The Age of Industry 5.0 with Robot and Human Integration: Vega Mini-Size Hand Computer
Interview: Özge Çağıl Sütcü
Thread in Motion (TIM), one of Turkey’s leading The Intel® Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) companies, has launched the Industry 5.0 era with its newly developed mini-size hand computer Vega and Vega X. These new hand-computer minimize human error and reduce working in half the time.
In 2016, TIM started its operations with conductive yarns. With its wearable technology products and complementary smart software solutions, it crosses the borders of the country day by day and serves more than 30 global customers in 35 countries. TIM is a 100% local company with its Vega, Vega X and CONWO products, and carries out the software, hardware and design stages of its products together with Turkish engineers.
Thead in Motion launched its new product Vega at the press conference. Kadir Demircioğlu, CEO and Co-Founder of Thread in Motion, started his speech with a short presentation. He shared with us the five years of R&D studies and the emergence of hand computers on this path that they set out on with the motto, “Are you ready to go beyond what is possible?”
Demircioğlu: “We brought together the integration of human and robot”
Demircioğlu told the story of the TIM foundation: “Together with my mother, we founded a textile company that prepares costumes for special days. We were eliminated from the competitions we participated in on the grounds that our costumes did not have enough innovation. Later, I won first place with my project in the field of wearable technologies in a competition organized by Mercedes-Benz for start-ups. We met with TIM Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Rahim Öner and brought together the integration of human and robot in our hand computer that create a new technology revolution.” he said.
Emphasizing the importance of a human-centered approach, Demircioğlu explained the transition processes to Industry 5.0: “Revolutionary technologies continue to exist in all fields of our life. Industrial facilities are changing and developing in this order. Industry 4.0 was a process that started with water and steam output until electricity was integrated into industrial life. In this process, collecting data is undoubtedly an important detail, but this data could be obtained from machines, not from people, who are the source of errors. With these methods, we failed to get data from the heart of the industry, the human, and we were faced with a new concept: Industry 5.0. This concept means the choreographed work of humans and robots in industrial facilities.
“This is exactly where the mistakes come from: the hands…”
Unlike previous phases that emphasized automation and the replacement of human labor, Industry 5.0 aims to leverage the strengths of both humans and machines to improve production processes. For example, machines can perform repetitive and dangerous tasks, while humans can provide the creativity and problem-solving skills needed to optimize production. This collaboration results in a more efficient and effective production process that benefits both consumers and companies. Because nine out of ten mistakes in operations are made by human hands. We developed our hand computer to digitize the human and know what to do about it. We analyzed many sectors such as automotive, aviation, manufacturing, logistics, etc. We found that the most important point is hands. All work is carried out by human hands. And this is exactly where the source of error originates: hands…”
It was developed by Turkish engineers as a 100% Turkish company
Kadir Demircioğlu stated that they decided to establish a more efficient and traceable environment in industrial facilities by integrating different technologies into the clothes worn by employees and developing a product for their health and safety.”
“The fact that many different world brands from automotive to logistics can produce in our country is a great advantage for us to develop our products and technologies here. As a 100% Turkish company, we offer our technology developed by Turkish engineers to more than 200 customers, including global companies, in 35 countries in 6 different sectors. With the wearable technology products we have developed, we develop solutions that increase operational efficiency for sectors such as automotive, retail, logistics, production and e-commerce.”
Ergonomic design with conductive yarn technology
Demircioğlu stated that TIM’s hand computer Vega and Vega-X products will save 50% of their customers’ time and talked about their features and usage areas: “”With conductive yarn technology and ergonomic design, the new products minimize errors with image processing technology, and offer easy and long-lasting use thanks to plug&play and long battery life. Bluetooth and WiFi/LoRa connections enable real-time communication with all devices in a facility, providing visual, audio and haptic feedback. Hand computer facilitate human tasks such as packaging, assembly, delivery and sorting of products in a wide range of sectors such as logistics, aviation and automotive, and provide warnings via vibration during errors.”
Demircioğlu: “Our vision: To be a Big Data company
Demircioğlu stated that in addition to wearable technologies, they use predictive forecasting methods and algorithms with CONWO, a data analysis platform that works integrated with these technologies, and thus guides decision-making mechanisms to ensure healthier and smoother processes.
He added the following: “While our smart gloves store operational data, the software platform we have developed analyzes this data and enables the optimization of all relevant processes. As TIM, our vision is to become a Big Data company by utilizing data flows in these different areas.”
“We develop our technologies according to the demands and needs of our customers”
Demircioğlu said that by focusing on the future vision, TIM will continue to offer businesses and industrial partners a future beyond the current technology with the slogan “Are you ready to go beyond what is possible?”. “We continue to develop new ones to increase the economic benefit we provide with our value-added technological products. Today, as always, we continue on our way with the support of our customers in Turkey. We develop our technologies according to their demands and needs. In this direction, although we are still a very young company, we are gaining significant momentum with the success we have achieved in Turkey and on the international platform.” He stated that the total amount of investment received from leading investors to date is an indicator of TIM’s reliability and growth potential.” Demircioğlu also stated that TIM aims to become one of Turkey’s Unicorns by increasing the valuation of companies through local and foreign collaborations.
