The arrival of the fourth industrial revolution, also called industry 4.0, has boosted the use of AR in industrial environments. Industry 4.0 revolves around digitalization and interconnectivity, and technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data Analytics (BDA), Additive Manufacturing (AM), Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have become the base of this industrial revolution.

AR is the natural interface and connection to IoT and big data. It allows workers to visualize and interact with the data coming from the and sensors of a factory in an easy and attractive way, either using mobile devices or AR headsets.

AR use in automation can go from the facial recognition of an employee to getting access to a concrete machine, to real-time on-site surveillance of the production process or remote access to and control of the system through AR glasses.