ABSTRACT
Abstract. Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that integrates pictures of virtual objects into images of the real world. This technology will be useful to industry when the technical problems have been solved, and when the ben efits clearly outweigh the work required to use it. Furthermore, researchers must answer the important question of how AR might be integrated into the information technology infrastructure of a company. This paper describes an augmented reality demonstrator for the task of doorlock assembly in a car door. The demonstrator was developed as a practical, realistic appli cation that could convey to a casual observer the concepts behind AR. A new, fast, and robust optical tracking algorithm was developed and inte grated into a three-dimensional animation and rendering system, thereby creating a real-time fully three-dimensional HMD-based training applica tion that teaches users how to assemble the doorlock into the door. The system was demonstrated to the general public at the Hannover Industrial Fair 1998; this demonstration of AR to a large, non-expert audience gen erated greater interest in this new area. There are still some technological problems to solve, but in order to get industrial partners interested in in vesting in this technology, researchers must make clear its possible benefits and its ability to be integrated into the whole company.
