In this episode I was joined by Rich Ryan who is the CEO of Six15 Technologies. You may be familiar with the HD4000 heads up display from Zebra Technologies from previous episodes of the podcast (Episode 40) where we discussed the HD4000 and Fulfillment Edge, Six15 is the creator behind the heads up display technology. Rich and I discuss the background of Six15, how the partnership came about with Zebra, and the future of using their heads up display technology.

Key Takeaways

• Similar to logistics, Six15 Technologies has its roots in military applications. They began to develop their HUD technology for the defense sector and as they looked to address some pain points of the most demanding environments they realized that the technology would apply well to the warehousing environment.
• When looking at applications for their technology, they were able to recognize how the HUD could increase productivity, reduce safety incidents, and give workers an overall improvement to their comfort level when picking. As I have previously mentioned about this technology, allowing the picker to be truly hands-free is a huge advantage to the improvement of workflow and allows the worker to be more focused on their task without having to pick up a device to verify the information.
• Bringing their ST1 Head-Up Display hardware to the Zebra HD4000 is what allows Zebra to deliver such a fine-tuned, truly hands-free picking device. As Rich discusses in the episode, Zebra’s Fulfillment Edge platform allows for the HUD hardware to be fully optimized for the picking environment. Fulfillment Edge streamlines what the operator sees in the HUD optical while the ST1 projects the information clearly in the operator’s view and senses the operator’s movements.
• Rich also talks about the future of the technology which is already partly built into the device. There is a head tracker, microphone, and camera already built into the HD4000 which can allow the device to give you a true augmented reality experience through the optical. One of the really interesting applications that Rich discusses is how the device can be paired with a Zoom or GoToMeeting so that those on the other end of the conference line are able to view what the operator is seeing and pictures are able to be captured and sent back to other remotely. This is a great application for remote training or even remote guidance for technicians or other types of maintenance roles.

Listen and watch the episode below. Let us know in the comments what you think about the future of this HUD technology.