Kognitiv Spark Receives $850,000 For Ocean Supercluster Initiative
FREDERICTON – Canada’s Ocean Supercluster announced they will fund Kognitiv Spark’s new ocean-based mixed reality project, HydroSpark.
The Supercluster will province $400,000 in funding towards the total project value of $850,000. The remaining funding will come from the project’s partners, which include Kraken Robotics, research teams from UNB, and workplace skills specialists at NBCC.
The project will focus on using technologies to allow users to see underwater environments in 3D mixed reality. This would support training, mission planning, and operations in ocean, defence, and other marine industries.
“What we’re looking at doing is creating an environment which pulls on that subsea data sets, or imagery, or other supporting technical information, and bringing that together in the HoloLens in a mixed reality environment to enable collaborative decision making, but also to do mission rehearsal and preparation ahead of going actually and conducting a task,” said Kognitiv Spark Director of Defence Iain White in an interview with Huddle.
Using Microsoft HoloLens 2 and Microsoft Azure Mixed Reality Services, HydroSpark would allow a user such as a diver, ROV operator, or subsea worker to see accurate holograms of ocean environments and points of interest in their real-world environment. The technology would allow the workers to gain advanced insight into their underwater tasks and would aim to increase collaboration, efficiency, and task preparation.
“We allow field workers to get access to the information, the knowledge, and expertise that they need to where and when they need it, which is when they’re in the site with limited access to connectivity,” said Kognitiv Spark CEO Yan Simard in an interview.
“The project will help ocean workers access critical data, when and where do you need it so that we can be more efficient and effective at whatever task that we have to do in that specific moment.”
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster says in a statement that the project aims to establish a “technological foothold” in defence and commercial ocean sectors by engaging the rapidly growing global markets of mixed reality, Internet of Things, and sonar systems.
The project could create up to five new full-time positions with the potential for more than 25 indirect jobs depending on the project’s commercial success.
The funding for HydroSpark was announced as part of $3.5-million commitment to four new projects. The other projects include two based in Newfoundland and Labrador and one in BC.
“Canada’s oceans, the bounty in their waters and the riches within them have created prosperity for generations of Canadians. Our people have expertise now that can take on the world. So, let’s take it on,” wrote Seamus O’Regan Jr., Minister of Natural Resources in a release.
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