Using Augmented Reality to Facilitate Assembly: An Experiment-Based Evaluation

Assembly is the process in which two or more objects are joined together through a certain assembly sequences and operations. Despite the substantial applications of Augmented Reality (AR) in assembly, the related research concerning the performance evaluation and usability issues is yet to be fully conducted. This paper reviews the issues and discrepancies of using two-dimensional (2D) drawings for guiding assembly and experimentally evaluates the benefits of the animated AR in assembly. A real construction piping assembly scenario that is normally guided by 2D isometric references is formulated as the test-bed of the experiment. The experiment compares the performance improvements and reduction of rework and cost between 2D ison1etric drawings and AR. Common findings revealed that the AR visualization yielded shorter task completion time, less assembly errors and lower total task load. More specific findings also indicated that the animated AR visualization significantly shortened the completion time (original time and rework time), payment on assemblers and cost on correcting erroneous assembly