Mixed Reality Safety Training
Senior Design Project
My Role
- User Researcher
- UX Designer
Tools
- Microsoft Guides
- HoloLens
- Mixed Reality
Timeline
- 2021 - 2022
Description
An immersive mixed-reality (MR) training workflow on the Microsoft HoloLens that eliminates the physical dangers and costly operational downtime of heavy machinery safety training.
Context
When you’re training factory operators on Lock-out/Tag-out (LOTO), the process of shutting down heavy machinery when you perform maintenance or inspections, you’re stuck in a classic lose-lose situation. Training operators on the actual factory floor is incredibly dangerous, but shutting down active assembly lines to train them safely costs the company a fortune in downtime.
To work around this, Abbott Nutrition uses a mobile training cart with dummy valves. It was safe, but it was totally unrealistic. It couldn't replicate the actual scale, layout, or stressful environment of the real factory floor.
I teamed up with three other VT engineers to build an immersive, mixed-reality alternative using Microsoft Guides and the HoloLens. As the Workflow and User Testing Lead, I designed the spatial training logic and ran hands-on tests with actual operators. We were able to bring the factory floor to any location, giving trainees critical & life-saving context without needing operational downtime.
Overcoming Adoption Inertia
- Constraint: Plant operators are used to physical, tactile hardware. If the HoloLens felt clunky and technical, they would be unlikely to use it.
Strategy
Instead of just mimicking the training hardware, the HoloLens overlay pulled up real world examples, holographic indicators, hazard warnings, and guidance when the worker looked at the machinery.
Result
By turning the headset into a tool that actually made their jobs easier rather than a forced compliance exercise, we shifted operator perception.
Key Features
- Spatial Step-by-Step Guides: An intuitive HoloLens workflow that overlays digital checkpoints directly onto the physicalhardware, guiding operators through the LOTO sequence.
- Context-Aware Visuals: Instead of text-heavy instructions, the system anchors markers (like arrows and indicators) directly onto the machinery, keeping the operator’s eyes on the hardware.
- Seamless Interface: Refined through iterative user testing to ensure the interface is accessible to employees of all digital literacy levels.
Success Metrics
- Time-to-Compliance: Accelerate the time it takes an operator to successfully complete the LOTO checklist without a safety infraction.
- Cognitive Error Rate: Minimize the number of visual or procedural missteps during critical equipment isolation sequences.
Financial Impact
- $387,820 Projected 3-Year Savings:
- $176,000: saved via reduced workplace injury costs.
- $117,320: saved by streamlining and accelerating the training lifecycle.
- $94,500: generated by directly advancing Abbott's corporate digital transformation metrics.