Suez and Bouyges Construction test their first digital assistant models for building and industry operators (Anobi®)

Supporting projections, this terminal is compatible with the wearing of safety gloves, and the screen has been specially designed to be readable in all possible outdoor conditions, even the most extreme. These technical characteristics associated with a high autonomy battery make this new equipment an effective response to the needs and constraints of the field, to the safety requirements and to the performance research of industry players.

In 2017, after having worked for two years at Ideas Laboratory®, alongside Air Liquide and CEA on the emergence of the concept and on several prototypes of connected equipment for field operators, SUEZ and Bouygues R&D Construction focused on the development of the connected sleeve, ANOBI®, the two groups having identified many obstacles to the use of conventional smartphones by operators, such as the need to remove gloves for consultation or entering information. in their applications, difficulty reading the screen depending on the exterior brightness or fragility in the event of exposure to projections. SUEZ and Bouygues Construction in partnership with the E-Lab, the Bouygues group's innovation laboratory and the company TXCUBE have decided to work on the design and industrialization of innovative connected equipment meeting the needs of many players in the industrial sector.

ANOBI® is ergonomic, it is easily attached to the operator's forearm. Free to move around, they can perform everyday tasks without being hampered and at any time consult their applications loaded on the terminal. The E-Ink® (black and white) technology used for the screen guarantees optimal readability both in complete darkness and in bright light. Its main advantage is its handling compatible with the wearing of gloves thanks to its six push buttons, including one dedicated to emergency calls for isolated operators. The operator also has the option of using the “camera” functionality to notify a situation in real time. QR code, NFC or RFID scanning is also available. Finally, the series of tests and improvements made over several months have resulted in a model resistant to splashes of liquid and materials, but also to extreme temperatures (from - 10 ° C to + 50 ° C) without however, alter the battery life.

SUEZ and Bouygues Construction have already adopted this terminal for several of their activities. SUEZ is currently experimenting with it in the cities of Bordeaux, Dijon, and Ile-de-France, with a business application, to collect data in real time, for example the number of bins collected per day, their location, their rate of filling, sorting quality or even the need to replace street furniture ... These data reinforce the traceability of activities and improve their performance, for the benefit of field teams and their customers. On the Bouygues Construction sites in Saclay BPC and Bobigny, ANOBI® facilitates the management of material supplies by reading delivery slips by QR code and monitoring them (volume received, used, etc.), it also makes consultation possible. by the operators of the tasks to be performed, the allocation of a state (started, paused, completed), or even the time spent on each. Connected to worksite Wi-Fi, ANOBI® also allows you to quickly locate material or equipment (waste bins or fire extinguishers).

Thanks to an open system of application integration, the field of use of ANOBI® is wide and can be used by multiple industrial players, in logistics, energy, construction, transport. In total, six business applications have already been developed by SUEZ and Bouygues Construction R&D and which are used by operators with ANOBI®. Based on an Android architecture, the development of additional applications can be carried out by the IT departments of user companies or by specialized companies.