Chem Engineering Dept Seeking Summer Undergrad Research Assistant
Augmenting Manual Inspection Using Wearable VR/AR-Based Automated Visual Inspection
We will explore the potential of using Automated Visual Inspection (AVI) technologies to augment manual visual inspection. Emerging VR/AR eyewear, such as Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, are lightweight and resemble conventional eyeglasses while enabling (1) real-time video streaming and recording from a perspective closely aligned with natural human vision, and (2) audio and visual feedback to the user. Because these devices closely resemble standard eyewear, they do not significantly interfere with inspectors’ normal workflow or visual performance.
Our objective is to investigate the feasibility of applying AVI algorithms to analyze video feeds captured by VR/AR glasses for defect detection. Locations of possible defects can then be communicated back to the human inspector in real time, thereby enhancing and augmenting existing manual inspection pipelines.
Detecting defects from human-captured video presents greater analysis challenges than from machine-captured imagery. Machine-acquired images are typically consistent in viewpoint, lighting, and positioning, whereas video captured by human inspectors can vary substantially due to natural movement and perspective changes. Furthermore, AVI processing must operate at sufficiently high speed to avoid slowing down the inspector’s workflow. Despite these challenges, successfully addressing these issues could significantly strengthen AVI capabilities while meaningfully enhancing human performance in manual inspection.
Activities will include recording data for positive and negative control samples during expert manual visual inspection under realistic workplace conditions, training and testing of agile machine learning architectures for defect identification, and development of augmented reality visualization architectures for supplementing manual human inspection.
Interested students may submit their resume to Jen Gray, gray160@purdue.edu.