VINCI Construction’s geotechnical arm Soletanche Bachy is equipping its field staff with RealWear Assisted Reality (AR) headsets from SimplyVideo.
The headsets will enable virtual collaboration between field workers and office-based specialists, allowing site visits and inspections to take place remotely.
Stuart Brooks, HSSE manager for Soletanche Bachy International Major Projects, said: “With global travel restrictions being imposed last year, the pandemic exacerbated the issues related to health & safety.
“Ultimately, SimplyVideo was the only platform that offered what we considered to be a workable solution – we needed more than just a remote expert tool; we needed a cross-reality collaboration platform and that’s what SimplyVideo does so well.”
In the field, Soletanche Bachy uses head-mounted devices that incorporate a microphone, display, and speakers for complete hands-free working.
The company is specifically using the RealWear HMT-1 head-mounted Android tablet, which can survive drops onto concrete and provides simple voice-based operation in noisy environments.
The display in the boom actually appears to the eye as a 7-inch screen, offering multi-language speech recognition and 4G connectivity.
SimplyVideo also gives Soletanche Bachy a virtual mentoring tool allowing onsite training of less experienced workers.
Those with greater expertise can join in virtually, rather than in person, and help them using their greater knowledge and experience.
Brooks added: “The beauty of the SimplyVideo solution is that we can bring more expertise together; something we simply couldn’t do before – the platform gives us a clear visual representation of what’s really happening on site.”
The Soletanche Bachy system was delivered in partnership with the East Sussex based independent IT supplier SystemActive, a SimplyVideo and RealWear reseller.
Image credit: Soletanche Bachy
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