Softability developed an augmented reality sales and marketing application for Valmont Industries to showcase their modern smart poles. This AR application was created for Microsoft HoloLens 2 smart glasses as well as an iOS tablet. The AR experience was originally developed to be a part of Valmont’s booth at the Frankfurt Light + Building 2020 trade fair. However, the event had to be postponed first and then canceled due to the coronavirus, but the app has been in use at Valmont nonetheless.

“The AR application was developed for Valmont Industries in cooperation with Softability for training and presentation use in a new product segment. The demo was intended to be part of a demonstration of physical products through augmented reality at the Valmont stand at the Frankfurt Light + Building 2020 trade fair. The event was canceled due to the prevailing pandemic and therefore the use could not be tested in a live situation. The purpose was to use the application by utilizing HoloLens 2 glasses as well as a tablet (iOS) in the event. During the pandemic, the application has been utilized as part of remote performances.”, says Sami Huuskonen, Design Manager at Tehomet – a Valmont Company.

Augmented reality enriches the user experience

Sales and marketing are currently among the most common use cases of augmented reality. And no wonder, with immersive AR-experience it’s easy to create a wau effect for the presentation of products and services. As with the application developed for Valmont, augmented reality enriches the experience but does not completely replace the physical presentation. Virtual features complement the actual reality when it would be impractical, time-consuming or even impossible to build it all for real.

In Valmont’s AR application, the user can virtually see, change and adapt modern smart poles to the desired locations. In addition to the visual experience, the application provides comprehensive information about the different smart pole models and their functionalities. Thanks to 3D modeling and animation, the user can interactively see the technology inside the poles. Application can be experienced using either HoloLens 2 smart glasses, or an iOS mobile devices, and it was developed with the Unity platform. “The AR application combines a rich user experience consisting of virtual models of smart poles, versatile product information and general background information. The result is a visually appealing entity that is easy to adopt with its user interface.”, says Huuskonen.

In 2018, Softability developed and delivered a similar AR application to Tehomet for the presentation of the product portfolio. The application implemented for Valmont has been developed as an extended follow-up project to this previous Tehomet application.
You can read more about the previous implementation here!

“The collaboration went smoothly and the special expertise provided by Softability with a fast response time helped to complete the project on time.”

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More information:

Mikko Luukkonen, Softability Oy, mikko.luukkonen(at)softability.fi

Sami Huuskonen, Tehomet – a Valmont Company, sami.huuskonen(at)tehomet.com

Keywords:

ar augmented reality Microsoft HoloLens 2 news reference uutinen Valmont