Assessment of video see-through smart glasses for augmented reality to support technicians during milking machine maintenance

Abstract

Smart glasses for augmented reality are digital technology under investigation in the agricultural sector. The potential of augmented reality was underlined, in some scientific contributions, as a support tool for farmers' activities and for the decision-making process. One of the most practical applications studied for augmented reality was in maintenance operations, where the use of smart glasses showed high capability. This work focuses on the evaluation of the performance and applicability of smart glasses with a video see-through display system and testing the device's available functions in agricultural frameworks. In addition, an augmented assistance scenario describing the main steps involved in the functioning of the maintenance operation was developed for milking machine inspection. The audio–video quality, battery life, detection capabilities of markers, and voice control interaction system were evaluated. The results showed the capabilities of smart glasses to reach augmented information from a long distance in a short time interval and to transmit audio and video with a high level of detail, allowing discrimination of small objects during remote assistance with reduced delay. The built maintenance scenario represents an example of augmented reality digital assistance application in the inspection and maintenance of the milking machine. The device performance and the proposed maintenance scenario underline the potential that augmented reality could have in the agricultural sector to assist and guide both farmers and technicians to timely problem solving. This solution fits into the agriculture 4.0 perspective, which is increasingly focused on digital transformation to improve farms’ efficiency and sustainability.