIDIMA, in an European learning project through virtual reality at the workplace

The Furniture, Wood and Packaging Technology Institute, AIDIMA, is participating in the European project Technology Enhanced Learning Livinglab for Manufacturing Environments, TELL ME, with the ambitious goal to promote an assistance system for blue collar workers belonging to European SME’s that will allow them to obtain training and gain access to assembly plans, documents, or any other piece of information needed in order to perform their jobs accurately. All this will be possible thanks to augmented reality technologies through wireless devices and consequently, leaving their “hands free”.

This research promotes the creation of living labs, or learning laboratories in manufacturing environments, through virtual and augmented reality, focusing its development on the manufacturing of:h elicopters, tailor-made furniture for luxury boats, and the textile sector. All results achieved during this process will be conveniently transferred to the European industry interested in such activities, according to the presentation celebrated in AIDIMA.

This open source platform is participated by fourteen companies, among which we can find research and technology institutes, private companies and universities, all belonging to eight different European countries. They have associated to produce an advanced ecosystem that will permit an enhancement on productive processes as well as increasing business competitiveness through lifelong learning, and allowing immediate worker access to information, e.g., assembly plans or any other documents needed to carry out the jobs.

This ecosystem is envisioned as an environment that will incorporate all actors belonging to the productive process. This will permit SME’s to manage their services, learning and training from any location, allowing a correct work supervision, and assistance for any kind of problem resolution. The system uses advanced technologies as previously mentioned TEL (Technology Enhanced Learning), which gives name to the project, SOA (Service Oriented Architecture), PT (Precision Teaching), and CMS (Contents Management Systems), among others.

The use of TEL (technology enhanced learning) encourages the design of SME-driven human-centric and person-oriented manufacturing workplaces to produce more efficient and human working environments.

Besides assisting workers with processes, machinery knowledge, security, and the numerous advantages these tools have to offer, TELL ME will create a “Living Lab” involving users (the real blue collar workers) in the business process, identifying their experiences and needs, and this way generating strategic information in order to create products and services based on information technologies and communication.

Financed by the European Union, TELL ME is an integrated project (IP) of three years duration, included in Factories of the Future FP7-ICT-2011-8, belonging to EU’s Information and Communication Program.

In order to have a good starting point, a BarCamp (open and participative event which contents are provided by its own attendees) was held with the assistance of several companies from the furniture sector. The objective was to present ten advanced technologies. All of them related to different training subjects, and with the purpose of receiving from the participants their own ideas in order to improve the learning methods of blue collar workers at the workplace. The result of the BarCamp was very satisfactory, and among others, augmented and virtual reality technologies through wireless devices were selected.