Smart Glasses Can Show the Procedure and Hide the Pipe

ABS has published an advisory on augmented reality, the headsets and smart glasses that put digital instructions on top of what you see. Suppliers sell them for maintenance, inspection, training and remote help from a shore expert. ABS's message is simple: before you hand a crew a headset, prove the job gets safer and better with it, not just more modern.

What ABS asks for. Take one specific task, such as a valve check or a pump overhaul. Do it the normal way and do it with the headset, and compare both on safety and performance. Do this per task, because a job that needs you to move around a machinery space is very different from one where you stand still and read numbers. ABS names three risks: distraction, blocked vision and people trusting the screen more than their own eyes.

The research behind it is the reason to read this. The advisory was developed with the ABS Laboratory for Ocean Innovation at Texas A&M University. In a study by the same lab, 60 people did five inspection jobs in a real room built to look like a cargo ship's steering gear room, with 14 hazards: low pipes, knee-high frames, a slippery floor, a hole. Sensors counted every bump. Each person used one of three devices: a headset that puts images in front of both eyes, a smaller screen that sits below one eye, or an ordinary phone.

The result. On one side of the room, people wearing the full headset hit their heads about 7 times on average. With the small eye screen it was under 4, with the phone about 3. They also rated the full headset lowest for feeling safe and highest for frustration. The interesting part: all three groups spotted about the same number of hazards when asked. They saw the pipe. They still walked into it.

Our caveats. It was one room, about 50 minutes per person, and mostly people who are not seafarers. One model of headset was tested against two other devices, so this is not a verdict on every product. And the advisory itself gives no limits or numbers to meet. It is a method, not a rule.

Why it matters. Last week ABS showed how one person fewer on a bridge can overload the officer. This week it is the same question in the engine room: a tool that adds information can also take attention away. If a supplier offers AR for your engineers, ask for a trial on your own ship, in your own machinery space, with your own crew, and count the bumps as well as the minutes saved. [Splash247 · gCaptain · Texas A&M study · AiatSea, 11 October]

This story is part of the Maritime AI Digest of 18 October 2026.