Vuzix is engaged in the design, manufacture, marketing and sale of augmented reality wearable display and computing devices. These display devices are worn like eyeglasses and typically include cameras, sensors, and a computer that enable the user to view, record and interact with video and digital content, allowing their wearers to interact and perform work hands-free. The key growth areas for the Company and its products currently are in the enterprise, medical, consumer electronics, OEM, defense and security markets where we help our customers increase productivity; eliminate travel costs; lower carbon footprint; improves worker safety and protect worker health. With the industry’s broadest product line of smart glasses, Vuzix is now working on it next generation products which include its see-through waveguide optics while implementing the latest micro-LED display technology, as pictured below.

Annual Russell indexes reconstitution captures the 4,000 largest US stocks as of May 7, ranking them by total market capitalization. Membership in the US all-cap Russell 3000® Index, which remains in place for one year, means automatic inclusion in the large-cap Russell 1000® Index or small-cap Russell 2000® Index as well as the appropriate growth and value style indexes. FTSE Russell determines membership for its Russell indexes primarily by objective, market-capitalization rankings and style attributes.

“We are pleased to see our shares added to the Russell Indexes, one of the leading market performance benchmarks in North America,” said Paul Travers, Vuzix Chief Executive Officer. “We view this as an important milestone and one that demonstrates Vuzix’ growing market leadership and enterprise value.  At the same time, we feel this should help raise awareness and the appeal of Vuzix within the institutional investment community.”

Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers and institutional investors for index funds and as benchmarks for active investment strategies. Approximately $10.6 trillion in assets are benchmarked against Russell’s US indexes. Russell indexes are part of FTSE Russell, a leading global index provider.

For more information on the Russell 3000® Index and the Russell indexes reconstitution, go to the “Russell Reconstitution” section on the FTSE Russell website.

FirstNet, built with AT&T, is a public-private partnership with the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority) – an independent agency within the federal government. It’s designed with and for first responders and the public safety agencies and extended community that could be called on to support them.

The ThirdEye X2 MR Glasses and RespondEye software support access to the physically separate and dedicated FirstNet network core, which enables First Priority® capabilities on FirstNet – always-on priority and, for first responders, preemption – and the FirstNet Band 14 spectrum. FirstNet eligible customers can feel confident the X2 MR Glasses combined with FirstNet services will provide the necessary critical connectivity in a reliable, highly secure and cost-effective manner.

As part of the agreement through the FirstNet Embedded IoT Program – a program that allows for industry leading FirstNet eligible devices to be combined with FirstNet to create a bundled, end-to-end solution for a single monthly fee for first responders, public safety agencies and extended community – the ThirdEye solution will include FirstNet connectivity.

This collaboration comes after ThirdEye successfully launched its pilot programs with the Marcus Hook and Upper Merion Fire Departments in Pennsylvania. ThirdEye’s X2 MR Glasses with the RespondEye software help prevent first responders from coming in contact with potential COVID-19 patients using the attachable FLIR (forward-looking infrared) thermal sensor to detect elevated body temperatures – one of the symptoms of the disease. By using the smart glasses, medics can be hands-free and receive digital information displayed live in their field of view.

“Our telehealth software assists first responders with their everyday tasks while also equipping them with the technology to help protect them from COVID-19,” said Nick Cherukuri, CEO and founder of ThirdEye. “FirstNet provides first responders access to the high-speed and reliable connectivity when facing emergencies. We continue to update the RespondEye’s features upon requests from the EMS teams as we work toward making the implementation of AR in healthcare the new norm.”

By wearing the smart glasses, a paramedic in the field can directly contact a doctor for assistance. The doctor can then stream live video from the scene to be displayed on a computer, tablet or smartphone at the hospital via the RespondEye platform. This allows the doctor to assess a patient and make treatment recommendations without having face-to-face contact. The RespondEye software is cross-compatible and runs on ThirdEye X2 MR Glasses as well as iOS/Android phones, tablets and web browsers. The software is currently free to first responders with tiered pricing for data usage being released soon.

“We’re pleased to welcome ThirdEye as a member of our FirstNet IoT Embedded Program,” said Scott Agnew, assistant vice president, product marketing, FirstNet Program at AT&T. “This allows us to further our mission to deploy, operate, maintain, and enhance the only nationwide wireless platform dedicated to public safety and the extended community that support public safety response.”

At just 300 grams, ThirdEye’s X2 MR Glasses are the lightest mixed reality glasses on the market and are suited for comfortable, extensive wear in all conditions. The glasses run on Android 9.0 and are powered by a Snapdragon xR1 Qualcomm processor chip. ThirdEye also developed custom augmented reality first responder software via its RespondEye software platform suite, which connects to the EMS backend systems. This software combined with ThirdEye’s HIPAA certification enables first responders to access all of their data on demand and safely via the X2 MR Glasses.

ThirdEye achieved HIPAA certification for its X2 MR Glasses and RespondEye Platform, HIPAA compliance is a requirement for vendors that handle any patient medical data to ensure the security of the patient’s information as well as confidentiality.

Saab announced on 7 June that it would be working with Finnish firm Varjo to integrate the company’s technology into all simulators for the Saab Gripen E/F aircraft.

Saab’s Head of Tactical Environment Simulation and Visualisation Stefan Furenbäck said in a statement, “We are finalising the basic functionalities in our own simulator so that we can use Varjo’s XR-3 headsets in all our flight simulators. We’ve previously carried out smaller, independent prototype-like projects but now we’re integrating them into our actual flight simulators.”

A key aspect of this, according to Furenbäck, is that Varjo’s technology had allowed pilots to be able to read text and see small details when using the technology, which had been a common concern with other simulator systems.

As a result, the ability to use a high-fidelity goggle-based system has reduced the need for large static and semi-static simulation cave or dome systems for pilot training, allowing for improved training and mission rehearsal to take place at disparate locations that may lack the necessary infrastructure.

Seppo Aaltonen, chief commercial officer at Varjo, told Janes in late 2020 that the company had been working to improve the technology behind its goggle systems, which include the XR-3.

“If you think about commercially available devices, you can get 20–30% of the population feeling ill after usage. We specialise in the high-end professional virtual-reality and mixed-reality market. We have a host of technologies that we have employed to enable extended use, including ergonomics. One of these is individual pupil distance adjustment where we measure each student’s pupil distance and adjust the headset accordingly, and that reduces a lot of simulator sickness.”

The article includes detail on the following:

• Fast and flexible planning of new workstations in production, thanks to VR and digitised 3D factory data
• Learning success and supervision quality with AR technologies as high as in one on one sessions
• Authoring tool developed by the BMW Group makes it possible to design training courses without any coding knowledge
• Target / actual comparison between camera image and CAD models for fast, straightforward quality checks of parts and vehicles

Read the full article here 

Ships regularly undergo large-scale retrofits, but shipowners rarely have design data in digital form at hand. To design ship modifications, an engineering accuracy of the as-built ship geometry is required, which means each vessel must be 3D laser-scanned. ShipReality, a company specialised in AR/VR ship design automation and remote ops, synthesises these large ship laser scans with its CAD software to design directly in 3D, resulting in merged models of CAD in the as-built ship geometry point clouds.

“We want to speed up and optimise retrofit designs for 60,000 ships that require greenhouse gas emissions reduction, energy conversions & ballast water treatment system (BWTS) retrofits in the coming years”, said Georgios Bourtzos, CEO and co-founder of ShipReality. “A major challenge we faced designing directly in large point clouds was visualising entire vessels layered with resulting 3D designs for immersive design reviews on mobile XR devices like Oculus Quest 2 and HoloLens 2.”

Exploring the use of point clouds in AR

Point clouds are precise models of real environments based on 3D laser or photogrammetry scanning. Objects and space are represented in the form of “points”. Millions of such points combined formulate a point cloud scan. The scan is then imported into a 3D modeling platform with the purpose of creating an as-built model. Common CAD software used for ship designs, although incorporating 3D laser scans, still rely on 2D projections and screens to visualise and design in 3D. This often results in incompatibilities with the existing ship geometry, which are only realised during installation, creating substantial delays and high additional costs.

Visualisation in 3D is a key issue to address these problems. However, visualising large point clouds requires substantial CPU and graphics power. The performance requirements are simply too high for rendering it locally on a mobile XR device. It would cause an extremely low frame rate and even software crashes. Dealing with large datasets, ShipReality had to find a solution that could surpass the limited memory, CPU and GPU resources of mobile devices.

XR streaming solution that supports point cloud

XR streaming technology outsources the rendering process to a local server or the cloud. But not every solution on the market supports ultra large data or point clouds. “We integrated the ISAR SDK into our solution to stream large 3D laser scans merged with CAD retrofit designs to a HoloLens 2,” said Mr Bourtzos. ISAR (Interactive Streaming for Augmented Reality) is a unique remote rendering software component that allows to stream entire augmented and virtual reality applications in real time. “The simplicity and ease of integration of the software development kit worked seamlessly with our large models.”

Integrating ISAR into their engine and software, ShipReality was able to visualise a massive model containing more than one billion points. Layered on top was also BWTS CAD design data created by the company’s ShipMR-design software with additional five million polygons. To compare, a mobile XR device could only render about one and half million polygons locally. As the remote rendering server ShipReality used a moderate gaming laptop and the local WiFi, broadcasting on 2.4GHz band. More performance and bandwidth enable even greater visualisations.

Next level immersive experiences

“ISAR has amazing potential for AR/VR visualisation of massive digital twins and real-time monitoring of projected complex 3D designs merged with as-built environments in shipping and other industries,” said Mr Bourtzos. ShipReality is now able to:

• visualise ship models that are only suited for high-performance processing
• capture large assets 1:1 and integrate complex 3D CAD designs/data
• visualise detailed models for spatial analytics in augmented reality

“ISAR can save us a lot of time and resources because we can directly use point clouds in mobile AR: some pre-processing steps can be avoided.”

Data availability, accuracy, density, and size of 3D point clouds are also forecast to vastly increase within the next years. “To realise the full potential of immersive point cloud experiences, streaming will play a major role,” concluded Georgios Bourtzos.

LifecycleIQ Services provide the transformative partnership that customers need and expect today. By combining digital technologies with expansive human know-how, the services help companies work faster, smarter and with greater agility at every point in their business cycle. The services can help companies realize the power of a Connected Enterprise during the design, operations, and maintenance stages in greenfield and brownfield facilities.

“LifecycleIQ Services create a more intimate customer engagement model, one that can help companies not only solve problems, but also see new possibilities in production and transform them into reality,” said Frank Kulaszewicz, senior vice president, Lifecycle Services at Rockwell Automation. “We’re investing in providing a wide range of holistic services to help companies be more productive, safe and secure anywhere in a product, process or plant lifecycle.”

Inbavanan Rathinam, senior director, Solutions & Services, Asia-Pacific at Rockwell Automation, said: “One challenge faced by many industrial players in Asia-Pacific is how to adopt smart manufacturing technology quickly whilst seamlessly integrating legacy equipment and machinery. LifeCycleIQ Services help to address this unmet need holistically, enabling enterprises to be future-ready by incorporating agility and flexibility in both infrastructure and processes.

“Driving efficiencies also continues to be increasingly important to businesses across every sector in the region, with growing attention on sustainable operations. LifeCycleIQ Services enables our customers to better plan and service every aspect of the plant, from design to safe operations, enabling reduced energy usage, minimized wastage, and maximized output.”

Industrial companies can use LifecycleIQ Services to achieve outcomes like:

Capturing more value from digital transformation initiatives

Digital initiatives can struggle to get off the ground because companies don’t know what steps to take or where to start. Using the knowledge and experience within LifecycleIQ Services, companies can strategically plan, implement and scale their digital initiatives.

Support can begin with defining strategic objectives, identifying use cases and quantifying business value. Rockwell Automation can then continue to support customers through implementation, ongoing maintenance and continuous innovation.

Reducing risk with comprehensive cybersecurity support

Cybersecurity is a top priority today, but few companies have specialists with both information and operations technology (IT/OT) security knowledge. Rockwell Automation is uniquely equipped to address complex security challenges in IT/OT environments. The company understands the OT environment and how it interfaces with IT and follows industry security standards.

LifecycleIQ Services can help companies adopt a proactive cybersecurity approach and address the entire attack continuum — before, during and after an event. Also, as more companies connect their plants to remote workers and partners like original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), Rockwell Automation can help protect those connections with secure remote access and security posture assessment services.

Improving workforce support

Companies need new ways to support their workforces as they contend with global health challenges and skills shortages brought on by the retirement of trained workers and an influx of new technologies. They also need workforce support as they seek to make the most of IIoT technologies.

LifecycleIQ Services can help companies address their unique workforce challenges and gaps by assessing needs, identifying priorities and creating workforce development programs. Rockwell Automation also uses remote support capabilities and augmented reality technologies to help companies interact virtually with support engineers, strengthen skills with virtual training, and provide safety and security services without sending people into plants.

To improve customer experiences, LifecycleIQ Services is also introducing a new way to receive multiple services in one contract. An Integrated Service Agreement allows companies to select a package of offerings to simplify their support needs and have just one number to call to access experts and receive priority service. Companies can get 24×7 technical support, repair services, reports and analytics, field services and more, all in one integrated contract.

About Rockwell Automation

Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE: ROK), is a global leader in industrial automation and digital transformation. We connect the imaginations of people with the potential of technology to expand what is humanly possible, making the world more productive and more sustainable. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Rockwell Automation employs approximately 24,000 problem solvers dedicated to our customers in more than 100 countries. To learn more about how we are bringing the Connected Enterprise to life across industrial enterprises, visit www.rockwellautomation.com.

Members joined during May 2021

Keen Research

Keen Research develops SDKs for on-device automatic speech recognition for devices running iOS, Android, Linux, or ChromeOS operating systems. The SDK uses a state-of-the-art speech recognition engine based on Deep Neural Networks at its core, and it includes a variety of acoustic models. – CEO, Ognjen Todic

Insider Navigation

A Vienna-based large-scale Augmented Reality company, founded in 2014, is the first company to offer AR-based indoor positioning for industrial solutions, which has been operationally in use for years.  Among the well-known customers are Volkswagen, Ford, JLL, Magna Steyr and many more. CSO, Lena Miglbauer

DoX Systems

DoX Systems is a Finnish software company founded in 1991 who develop retail systems that aid with technical documentation and related processes. Their current customers consist of large-scale enterprises and SMEs in Nordic countries. Sales, Tommi Tolvanen

Members joined earlier in 2021

Rockwell Automation

Looking to see how we can help our Clients – Member since Apr 2021 – Director of Digital Technology Office which includes all Industry 4.0 technologies. Director – Global Information Solutions Technical Consultants, Andrew Ellis

Xennial Digital

Xennial Digital is an XR company focused on immersive learning for enterprise and educational clients. CEO | CXO, Douglas Fajardo

Holo-Light

Holo-Light specializes in immersive software and technologies for the enterprise market. The company has developed a unique remote rendering SDK, ISAR, that allows users to stream entire big data XR applications in real time. Holo-Light also provides ARES Pro, a powerful XR software, enabling engineers to work and collaborate on 3D CAD data. Chief Marketing Officer – Co-Founder, Luis Bollinger

Augmented Reality Engineering FZE

We create Extended Reality experiences. We provide intuitive digital solutions to your tough problems. Covering industries from the workforce to academia. CEO, Akram Amir

INFRASI

“We simplify enterprise mobility with cost-effective, cloud-enabled and modern IT infrastructure solutions. By embracing and adopting this technology, your company becomes increasingly agile and effective, digitally transforming your business for maximum results.” CEO, Doyin Adewodu

Siemens DI SW

“Amid unprecedented change and the rapid pace of innovation, digitalization is no longer tomorrow’s idea. We take what the future promises tomorrow and make it real for our customers today. Welcome to… Where today meets tomorrow”.  Product Management Visualization, Ian Fisher.

• According to the report, the hands-free, voice-controlled devices provide on-site automotive technicians instant access to Ford expert advice no matter where their dealership is located.
• RealWear assisted reality solutions have enabled automotive technicians in South Africa to perform complex and difficult repairs faster and more accurately than ever before.
• Ford is using the solution to cut the expense of sending experts to every far-flung location in their dealership network.
• The devices have also enabled Ford to boost customer satisfaction by reducing wait-times and ensuring vehicles are repaired correctly the first time.
• Ford will expand their use of RealWear’s headsets to more remote dealerships in South Africa – as well as to other locations in sub-Saharan Africa.

Ford’s Announcement Says it Gained Business Benefits From the RealWear HMT-1 Hands-Free Deployment

According to the article, global innovation leader Ford Motor Company has gained a series of business benefits after introducing RealWear HMT-1 assisted reality devices in their South African dealerships. Ford had previously rolled out RealWear’s solution in parts of Australia and Europe.

List of Benefits Provided

Ford is enjoying many benefits throughout their South African Dealerships. These include:

• The ability for remote technicians to gain real-time access to Ford experts so they can complete difficult repairs faster, easier and more accurately than ever.
• The ability to eliminate vehicle repair bottlenecks cause by the delays in on-site expertise.
• The ability to significantly reduce the enormous expense of sending vehicle repair experts to far-flung remote locations.
• The ability to boost customer satisfaction by repairing vehicles correctly the first time – and reducing customer vehicle downtime.

Ford says its employees have been very happy with RealWear’s solution.

Read the full article here. 

See RealWear’s AREA member profile here. 

With increased language support, and the platform and hardware independence in place, we enable companies globally to scale XMReality even broader. The new language support functionality makes it easier to add more languages whenever needed. The combination of guidance features and multiple languages help our customers and partners to bridge language barriers and become even more efficient in expanding into their markets.

Smarter communication and less barriers allows for faster, more secure ability to help people all over the world, meeting a diverse audience. It will also make it easier for workers to reach out for help when both the caller and the recipient can view the app in their own language. Those who resell XMReality Remote Guidance as a part of their offer, will experience less friction in both packaging and marketing of the solution.

XMReality is now available in:

Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish and Spanish.

Read more about this and other updates here Latest Updates 

XMReality AREA member profile 

The way we work is changing. While businesses tackle the challenges of increasingly competitive markets, the workforce needs to constantly adapt to new tools, changing processes and different work environments.

Emerging technology is transforming the industrial workplace. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) improve automation, data driven insights and operational efficiency. However, the technology that holds the most potential for creating our future workplace is Augmented Reality (AR).

RE’FLEKT explores the future of the industrial workplace and the role of Work Augmentation and Remote Collaboration based on AR technology. We take a close look at how businesses will work tomorrow by connecting their workforce with information and knowledge today – using Enterprise Augmented Reality.

The guide is comprehensive and comes in a number of sections:

• How enterprise AR tackles business challenges
• The digital AR guide
• Manufacturing in the remote economy age
• AR devices

You can read the full article here