With current workplace restrictions, engineering and industrial teams need a solution that can help their technicians stay safe while working onsite with hands-free control, access to the latest technical documents and multimedia, and remote connection to colleagues.

Even without the additional complexity of social distancing, in many technical settings workers can’t use their hands to navigate through the data they need if they’re working at height, in restricted spaces or underneath machinery. And in environments where workers must wear protective clothing or hazmat, a hands-free unit is the only viable solution.

Hardware for hard environments

RealWear’s head-mounted tablet (HMT) is built for these situations. Designed to be worn with protective clothing such as hard hats and safety goggles, everything can be controlled entirely by voice. As it’s an Android device, it has the full functionality of a tablet without the use of hands. The voice-activated controls enable the wearer to use all functions including viewing documents on the high-resolution micro-display and contacting co-workers without taking their hands or attention off complicated machinery or equipment.

With out-of-the-box integration with Cisco Webex and MS Teams, engineers can easily connect with remote colleagues. The headset’s camera can show what the technician is seeing, allowing real-time collaboration or remote mentoring. For those watching offsite from home or their office, they get a front row view of exactly what the onsite worker is looking at, so they can share their expertise at the moment of need.

They can watch remotely to annotate, indicate where there are problems, and share PDFs and other documentation too. It doesn’t matter if they’re in New Malden or New York, everyone is connected. For the first time, technology is getting out of the way, allowing technicians to focus 100% of their time on the job in hand.

Greater efficiency, cost savings and satisfaction

With RealWear, service providers and end users can keep to their project schedule during the COVID crisis. But for many users, the current travel restrictions and social distancing requirements aren’t isolated challenges to overcome, and the pandemic disruption is an opportunity to improve efficiency and lower costs.

RealWear eliminates the need for multiple engineers to travel to customer premises, which streamlines operations, reduces the amount of time onsite and reduces travel expenditure. Typically, many engineers who travel to a facility only need to be there half the time. By using Cisco Webex or MS Teams with RealWear, teams no longer have to wait around all day for their specific task. They can continue their work from home and join a Teams meeting only when needed. Faster turnaround, less time onsite and lower costs result in better job and customer satisfaction.