Periodic Reporting for period 1 - HEGO (Health, safety and ErGOnomics for the future human-centric factory)
Reporting period: 2022-06-01 to 2022-11-30
Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) are inflammatory and/or degenerative ailments affecting all sectors and all categories of workers, and are by far the most common work-related health problem in the European industry. The biggest Europe-wide occupational health survey found 46% of European workers reporting back pain, while 43% had painful shoulder, neck and upper limb muscles. HEGO is an innovative solution based on a proprietary set of Artificial Intelligence algorithms able to recognize the workers’ gender, age, posture and movements in real-time and monitor ergonomics to adapt both workspace and workload according to worker’s personal profile, to inform about potential MSDs risks, and to provide insights for improving the work environments. HEGO contributes to promote health and safety in industrial workplaces (Human-centered manufacturing concept) by providing a low cost and easy solution.
We have been developing HEGO technology since our foundation (2017) and it has now achieved technology readiness level (TRL) 6. The overall goal of the Women TechEU project is to advance the business readiness level of our product to catalyse a equity investment in Emoj and to improve our market traction. To achieve this we established the following specific objectives for the project:
-) Develop a business plan for the quantification of economic and financial indices within the next 5 years.
-) Provide a market analysis
-) Empower our IPR positioning
-) Become a B Corp company, with a B impact assessment score of 80
-) Sign two agreements with potential customers
-) Improve our brand identity and deliver promotional materials.
We have been developing HEGO technology since our foundation (2017) and it has now achieved technology readiness level (TRL) 6. The overall goal of the Women TechEU project is to advance the business readiness level of our product to catalyse a equity investment in Emoj and to improve our market traction. To achieve this we established the following specific objectives for the project:
-) Develop a business plan for the quantification of economic and financial indices within the next 5 years.
-) Provide a market analysis
-) Empower our IPR positioning
-) Become a B Corp company, with a B impact assessment score of 80
-) Sign two agreements with potential customers
-) Improve our brand identity and deliver promotional materials.
The activities performed and the main achievements of the Women TechEU project include:
-) Business plan defined
-) Market analysis provided
-) IPR empowerment through a patentability analysis
-) B impact assessment score improved (score achieved = 80)
-) Two commercial agreements signed
-) Marketing and Communication actions performed.
In addition, from the Women TechEU mentoring and coaching support we advanced our knowledge of our business plan and go-to-market strategy, and identified new approaches to finding partners.
-) Business plan defined
-) Market analysis provided
-) IPR empowerment through a patentability analysis
-) B impact assessment score improved (score achieved = 80)
-) Two commercial agreements signed
-) Marketing and Communication actions performed.
In addition, from the Women TechEU mentoring and coaching support we advanced our knowledge of our business plan and go-to-market strategy, and identified new approaches to finding partners.
The current competition in the Motion Detection domain is represented by big players who have introduced body detection monitoring systems for safety in industrial framework.
We propose a brand new approach able to reshape the sector. Unique Selling Points of HEGO are:
• Reliability – the algorithms have been validated in industrial environment, attesting the capability to identify workers and detect incorrect or dangerous behaviours. Experimental results gave evidence of the high accuracy and sensitivity of the system in predicting both body segments and angles, and RULA estimation. In addition, the "personalized assessment" is performed: each worker has a personal profile to reduce the risk of MSD.
• Sensor-less technology for motion capture and automatic, quick and real-time analysis of ergonomics indexes simply using cameras installed in the industrial facility (no wearable devices).
• Low cost - the only hardware required are RGB cameras. Price point proposed by Emoj is extremely competitive.
According to a study of Bocconi University and Unicredit, Emoj is one of the 10 companies in the world to own a proprietary Face and Emotion Coding technology (and the first in Italy).
We propose a brand new approach able to reshape the sector. Unique Selling Points of HEGO are:
• Reliability – the algorithms have been validated in industrial environment, attesting the capability to identify workers and detect incorrect or dangerous behaviours. Experimental results gave evidence of the high accuracy and sensitivity of the system in predicting both body segments and angles, and RULA estimation. In addition, the "personalized assessment" is performed: each worker has a personal profile to reduce the risk of MSD.
• Sensor-less technology for motion capture and automatic, quick and real-time analysis of ergonomics indexes simply using cameras installed in the industrial facility (no wearable devices).
• Low cost - the only hardware required are RGB cameras. Price point proposed by Emoj is extremely competitive.
According to a study of Bocconi University and Unicredit, Emoj is one of the 10 companies in the world to own a proprietary Face and Emotion Coding technology (and the first in Italy).