Fieldbit Hero is an interactive collaboration platform for field services, enabling the two-way exchange of live video, real-time augmented reality (AR) annotations, messaging and voice between experts and technicians in the field.
Hands-free visual collaboration is critical for complex machinery with hundreds of small parts, as well as work in damp or chemical-laden environments where smartphones are not a viable option. Wearing commercially available smart glasses, field technicians interact with service center experts, while both hands are free to perform repairs. The technician shares live video with the expert, who in turn augments the video with precise visual instructions that are superimposed on the technician’s field of view using AR and other techniques.
Fieldbit Hero is an end-to-end cloud-based platform designed for easy setup without any need for hardware or software installation. Just download the mobile app and you’re ready to go.
Fieldbit accumulates practical knowledge related to service and repair processes by recording all actions and information exchanged between experts and the field technician. All visual records are stored in service tickets that are retrievable from a central repository, allowing information to be shared and re-used across the organization. Knowledge capture helps to shorten on-the-job training processes, as well as helping organizations address “knowledge drain” from an aging workforce.
A powerful and intuitive Augmented Reality (AR) annotations editor allows experts to create and send AR instructions in seconds to field technicians. This real-time AR editor includes zoom and crop tools, text and shapes, and a clipart gallery for real-time creation of AR annotations. Experts can define a numbered sequence of annotations for step-by-step instructions so technicians can zero in on what needs to be fixed.
Fieldbit Hero software is hardware-agnostic, and is fully compatible with commercially available smart glasses, as well as smartphones and tablets (iOS and Android). Technicians have the flexibility to choose the most appropriate device for the job at hand – for example, wearing smart glasses while handling chemicals or using a smartphone for a quick consultation. Fieldbit Hero lets you start a repair session on one platform and continue on another.
For working in areas without Internet/mobile connectivity (e.g., underground), Fieldbit Hero supports collaboration in offline mode. In such scenarios, the technician takes photos of the machine and once connected, sends them to the expert, who then adds AR annotations and sends them back to the technician. Offline mode is conducive to work in different time zones or where 24×7 support is not available, and frees your experts to handle other tasks.
What sets Fieldbit Hero apart from other collaboration platforms is that it runs in a true “hands-free” manner. Using our patented HeadTeractive™ technology, interaction with smart glasses is done using gentle and intuitive head gestures designed specifically for the field service environment. Multi-view displays, AR annotations and integrated video are presented in your technicians’ field of view, allowing them to work with both hands while receiving visual instructions for complex machinery fixes.