Designing a Remote Video Collaboration System for Industrial Settings

In industry settings, it is essential to keep the production up and running at all times. In case of new machine installation or process failure, technical support from the equipment manufacturer often needs to be contacted. In these cases, local workers and remote experts need to collaborate to solve the occurred problem. Ideally, in order to cut costs and speed up the process, the situation should be handled remotely, without bringing the expert to the site. This paper describes the design and implementation of a remote video collaboration system, which enables effective communication between a field worker and a remote expert. The system includes a smartphone/tablet application used by the field worker to capture and stream video to a desktop application of the remote expert. Furthermore, the system enables instantly synchronized snapshots and annotations between both parties. A performed field study testing the design choices, potential and limitations by including target users showed that the system holds good potential given that some key issues are handled.