Kingdom Housing is the first to use new augmented reality (AR) technology to help fix tenants’ routine repairs without needing to set foot in their homes, through a partnership between DtL Creative and Swedish-based XMReality.
The technology allows the housing provider’s operatives to be virtually present in a tenant’s home, to see the issue in real time using video technology on a mobile phone or tablet, and to offer support and advice by having their hand superimposed on the scene in the tenant’s home.
Many simple repairs and problems can be fixed remotely in this way, from fixing a door to connecting a washing machine, while maintaining public social distancing.
Gary Haldane, interim digital director, Kingdom Housing, said, “This technology has the potential to be a game-changer. I knew when I first saw it that it would be very useful but I hadn’t realised how useful until we went into lockdown and our operatives couldn’t attend routine repairs because of isolation.
“Our tenants have been amazed at how simple it is to use and we’ve already had really positive feedback from tenants who have used the service. Using augmented reality, we can not only deliver the level of service our customers expect in a highly efficient manner, but we’re also able to do our best to minimise the transmission of the virus.”
Dave Loudon, founder, DtL Creative, said, “When the coronavirus hit, we decided to help housing providers as much as we could. We’re working with several technology companies to offer free support to help them manage. The remote guidance from XMReality is amazing and is just one of many innovations we’re offering to housing providers during the pandemic.”
Jörgen Remmelg, CEO, XMReality, said, “We are thrilled to see our technology being used for this novel application. The historical and typical application has been in industrial field servicing. We decided early on to make our product easy to use and with maximum compatibility with commercially available hardware.
“This is a perfect fit with helping tenants remotely. In these strange and chaotic times, we need to be creative and innovative to bring some kind of normality to life.”
