A creative hackathon on the development of industrial design for the first Russian augmented reality headset was held at the Smart Design Laboratory of the St. Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design. Creaton is organized jointly with the Department of Procurement and Capital Construction of PJSC Gazprom Neft. For two days, university students developed design solutions for their implementation by engineers of an oil and gas company.
The technology that underlies the first domestic augmented reality headset was developed at Gazprom Neft PJSC. It is intended for use during installation supervision and commissioning, internal and state audits. The technology allows you to connect a remote expert to an employee's headset at the facility. This solves problems such as delays in the commissioning of facilities, high travel costs and long waits for specialists due to the wide geography of enterprises, insufficient transparency of inspections and audits.
"Within the framework of creaton, students should develop a headset design specifically for employees of the oil and gas industry. And there is a definite advantage in this, since they have the opportunity to focus on a specific field of application and take into account all the wishes of future users, rather than doing something universal, woven from compromises. Such a headset is a complex product both in shape and technique. It should be adjustable to fit well on any head or helmet. In addition, its operating conditions are very difficult: temperature differences at facilities reach -40 to +40 degrees. It is equally important to take into account impact resistance when creating the design of this headset," comments Dmitry Mareev, curator of the 3D Industrial Design and Engineering profile launched at Ƶ as part of one of the strategic projects of the Priority 2030 program.
A total of 13 teams participated in creaton. Each of them brought together students from three institutes of Ƶ: the Institute of Spatial Environment Design, the Institute of Graphic Design and the Institute of Information Technology and Automation.
The curators of the teams from the University of Industrial Technologies and Design were: senior lecturer of the Department of Advertising Design, specialist in educational and methodological work of the Department of Graphic Design in the art space Anastasia Kodatenko, assistant of the Department of Digital and Additive Technologies Natalia Kalugina and Dmitry Mareev. Curators from Gazprom Neft PJSC: Vladislav Murlenko, Head of the Gazprom Neft Capital Construction Development and Innovation Program, Vladimir Vinogradov, Chief Business Process Analyst at the Digital Engineering Directorate.
The first place was taken by the team, which included students Anastasia Nikonova (IDPS), Varvara Kolysh (IGD) and Konstantin Davletov (IITA). They have developed not just a headset, but a whole complex that adapts to a specific task. The experts noted the detailed study of the design. A variety of additional equipment can be installed on the base frame: a powerful flashlight, a camera, a thermal imager. Control is provided on the headset body itself and using a separate remote control. If necessary, the headset can be easily tilted up, and adjustable fasteners are thought out for user convenience.
The work was carried out in the Laboratory "Smart Design" of Ƶ, opened by the university also as part of the implementation of the above-mentioned program of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia "Priority 2030". With the help of 3D scanning technologies, students received models of a real helmet and a mannequin head to build adjacent headset surfaces. Before starting work on the sketch, the students also studied the experience of similar projects to understand user behavior, evaluate stylistic trends and select suitable materials. After preparing the sketch, the solution was transferred to a 3D modeling program. To test the ergonomics of the developed headset, the participants performed its layout in the material.
After completion of work on the case, electronics and software, the product will be presented to the management of Gazprom Neft PJSC for further product launch on the market. The company is a partner of the University of Industrial Technology and Design in the implementation of the university's "Priority 2030" program. In addition, creatine participants received the opportunity to complete an internship at an oil and gas company.