HeadApp develops AR and VR solutions. Using smart wearable devices and IoT technology, it provides intuitive products for business aimed at more effective distance employee training and remote guiding for technicians.
Partner of Digisky, a strategic leader in the Aerospace industry, HeadApp was founded in 2014 by a team of Italian entrepreneurs passionate about technology, aviation, biotech, and ICT, including ESA astronaut Maurizio Cheli.
HeadApp leads technology transfer of the zero-tolerance approach from the aerospace to all industries, in particular logistics, energy and public utility, insurance, health, maintenance, and manufacturing. The company’s services and solutions are committed to precision and high-quality standards to guarantee safety in a mission-critical context, and to enhance the workforce ability to perform daily tasks. It has developed a collaborative platform – Eye4Task – for smart glasses and smartphones to augment human capabilities, allowing everyone to become an instant expert. Thanks to Eye4Task and our wearable devices, technicians all over the world can share what they see with an expert in real time, receive remote guidance, step-by-step instructions to accelerate decision making and to perform their tasks at their best.
Easy Engineering: What are the main areas of activity of the company?
HeadApp: HeadApp (www.headapp.eu) develops AR and VR solutions to help people in everyday work, using smart glasses and wearable devices. HeadApp’s main projects are:
-Eye4Task, an AR remote collaboration platform designed to support on-field operators in mission-critical contexts.
-Eye4Training an immersive VR training solution designed to virtually train workforces and improve their expertise.
E.E: What’s the news for 2020 about new products?
HeadApp: Our R&D department constantly scouts new technologies; then, following a maturity check, it integrates them to our platform to improve the End-User experience.
According to the latest trends, and HW & SW maturity, we are now in the process of adding:
-New, totally voice-driven, user interaction, to let users operate with „truly free hands”;
-Deeper AR interactions among remote experts and field operators, to overcome semantic misunderstandings;
-Advanced step-by-step engine implementation procedures, to enable field operators to not only receive support during the procedure itself, but also to certify the activity and thus to allow the company to capitalize on the activities carried out.
E.E: What are the ranges of traded products?
HeadApp: HeadApp focuses on wearable devices integrated with its own collaboration platform, with a truly vertical approach to the 4.0 industry. We sell a ready-to-use product, which based on customers’ requests, can be integrated with its systems, such as:
-ERP;
-PLM;
-Documental repository;
-Iot platform.
E.E:At what stage is the market where you are currently activeAt what stage is the market where you are currently active?
HeadApp: Based on our experience, the industry currently more heavily investing in this technology is the Energy & Public Utility industry and manufacturing company. There are intrinsic risks and different constraints, due to limited space and critical contexts. In this scenario, hands-free, upgraded equipment, and physical assets are a priority to solve operational issues.
Thanks to our smart glasses, we create a bridge between on-field operators and remote experts. We help people working at the top, wherever they are, whatever their knowledge and experience. By wearing smart glasses, the operators can perform a video call with experts all over the world, share what they see with them, receive support, and carry out their activities hands-free, without taking their eyes off the work area.
Smart Glasses are the enabling factor for an actual “real-time” information exchange. For the first time, operators can use not only their hands, but they can also mentally focus on the activity they are performing, without having to juggle a tablet, a laptop or mobile phones. You see, already in the ’90s, in one of the most mission-critical activities, the first Military Pilot experienced HUD, the purpose was to save crucial seconds due to cockpit interaction. Similarly, today operators have the same objective, that is, saving billions of seconds by going straight to the solution.
It is no coincidence that HeadApp is a competence Spinoff of Digisky, a company active in the Space Economy that developed the first solution for General Aviation pilots based on smart glasses.
E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?
HeadApp: Today around 2.5 billion people are working out of the office, all over the world. Therefore, industries and companies need to promote remote collaboration to grow their business globally. Wearable solutions, and in particular smart glasses, foster this kind of collaboration.
Then, once the companies understand that such technology will help competences and know-hows circulate without asking people to move, they will resort to massively adopting it.ion
E.E: What are the most innovative products marketed?
HeadApp: I would say that we only sell innovative products, but I would concentrate on Eye4Task, which t regardless of its innovative technology, has been designed and developed to be ready for the market, oriented to tactual, no-frillsfield usage.
E.E: What estimations do you have for 2020?
HeadApp: According to the Rogers curve, this market is in its early adoption phase, but based on the market analysis forecast, on our sales result and latest Covid-19, we see a sharp acceleration of the market acceptance, generating an economic driving force.
