IBM Fine-Grained Visual Recognition Powers AR Tech Support

A broken computer, appliance or car used to mean a visit to a technician or mechanic, but the recent proliferation of DIY videos has more people performing such repair jobs themselves. Now, a pair of IBM researchers have taken instructional video to the next level, with a new fine-grained visual recognition approach and augmented reality (AR) system that can look at the actual piece of hardware being working on and integrate real-time, step-by-step tech support and guidance. The researchers say the proposed method can increase the rate of first-time fixes and reduce hardware disruption recovery time by automatically detecting the state of an object and presenting the right set of information in the right context. AR basically overlays media and graphics on what we see in the real world. Major technological advances and the increased availability of AR software development kits (SDKs) such as ARKit and ARCore over the last decade have lowered the entry barrier for AR developers. In recent years, machine learning has informed the emergence of intelligent systems that further enhance the AR experience.