The construction industry has many companies turning to wearable technology to help manage risks and incidents at work according to an article on Insurance Business Mag. They believe occupational injuries and illnesses are estimated to cost the US £250 billion a year but companies using wearables are gaining huge insurance benefits.

The article discusses how Triax Technologies is one such company in the construction wearable technology industry, who is launching their sensor technology this year.

Chief Operating Officer at Triax, Pete Schermerhorn has said the company’s product is worn on all workers’ belts on a construction site. The sensors track all workers whereabouts and have an emergency locator button for accidents and injuries.

“It’s a safety system for construction. If someone slips, trips, or falls on site, this sends an automatic notification [to a site supervisor] that someone has hit the ground. The system logs how high they fell, where they fell on site, and who else was in the geographic area – so that’s important information, obviously, from a claims perspective,” Schermerhorn said.

The wearables provide, according to Triax, “real-time, data-driven visibility in the challenging construction site environment. It helps to improve worker safety and reduce incident response times, while enabling general contractors to better manage projects and labour productivity”.

A market report has been released discussing the worldwide Mobile Augmented Reality Display Market this week (July 2017) providing in depth research on the current industry.

This new research offers a strategic assessment of the Mobile Augmented Reality Display Market focusing on the growth opportunities, which will help the industry expand operations in the existing markets globally, according to the article.

The report introduces a basic overview on the industry which includes definitions, applications, classifications and mobile Augmented Reality Display industry chain structure. The report provides an analysis for the international market, development history and major sectors development status on the industry.

The main vendors which are mentioned in the report include:

• Vuzix
• Skully, Inc.
• Sony
• Microsoft
• Epson
• Intel Company (Recon Instruments)
• Mindmaze
• Seebright Inc.

Applications segment analysis include the following sections:

• Medical
• Entertainment
• Telecommunications
• Other

The Mobile Augmented Reality Display market covers the geological regions including US, EU, China, and Japan. Other regions can also be added efficiently as per customers need. The report also displays the market size for each category during the forecasting period from 2017 to 2022.

To read the report in full click here

Startup Focus, a company in Canada are looking for innovative AR & IoT startups to pitch at their event ‘AR & IoT in the Enterprise.’ The event is to take place Tuesday 1st August at SAP’s campus in Montreal, QC, Canada.

This event allows startup companies in the AR/VR and IoT industry to pitch at SAP executives, founder institute members, venture capital investors and leaders in the AR/VR and IoT space.  Companies applying to pitch must be based in Canada.

Companies that can pitch as this event must fit the following:

• Enterprise /B2B focused
• Software component is significant and needs integration into enterprise systems
• Raised less than US $5 million
• Have a minimum valuable product
• Based in Canada

If you’re a startup in Augmented Reality, wherever you’re based, you may like to know that The AREA is offering a start-up membership level, making it more affordable for younger companies to play a key part in developing the AR ecosystem. Find out more here.

A recent article, by The Telegraph, discusses why Smart Data holds the key to the future office. The article gives views on the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence and robotics and they also believe that by 2020, about 1.7MB new information will be created every second for every human on the planet.

According to the article, many businesses are reaping the rewards of data analytics software. Some office staff are now being offered wearable devices, so they can track their activity throughout the day. This area of technology has been on the rise for some time; some forecasts suggest that the market for enterprise wearables could grow annually by 139pc over the next few years. From Fitbits that can monitor for potential RSI, to SmartCaps that help prevent lorry drivers falling asleep at the wheel, all are positive moves when it comes to staff wellbeing states the article.

The article also discusses Hitachi’s wearable sensor for office staff. This technology gathers data on their individual behavioural traits and measures how that correlates with work productivity and analysing this data revealed a link between specific physical movements and crucially between happiness and employee productivity.

To read this article about Smart Data in full, click here.

Students at Brisbane based Griffith University’s School of Pharmacy and Toxicology are using Wearable Augmented Reality Software and Smart Glasses to gain ‘life-like’ instruction and modern-day workplace scenarios according to a recent article by CIO.com

Dr Gary Grant, deputy head for the School of Pharmacy said the Smart Glass technology exposes students to countless workplaces scenarios, a situation not typically possible under normal teaching environments.

“We go from Augmented Reality to Virtual Reality to Mixed. We collect panoramic imagery of the healthcare sector and that includes trying to capture the entire journey of a patient through healthcare in high resolution imagery. That then is presented to our students as an orientation exercise, and we do that in a couple of modes: in large screen projection, but we also immerse them within that environment using Epson BT-300 smart glasses.”

According to the article, using this technology is allowing students are Griffith to sit inside the treatment room of an emergency department helping them gain skills and experience. The technology helps in university standardize care, providing the ‘training wheels’ for practitioners in early practice.

To read the full article, click here.

In a report this month (July 2017), the ‘Global Wearable Medical Devices Market’ is set to grow at a CAGR of 19.58% from 2016 to 2021 reaching a total of 11.18 billion. According to medgadget.com, the Global Wearable Medical Device Market was only estimated at 4.57 billion in 2016 almost tripling the market value in 1 year.

This market report is segmented into many sections such as application, therapeutic wearable devices and diagnostic wearable devices. Medgadget discusses how the diagnostic wearable medical devices market is envisaged to witness tremendous growth and will post a CAGR of more than 19% over the forecast period. Diagnostic wearables provide real-time health information, thus allowing the end users to have complete control over their health and well-being.

Some key questions which are answered in the report include:

• What is the current and future Wearable Medical Devices market outlook worldwide? What trends are affecting the Global market?
• What is the competitive landscape and market share of major players in the Wearable Medical Devices space globally?
• What are the key, high growth markets that Wearable Medical Devices manufacturers should expand into? Which market segments are growing the fastest?
• What are the unmet needs with the Wearable Medical Devices currently on the market? How will emerging technologies fulfil these unmet needs?

Wearable medical devices offer the supporting hardware for dealing with the emerging medical trend of delivering point-of-care service, unconfined medical monitoring and support, and assisting in the remote management of medical conditions for rehabilitating patients and the disabled.

To read the full article and market report click here

According to the article, award winners are selected by more than 40 industry-leading press, editors, journalists, thought leaders and analysts who cover technology. There are 68 awards than can be won and these awards identify the best in mobile devices and software, wireless technology, platforms, Internet of Things, wearables, reuse/recycling of devices, connected products, robotics, Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence and emerging solutions.

PTC is one of the leading providers of enterprise IoT technologies and services. Its ThingWorx technology has grown alongside the Industrial IoT market, becoming one of the most widely-used and trusted ways for companies to leverage the Industrial IoT to create smart, connected operations, products, and solutions.

This is the third consecutive year that PTC has seen its IoT leadership recognized by the Compass Intelligence Awards. In 2016, PTC was named Internet of Things Enablement Company of the Year and Leading Augmented Reality Vendor, and in 2015 PTC was named IoT Innovation Vendor of the Year for its ThingWorx® IoT technology.

Congratulations to PTC!

At this event, according to the article, Peoria, Illinois-based Caterpillar Inc demonstrated a solution it created to reduce accidents involving collisions between heavy machinery and construction personnel. Using a small beacon that fits inside a hardhat and a receiver mounted in the cab of a vehicle or machine, the solution can detect when a worker is dangerously close to the equipment and alert the driver with an alarm.

This opinion piece also discusses the construction industry being a ‘prime early target market for wearable devices designed to improve workplace safety.’

“The fundamental idea behind many wearables ultimately is to change behavior,” said Ms. Michael. “Evidence gathered from years of progress in this area is that behavior is driven predominantly by organizational culture and systems to reinforce desired behaviors and discourage deviations.”

To read this article in full, click here.

Launched at this year’s CES, DAQRI introduced Smart Glasses that are a powerful, lightweight and comfortable headset. Designed for use in multiple settings such as medical, engineering, construction and manufacturing, they also provide a visual computing medium which allows wearers to see guided work instructions.

The article states that not only will Flex be manufacturing DAQRI’s headsets they will also be managing logistics directly to the consumer and provide after-market services including repair maintenance.

Brian Mullins, CEO and Founder at DAQRI said, “the pace of growth across our Augmented Reality platform continues to accelerate. It’s now time for DAQRI to scale operations to meet our customer demand. By working with Flex, not only do we get access to a global system of production and logistics, but we get a true innovation partner as we build the future of Augmented Reality. That’s very powerful.”

To read the article in full, click here.

“Our clients are located all over the world, manufacturing anything from cosmetics to pharmaceuticals and heavy machinery. Some clients make as many as 1,000 tubes per minute, where each minute of downtime can result in significant financial loss,” says Christer Bäck, Customer Service Manager at Norden Machinery.

XMReality have then come up with intuitive solution to stop financial loss with their new ‘Remote Guidance’ being a valuable tool. This new tool enables its service staff to guide each other without being physically on site.

Niklas Rengfors, sales director at XMReality, said: “Our software can be easily installed on different hardware platforms, such as laptops, smartphones and tablets. Additionally, many users opt for the smart glasses that offer a wide field of view and let the user work with both hands free. The choice of hardware is based on the needs of the company.”

Common applications within the manufacturing industry include field service and aftermarket service, as well as training. Reduced travel costs, an improved service offering and a higher skill level within the company are some of the advantages that XMReality’s customers testify to.

To read the article in full click here.