Microsoft gives industrial workers mixed reality and Copilot AI
Factory workers will be able to approach the generative AI assistant for advice on repairs and upkeep by pointing to specific items.
With the goal of cutting down on the amount of time required to monitor and repair industrial machinery, Microsoft intends to include its Copilot generative AI (genAI) helper in a mixed-reality application that may provide assistance to factory specialists.
Microsoft said that Copilot would be incorporated into Dynamics 365 Guides during its Ignite event held recently. Guides is a mixed-reality software for HoloLens and handheld gadgets that was released in beta in 2019. It gives field employees straightforward instructions by superimposing images over real-world items like the instruments and machine components they use.
The goal of the Copilot connectivity is to offer field personnel effortless access to the data that will support them in their everyday responsibilities.
Frank Shaw, chief communications officer of Microsoft, stated in a recorded speech in advance of the Ignite event that Copilot and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides integrates the potential of generative AI with mixed-reality technology to help staff members carry out challenging assignments and settle issues more quickly, with fewer interruptions to the normal course of work.
According to Aly Pinder, IDC research vice president, frontline employees are frequently unable to swiftly identify asset/equipment problems and traverse an assortment of work orders for fixing the situation. More frontline employees will be specialists at the time of service if personalised findings from genAI are leveraged.
Employees will be able to communicate with the Copilot via natural phrases and gestures by gesturing and gazing at tangible items with Guides. For instance, a fresh hire might just refer to a part and question what it does or the way it works, instead of depending on a knowledgeable coworker. Subsequently, the Copilot will do file searches to provide pertinent data, integrating technical manuals, maintenance logs, and more accessible data. Eventually, the Copilot overlays mixed-reality holograms on top of the real thing to summarise and show the data.
More dialogue exchanges will be possible with the advent of Copilot. Traditionally, Guides has supported field employees with pre-written instructions; however, the large language models (LLMs) of the Copilot allow for more extensive exchanges with the genAI helper.
In a statement announcing the feature, Microsoft said that Copilot makes it easier for businesses to embrace mixed reality considerably more quickly by streamlining the production, administration, and distribution of mixed reality material leveraging customer-defined sources of data.
As senior employees retire, generative AI will assist in preserving a company’s knowledge base, according to Pinder. He said that the need for tools that can guarantee less-tenured frontline workers will have the (on-demand) knowledge to resolve issues enabling organisations to scale to meet growing service demand is growing as a result of a rapidly ageing and retiring workforce.
Dynamics 365 Guides’ Copilot is still in private preview. The functionality will be accessible on smartphones and tablets some time in the future, first being offered on Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 headgear.
