ARTool - Augmented Reality Platform for Machining Setup and Maintenance

In manufacturing applications, setup and part- program verification on CNC machine tools is a time-consuming and error-prone operation, whose costs are especially relevant when dealing with small batches, custom components, and large/complex shapes. This paper presents an Augmented Reality application aimed at supporting machine tool operators in setting up the machining process, simplifying and quickening the iden- tification of setup errors and misalignments. The paper firstly discusses the system architecture and its implementation, then presents a set of benchmark tests assessing system accuracy and reliability in ego-localization against an open-source AR library and an optical multistereoscopic motion capture ground-truth. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed solution on the typical part-program setup workflow is assessed by comparison with a standard in-air part-program execution and evaluated by means of a NASA TLX test campaign.