One of the global leaders in hands-free augmented reality (AR) wearable computers, RealWear, have announced a new product which they state is the world’s first commercially available intrinsically safe wearable computer. Dubbed the HMT-1Z1, this new wearable presents no ignition risk where potentially explosive atmospheres exist during routine operations.
This means that the HMT-1Z1 can be used to assist in the work environment even in areas where a possible explosive risk may be present due to the atmosphere. Intrinsic safety is a design and protection technique for safe operation of electrical and electronic equipment in hazardous locations by limiting the electrical or thermal energy so to not cause ignition of explosive gases, even under a fault condition in the device.
The HMT-1Z1 comes with a 2.0 GHz 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 with Adreno 506 GPU chipset, with 2GB RAM running Android 6.0.1 with WearHF hands-free interface. The wearable supported 16GB of internal storage along with a MicroSD slot. It offers 8-10 hours of battery life and offers 20-degree field-of-view, 1 meter fixed focus display with a resolution of 854×480.
“With the launch of the HMT-1Z1, now all workers, even those in potentially explosive areas requiring intrinsically safe equipment, can take full advantage of the freedom and efficiencies available through purpose-built wearable computing,” said Andy Lowery, Co-founder and CEO of RealWear.
With the new HMT-1Z1 wearable, RealWear have made it possible for workers in hazardous and high-risk areas to benefit from hands-free AR that can be a huge benefit to their work. Eastman Chemical, a global advanced materials and specialty additives company, are currently working with RealWear on a project that will utilize the HMT-1Z1.
“We have enjoyed on boarding and deploying RealWear HMT-1 units and are eagerly awaiting the HMT-1Z1 units,” said Jan Shumate, Director, Engineering Services & Solutions for World Wide Engineering and Construction, Eastman Chemical. “Those intrinsic safety-rated units will serve to bridge workflow into hazard-rated areas where we’ve historically had difficulty deploying new technology. We hope to see a step change in our ability to support manufacturing operations with the deployment of the HMT-1Z1.”
Designed for Zone 1 hazardous areas, which include petrochemical plants and also pharmaceutical, food (grain silos and sugar processing), and cosmetic manufacturing, all of which involve processing potentially explosive substances, the HMT-1Z1 will be a big benefit to workers. Some uses include remote mentoring via video collaboration, hands-free document navigation, guided workflow and IoT visualization from process control systems.
VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest on the HMT-1Z1 in the future so stay tuned for more.
