Smart Construction Helmets with Augmented Reality

DAQRI smart helmet - A visionary tool for the 21 century worker. LA-based augmented reality company Daqri has unveiled a smart hardhat that gives workers additional layers of information about their surroundingsDATA VISUALIZATION - Give your workers distributed information and situational awareness outside of the control room to improve efficiency by reducing the amount of movement and the need for a centralized location.
Thermal Vision - Create a safer environment for your operators by giving them the ability to visualize, passively record, and analyze temperature data in their real world environment as well as improve maintenance and monitoring.

GUIDED WORK INSTRUCTIONS -

Provide your workforce with intuitive augmented instructions on the job so they’ll understand processes quickly, spend less time on each step, and make fewer errors.

Remote Expert -

Give and receive needed assistance displayed directly in your team's point-of-view, sharing expertise, and elevating their skill level. Both the expert and the onsite team member will be able to quickly and intelligently resolve issues or concerns.

The helmet – which has a blue scratch-resistant visor – was specifically created for workers in industrial settings, such as oil rigs, water treatment plants and construction sites. It is intended to increase productivity, efficiency and safety, said the company.

"We've been working in the medium of augmented reality for the past four years, and what we found was, you just can't solve the most challenging problems with devices that were designed for consumers," said Brian Mullins, Daqri's founder and CEO. "We needed something that was designed specifically for industrial applications."

The headgear uses a combination of cameras and sensors to capture and record real-time information about the user's surroundings, from valve readings to thermal data. It can also show the wearer stored information like safety guidelines and worker instructions.

The device could be integrated with building information modelling (BIM) software. This could allow the display to show users the insides of structural elements, such as the interior of a pipe.

"Users are provided with unprecedented levels of information about the world around them for the most precise display and tracking possible," said the company on its website. "The most powerful augmented reality device on the market will change the nature of work."

"This idea has been in academia and research labs for a long time, but has never been built into a product until now," said Chris Broaddus, Daqri's vice president of research development.