You may have heard that we're currently living through a fourth industrial revolution – one that's upgrading industrial environments with IoT sensors, AI solutions and augmented reality devices.
AR is familiar to many of us as consumers. Most of us will at some point have seen or even added a Snapchat or Instagram filter to a photo, or watched a gamer catch Pokemon with their smartphone. Any time a digital object gets overlaid on the real world, we're in the realm of AR.
But this blending of the digital and the real isn't just for our entertainment. It can also become part of industrial workflows. It's in this industrial space – or "industrial Metaverse" as it's sometimes known – that DigiLens is introducing its ARGO smart glasses.
DigiLens is a company based in Silicon Valley that specialises in wearable tech. Using waveguide technology, it's created a lightweight device that can be used in maintenance and training settings to introduce digital assets into the wearer's surroundings.
In a crowded field, ARGO has a couple of strong cards to play. Unlike many headsets, it's lightweight – which in an industrial setting means the difference between workflow enhancement and workflow disruption.
ARGO's low weight is made possible partly by its waveguide technology. This allows the user to feel as though they're wearing a full computer system on their head without any encumbrance or fatigue.
Before we dig into ARGO's powerful and versatile features, here's Chris Pickett, CEO of DigiLens:
"ARGO is the future of wearable computing. We are proud to launch the device the market has been asking for and waiting for. ARGO will open up the next generation of mobile computing and voice and be the first true AR device to be deployed at mass scale."
He continues: "By helping people connect and collaborate in the real – not merely virtual – world, ARGO will deliver productivity gains across sectors and improve people's lives."
It's this blending of the real and the digital that makes ARGO such a promising offering for industries looking to boost remote assistance and training programmes.
About the product
ARGO is a fully hands-free, compact and lightweight device that offers photorealistic image quality. It's been compared to wearing a full computer system on your head. This system runs on DigiLens's own "DigiOS" operating system.
Its low weight is partly possible because of waveguides. Unlike AR/VR headsets which use "pass-through" technology, waveguides allow the user to see through the glasses and be fully aware of their surroundings as well as the digital overlay. This makes it ideal for training scenarios in industries where situational awareness is especially important.
The device can be controlled in several ways. You can operate it with voice commands – and the microphones are sensitive enough that they can pick up your voice even in noisy environments. There's no work environment too noisy for this device.
There's also no work environment too remote. Its connectivity options mean that it can be used pretty much everywhere – whether you're up an oil rig or down in a quarry.
It can also be controlled by hardware buttons, a mouse or keyboard, hand tracking and head/gaze tracking.
It's kitted out with three powerful tracking cameras. Two 6DoF tracking cameras sit on the left and right sides of the headset with a 48MP camera just above the nose. These cameras boast autofocus, zoom and binning features. One advantage of these cameras is that they enable photorealism even in low light.
In short, ARGO is a workable solution in any industrial setting – no matter how noisy, remote or dimly lit.
What are waveguides?
Waveguides have been around for a while. Long before AR, they were used in LED backlights, holograms and fibre optics to conduct electromagnetic waves.
The technology hasn't changed much. They're still super-thin plastic or glass lenses that transmit light. "Super-thin" isn't hyperbole – waveguides are thinner than your average sheet of paper or strand of human hair.
When a headset employs waveguides, the wearer is looking through real lenses at their surroundings. They're not looking at a digitised version through the device's cameras.
Market-leading devices like Magic Leap 2 and Microsoft HoloLens rely on waveguides. Apple Vision Pro, by comparison, uses digitised pass-through.
It's thanks to waveguides that ARGO can be so light – and it's this very lightness that makes it an ideal addition to your frontline workers' kit bags.
Advantages
ARGO is a powerful tool with its own attention-grabbing features. But it shares with other XR devices a number of advantages.
First, it's a means of reducing costs. If a piece of machinery breaks, you no longer have to shell out for an expert to come on-site and sort it out. Instead, a member of your team can receive remote assistance via ARGO.
The same goes for training. No need to book a conference room and pay for travel expenses from the Swindon branch. You can now deliver training as and when it's required through the power of XR.
And the same goes for supervision. With ARGO and a complimentary piece of software, a supervisor can leverage a "see-what-I-see" solution to share a POV with a frontline worker.
It's not just this operational flexibility that's gentle on your purse strings. It also means that problems can solved faster than with traditional methods. A busted bit of machinery no longer spells disaster. You can be back up and running faster than you can say "call technician".
Finally, ARGO can increase safety on the frontline. Its waveguide technology means that wearers are looking through real lenses at their surroundings, over which digital objects can be laid. This means that training can focus on improving situational awareness in hazardous industrial settings.
Expand Reality is a specialist XR hardware supplier based in the UK. For more device reviews and features, follow our blog.