Category: Trimble

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Microsoft Expands HoloLens Availability, Hard Hat Option Coming Soon

Despite HoloLens being now almost two years old, Microsoft isn’t showing any signs of slowing down its plans for the AR headset. Today the company announced that the device is available in two more markets, with rental options rolling out, and a forthcoming hard hat solution to allow the headset to be used in more places.

HoloLens was first made available back in 2016 starting at $3,000 as a dev kit, and eventually offered at $5,000 as an enterprise package. It’s there in enterprise and commercial sectors where the headset seems to be seeing growing traction. Today the company has announced that they’re adding Singapore and the United Arab Emirates to the list of regions from which the device can be purchased, now totaling 41 countries.

Working with partner ABCOMRENTS, Microsoft is also now making HoloLens available as an enterprise equipment rental for companies who want to evaluate the device ahead of purchase or temporarily boost their inventory of headsets. Rentals are being offered initially in the US and Canada, and Microsoft says they’re working to bring the rental option to more markets in the months ahead.

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Supporting the headset in industries which regularly require that workers wear hard hats—like construction sites, offshore facilities, and mining—Microsoft has worked with Trimble to create an ANSI-approved HoloLens hard hat solution which integrates the headset with industry standard head protection, while ensuring that the headset’s enterprise warranty remains valid. Trimble’s HoloLens hard hat is expected to be available in Q1, though pricing hasn’t been confirmed.

Trimble has also launched the Trimble Connect app which consolidates information for on-site access:

Trimble Connect for HoloLens utilizes mixed-reality technology to take your 3D content off the screen and into the real-world, providing project stakeholders with enhanced 3D design review, coordination, collaboration, and project management processes. Built on the cloud-hosted Trimble Connect collaboration platform, Trimble Connect for HoloLens supports a new way of working with AECO models throughout the building lifecycle, from design to demolition.

The app is said to feature auto-alignment of 3D models over the real-world project.

The post Microsoft Expands HoloLens Availability, Hard Hat Option Coming Soon appeared first on Road to VR.

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HoloLens Being Used for Facilities Management

It has become apparent as the virtual reality (VR) field has grown that videogames would only be one small part of the sector, and that applications for business, education and industry would make up a much larger proportion of the applications for VR, augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR). Accordingly HoloLens is being applied to the function of property and facilities management.

The HoloLens is forming part of a pilot program between Microsoft and Trimble that will allow corporate real estate owners and facilities management to try out the new technology and see how it will benefit from functions such as visualisation of maintenance workflows, the overlay of data relevant to physical objects and building information modelling. Brookfield GIS is one of the first companies to apply the technology with their Building Digital Workplace Virtual Lab.

“We are excited to be collaborating with Brookfield GIS to explore technologies that will profoundly impact the future of the workplace,” said David George, general manager of Trimble’s Real Estate and Workplace Solutions. “The Building Digital Workplace Virtual Lab is an innovative way to work closely with clients to test new technologies such as the HoloLens in real-life scenarios for facilities and property management. This approach provides a collaborative forum that brings diverse thinking and a holistic approach to solving our clients’ operational challenges.

Microsoft HoloLens

“The rapid expansion and uptake of digital and smart workplace solutions means that employees are no longer defined by a purely physical space, and can instead function as agile teams with a digital readiness that was not previously possible,” said Jon McCormick, president and managing director Brookfield GIS Asia Pacific. “Together with Trimble, we have the opportunity to explore intelligent solutions for the workplaces of the future.”

Other companies such as Vuzix and its business partners are also looking at applying VR/AR technology to industry, such as for stock management and quality control.

VRFocus will bring you further news on the HoloLens and other industry applications for VR and AR.

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Trimble Mixed Reality coming to DAQRI Smart Helmet

The DAQRI Smart Helmet will be getting the Trimble Mixed Reality application suite added to its compatible list of applications, which will enable users from the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry to use augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR).

The construction industry has recently begun to bring virtual reality (VR) and AR technology into the industry in a big way, using the advantages of VR/AR in planning and training to save money and improve safety, as we have seen with the push to use VR to train crane operators, or the investment in construction site capture with Holobuilder.

Trimble and DAQRI are joining others in the effort to transform and improve how construction sites work using AR/MR and wearable technology. Aviad Almagor, director of Trimble’s Mixed-Reality Program said: “Mixed reality enables our customers to interact with digital content in the context of the physical environment. Our customers would like to extend the use of this technology as part of their day-to-day on-site work. It is our mission and part of our hardware agnostic approach to provide them a variety of solutions, which support their needs.”

daqri smart helmet

The DAQRI Smart Helmet has been designed specifically to meet safety requirement in potentially dangerous environments such as construction sites, off-shore facilities like oil rigs and mining operations.

“We are very excited to collaborate with Trimble and to showcase the DAQRI Smart Helmet at ConExpo,” said Roy Ashok, DAQRI’s chief product officer. “DAQRI’s proprietary, augmented-reality technologies and Trimble’s mature set of mixed-reality applications can enable workers to be safer and more productive in the field. In addition, this collaboration will enable DAQRI to enter new markets and accelerate the implementation of our vision.”

VRFocus will bring you further updates on DAQRI and VR/AR use in construction as it comes in.