Augmented Reality Spacecraft Assembly

Raytheon, the project sponsor, wants to know if augmented reality could be used in its assembly operations, so it asked the design team to test and analyze the DAQRI augmented reality helmet, a wearable human-machine interface that allows users to interact intuitively with their surroundings. The team enabled the helmet to overlay the wearer’s view with animated work instructions on how to assemble a 3U CubeSat model. The team designed a CubeSat and created printed assembly instructions, which were then converted to augmented reality instructions viewable in the helmet. After validating the helmet’s capabilities, the overlaid instructions were tested by having two groups assemble the model, one using the helmet, the other working from printed instructions. For both groups, the team recorded average time taken to build the model and the average number of errors.