Augmented Reality Outside-in Tracking - BC-944

Project type: Innovation
Desired discipline(s): Engineering - computer / electrical, Engineering, Computer science, Mathematical Sciences
Company: Eterio Realities Inc.
Project Length: 6 months to 1 year
Preferred start date: 06/01/2025
Language requirement: English
Location(s): Victoria, BC, Canada; Kelowna, BC, Canada
No. of positions: 1
Desired education level: PhDPostdoctoral fellow
Open to applicants registered at an institution outside of Canada: No

About the company: 

Eterio Realities Inc. are the creators of the production software solution called FabStation (www.fabstation.com).  FabStation provides workers with visual guidance to build or inspect projects in metal manufacturing. The product overlays a digital twin onto a physical workpiece which can be viewed through a Microsoft HoloLens 2 or iPad Pro (with Lidar) utilizing Augmented Reality to either identify discrepancies between what was built and the intended design or give visual guidance to build the assembly in the first place.

Describe the project.: 

Currently, aligning virtual 3D models with real-world objects in AR typically takes up to 10 minutes and requires trained users to place a QR marker to register and bring in the model, then manually adjust the model’s position via 6 DOF controls. This process is time-consuming, inconsistent, and unsuitable for scalable applications.

Furthermore, most commercially available AR headsets or tablets lack sufficient sensors and/or compute for the camera position tracking precision and accuracy necessary to be able to maintain overlay accuracy of 1.5 mm over a distance of up to 30 m for 30 minutes for layout and fabrication activities in manufacturing applications. Great SLAM and spatial anchor algorithms can help but they require the underlying spatial data capture to be accurate to function optimally.

We seek to dramatically improve these processes, and alignment accuracy and precision using outside-in tracking from an external sensor set. This will allow us to create a solution that could be used with any headset or tablet, augmenting their onboard hardware capabilities.

Challenges:
• Our customers work on large assemblies that are 3 to 30 m in length. Therefore, the coverage must be scalable to large areas
• Any sensor set must be able to operate in an industrial environment with activities such as welding taking place

Requirement:
• To test existing IOT sensors, Infrared mocap cameras and other types of external sensor sets that can give accurate 6 DOF positional tracking data to within a tolerance of 1.5 mm at a minimum distance of 5m minimum.
• Sensors can be hardwired and daisy chained at a minimum distance.
• The solution should be able to be deployed in an industrial factory type setting.
• Should be capable of low latency communication with the target AR device.

Required expertise/skills: 

Artificial Intelligence, Motion Capture, Computer Vision and Augmented Reality. Specializing in :
• IOT Sensors
• Motion capture and tracking technologies for industrial applications