HoloInteractions: visualizing interactions between autonomous cognitive machines

Production processes in factories increasingly involve dynamic interactions between individual manufacturing devices that allow processes to evolve and enable rapid reconfigurations for the mass-customization of products. When participating machines start to be aware of their own functionality, processes can even be dynamically reconfigured at run time. We propose a system that supports operators within such environments by enabling them to directly observe which devices interact with each other and what data is transmitted between them at any given moment, using computer-mediated reality technology. We demonstrate the application of this system in a goal-driven manufacturing use case and discuss its applicability to the monitoring of smart environments in users' homes.