"Challenge (the problem being solved):
Industrial vehicles, such as for agriculture, earth moving, mining, and forestry, are increasingly empowered by digital and cyber-physical information, i.e. data provided by various sensors. An example is NIR spectrometry used in agriculture and forestry with drones, used for mapping for the needs of e.g. precision farming . These new information-based systems aid the operators’ tasks, improving productivity and enhancing safety with better situational awareness. Moreover, machines are handling more and more data and being connected together as IoT solutions are becoming more common in industrial usage. With the advances of autonomous vehicles, it is foreseen that with higher levels of autonomy in future vehicles, the activities and purpose of an operator will transform more towards supervision of machines (supervised autonomy) rather than operating the machine itself. In addition, the operator might, for example, control not only one, but a number of machines at once.
This evolution has many benefits but there may also be negative side effects. Operation of industrial vehicles can lead to cognitive challenges and high mental load.
Head Up Display’s (HUD’s), which have been implemented in aviation for many years, seem promising as a solution to this challenge. Studies have shown that HUD’s perform best in delivering operators information needed while preventing fatigue in sectors like forestry, agriculture, mining and earth moving.
Why is this so important for society:
United Nations’ (FAO) call for food production to increase with 60 % by 2050 – is an example of an area that must be met with new technology for automation and precision farming, where better Human Machine Interaction (HMI) will increase productivity. Increased regulations on sustainable forestry and agriculture is another area where HMI can play a key-role in empowering the operators.
The capital costs of heavy machinery may reach up to 1 M€, depending on the industry. This factor limits the training time that young workers can use to learn the necessary operational skills. Allowing trainees to be guided by non-intrusive live information delivered when/where needed, lowers the entry threshold in the agricultural, forestry, or construction sectors, in turn providing wider opportunities of employment for young talents (half of the farmers in EU are 55 years or older for instance ). Similarly, if the profession of operator can rely more on technological/technical skills rather than (the perceived need for) sheer physical resilience, employers will be less biased against women entering these traditionally male dominated sectors.
Furthermore, Optea HUD improves the safety of machinery operators due to better situational awareness and thus increases productivity, decreases machinery downtime as well as machine operator fatigue and amount of absences.
What are the overall objectives:
Introducing innovative products into novel application areas through a network of stakeholders (customers, investors, providers, academia, etc), with the vision to become the leading Technology provider of AR through HUD in OHV markets such as Forestry and Agriculture. With the potential to expand to other heavy machinery-dependent industries. Optea's HUD system is named ""Forest Falcon"" in Forestry, and ""Hawk Sight"" in Agriculture."
