Abstract

Our universities required an eye-catcher at exhibitions, conferences, open houses etc. We decided in favor of a model factory in augmented reality demonstrating a queueing system, material flow, and aspects of production planning and control. When visitors look at an empty table ‘through’ their personal mobile devices, they can watch a factory producing on the table. The visitors can alter control variables and watch the factory change its behavior accordingly. We explain the underlying simulation model and its configuration, the composition and functionality of the mobile app for augmented reality, and the communication via database.
Furthermore, we present a solution for the automatic generation of the model factory’s layout, and we explicate how to eliminate the blurring of the model factory in augmented reality. Finally, we share experiences and user feedback from first exhibitions of the model factory and outline our plans for its future development.