Robot for aftermarket equipment repair

Everyone knows the concept of offshore programming, when a group of employees develops software. The new robot IBM Maintenance, Repairs & Operations (MRO) implements in its own way the concept of offshore repair. The system, combining augmented reality with robotics, allows you to repair expensive and high-tech equipment in the most remote area, without even sending a specialist there.

The robot helps local engineers who are not qualified to do the job properly. To begin with, the system leads the engineer to the place of damage, using GPS coordinates and superimposing signs on the picture from the mobile phone screen. That is, the employee simply goes with the phone and shoots everything on a video camera, and experts remotely show him where to go.


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The robot broadcasts a picture for the specialists of the manufacturer, and they can use the IBM MRO laser pointer to indicate specific details that the engineer should take and where to insert them.



In addition, the MRO robot shows on the smartphone of a local engineer the coordinates of other engineers and the location of the first-aid station.

So far, the MRO has been created only as a single prototype. This is the development of IBM research laboratories in Hersley (UK) and Haifa (Israel), created in collaboration with the Research Center for Advanced Engineering (Advanced Manufacturing Research Center, AMRC) at the University of Sheffield.

In the future, the augmented reality system may find demand among customers from the aerospace and oil and gas areas. Manufacturers of complex equipment after the sale of the next batch of goods and installing it on the site can leave a robot that will help in the repair and troubleshooting.



A fully functional copy of the IBM MRO is now installed at the Diamond Jubilee Knowledge Transfer Center in Sheffield.