Augmented Reality
Systems Applied to
Poultry Grading and
Inspection
Simeon Harbert
Georgia Tech Research Institute,
Food Processing Technology Division
Parth Bhawalkar
Blair MacIntyre
Georgia Institute of Technology,
College of Computing
Situation: Introduction of Automated
Inspection Systems
• Currently:
– Product flows along shackle line
– Inspectors, workers communicate directly
• One inspector per trimmer
– Leverage gesture, speech
• Develop efficient shorthand
• Inspection technologies being introduced
– Trim tasks not yet automated
New Problem: Communication
between Systems and Trimmers
• Automated systems need to
communicate information about product
on lines
– No direct human communication
• How to display information to trimmer?
• How to associate tasks with specific
birds?
Investigated Various Possibilities
• Solution must
– Keep workers hands free
– Not require technology near line
• Looked at wearable auditory and visual
displays
– Problem: relating tasks to specific bird
Solution: Augmented Reality
• Directly merge graphical
display with worker’s view
of world
• Task info spatially aligned
with relevant product
Example Symbolic Instructions
See-through Head-Worn Display
• Monocular,
transparent display
• Very little visual
obstruction
Laser Scanner
Comparison
• Wearable Heads-up Display
– No active technology installed in factory
• Potential for wide area use
– Display anywhere, esp. on product
– Fragile, potentially encumbering
• Laser Scanner
– Hardened, permanent install done once
– Difficult to display on product
– Nothing carried by worker
Experimental Evaluation Planned
for Coming Year
• Compare human, HMD, Laser
• Use synthetic, similarly demanding “task”