By Antoine Bisson, CTO of Poka Inc.

Manufacturers continue to face headwinds including economic uncertainty, the challenge to attract and retain great workers, capture and share tribal knowledge of a retiring workforce, increase safety, sustainability and improve overall efficiency. To meet these challenges, manufacturers are increasingly focused on advancing technologies that will help them increase or at least maintain competitiveness in their respective market segments.

A recent Deloitte study indicated that a striking 86% of surveyed manufacturing executives believe that smart factory solutions will be the primary drivers of competitiveness in the next five years. According to another recent survey, manufacturers anticipate that the industrial metaverse could lead to a 12% gain in labor productivity, which might help address the ongoing labor shortages.

We agree and that’s why we’re excited to announce that as of February 2, 2024, Poka will be the first and only Connected Worker application available on the App Store for Apple Vision Pro.

The unique capabilities of Poka on Apple Vision Pro provides workers with a much more immersive experience resulting in better training, factory floor communication and hands-free productivity.

A New Immersive Poka Experience on the Shop Floor

Poka for Apple Vision Pro is truly Poka reimagined! We knew we had to do more than simply take our current iPad application and make it available on the App Store for Apple Vision Pro. For months, we have been re-designing, re-engineering, and truly re-imagining Poka for the new era of spatial computing.

Poka’s Vision Pro app provides a full-fledged, immersive Poka experience across all of our capabilities. While using the Vision Pro, a worker has a larger visual desktop that can overlay the Poka application windows without obstructing people or the busy shop floor. For example, Poka’s Factory Feed or Analytics Dashboards can be opened and within view for quick and easy reference. And while the full breadth of the application is available on Vision Pro, there are a handful of use cases that have us really excited.

With Poka, many companies have transformed their training programs with the help of visual work instructions. Multimedia, one-point lessons make it easier for workers to understand and retain critical information leading to better performance. Now with the Vision Pro, video instructions can become more immersive and provide a more realistic experience.

Apple Vision Pro can be used to film instructions from a first-person point-of-view. Not only does this avoid the need to have two people when creating content (the videographer and the trainer), the training video will be even more impactful and effective.

Poka also now supports the ability to upload 3D CAD models at the plant, production line, workstation and equipment level. When a user is watching a work instruction in Poka, they can have the 3D model open and available in a second window - giving them the ability to play with the object or machine.

This type of enhanced and immersive training experience can be especially valuable when you want to provide instruction prior to a worker being on the factory floor. For example: new hire orientation, training for hazardous zones, or even training workers in advance of a new site/equipment commissioning.

Task execution and checklists can be done hands-free in Poka’s Vision Pro app. This can help improve efficiency and ensure workers have easy access to critical information and the ability to collaborate while getting the job done. An associate can put on the device to perform a product changeover for example, and have the checklist visible in a window as a reference. Then, as the steps are completed, the checklist can be filled in through speech-to-text. Instead of picking up a tablet to fill in the checklist once the steps are completed, it can be done in real time.

In the coming months, we look forward to working closely with our user community to evaluate, prioritize and support additional use cases including remote support.

How it Works

While Augmented and Virtual Reality have been around for many years, Apple Vision Pro is in a class of its own. Concerns about earlier devices kept us from investing heavily in development - headsets were clunky, unresponsive, poor quality, and not adapted for manufacturers. Apple Vision Pro has addressed all those concerns and more.

Apple Vision Pro allows for seamless transitions between fully immersive digital content and augmented physical reality. It allows users to precisely manipulate physical objects using their eyes, hands, and voice - a true game-changing feature.

Starting February 2, 2024, Poka customers are able to download the app from the App Store. No special configuration is needed in Poka to support the platform. Existing content in Poka can be accessed. For those interested in fully leveraging the full experience, we recommend uploading 3D CAD drawings and starting to create training content using Apple Vision Pro.

Bring on the Era of Spatial Computing

Poka has been revolutionizing frontline worker efficiency for a decade. The emergence of Apple Vision Pro transforms the already intuitive Poka experience by leveraging spatial computing and augmented reality. From enhancing training, to redefining task execution, the combination of Poka and this advanced headset opens new frontiers for manufacturing businesses, leading to improved productivity, operational efficiency, and worker safety.

Poka customers can download the app from the App Store for Apple Vision Pro.

Poka Brings Spatial Computing to the Factory Floor With Apple Vision Pro App Launch