The AR tool will help with the construction of the car’s monocoque – the shell of the vehicle.
Augmented reality is being used for the first time to build a race car intended for use in competitive racing, according to a university.
Students at the University of Bath are using a new AR tool developed by technology company Rocketmakers in the project.
When complete, their vehicle will race in the 2019 Formula Student competition run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
AR has previously been used in tests and demonstrations by car manufacturers but it is believed this is the first time the technology will be used to build a car intended for use in competitive racing.
The AR tool will help with the construction of the car’s shell, known as a monocoque, specifically with the application of carbon fibre laminates.
This process will be conducted over a week, with students from Team Bath Racing working in shifts to apply each pre-cut carbon fibre laminate in the correct location.
The Rocketmakers tool creates an AR version of the monocoque with the correct shape, location and orientation of each segment of laminate visible to the wearer during the application process.
It will be used through two Microsoft Hololens headsets, with computer assisted design (CAD) files that the students have developed.
Jack Harris, a student of mechanical with automotive engineering at the University of Bath, said: “After you’ve spent most of a year designing a car, the week-long process of carbon fibre layup is really nerve-racking.
“We’ve been talking to Rocketmakers for months to determine where the best use of AR technology would be for assisting car construction.
“Carbon fibre layup is definitely one of those jobs that, despite the high tech equipment we use for our design and testing, still relies mostly on hand-eye co-ordination.
“Having a tool to assist with the stressful, backbreaking process is really exciting.”
It is hoped that the tool will provide users with an improved work experience and accuracy rate than current methods.
Carbon fibre laminates are typically applied by robots in production vehicles.
Their application in small-scale production is considered one of the more physically and mentally demanding parts of building bespoke vehicles.
One misplaced carbon fibre segment can have large negative consequences for the integrity of the final result.
The Formula Student competition challenges student engineers to design, build and race a single-seat car in one year.
Richard Godfrey, chief executive of Rocketmakers, said: “It will be great knowing when we see the Team Bath Racing car zip around the track that our designers had a hand in making it one of the world’s first AR-assisted cars.”
SAO PAULO (AP) — Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is undergoing double hernia surgery on Thursday at a hospital in the country's capital, his family said.
Bolsonaro, who has been hospitalized since Wednesday, has been serving a 27-year prison sentence since November for an attempted coup.
He was granted court permission to leave prison after federal police doctors confirmed that he needed the procedure. The surgery in Brasilia is expected to last about four hours, the DF Star hospital medical team said in a statement Wednesday.
Doctors say Bolsonaro's double hernia causes him pain. The former leader, who was in power between 2019 and 2022, has gone through several other surgeries since he was stabbed in the abdomen during a campaign rally in 2018.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversaw Bolsonaro’s coup trial and sentenced him to prison, authorized the procedure, but denied the former president’s request for house arrest after he leaves the hospital.
Bolsonaro doesn't have any contact with the few other inmates at the federal police headquarters in Brasilia, where he is held and where his 12-square-meter (around 130-square-foot) room has a bed, a private bathroom, air conditioning, a television and a desk, according to authorities.
He has free access to his doctors and lawyers, but other visitors must receive approval from the Supreme Court. On Wednesday, de Moraes authorized Bolsonaro’s sons to visit him while he's hospitalized. His wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, is accompanying him.
Early Thursday, his eldest son, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, told reporters before the surgery that his father had written a letter confirming he had appointed him as his political party's presidential candidate in next year’s election. Flávio Bolsonaro announced on Dec. 5 that he will challenge President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is seeking a fourth nonconsecutive term, as the candidate of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party.
The senator read the letter to journalists, and his office released a reproduction of it to the media.
“He represents the continuation of the path of prosperity that I began well before becoming president, as I believe we must restore the responsibility of leading Brazil with justice, resolve and loyalty to the aspirations of the Brazilian people,” Bolsonaro said in the handwritten letter, dated Dec. 25.
The former president and several of his allies were convicted by a panel of Supreme Court justices for attempting to overthrow Brazil’s democratic system following his 2022 election defeat.
The plot included plans to kill Lula, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and de Moraes. There was also a plan to encourage an insurrection in early 2023.
Bolsonaro was also convicted on charges that include leading an armed criminal organization and attempting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Follow the AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro points to his electronic ankle monitor that the Supreme Court ordered him to wear, at Congress in Brasilia, Brazil, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Minervino Junior, CB/D.A Press, File)
