Will fighter aircraft technology make its way into the forest to enable more efficient operation of forestry machines? The Swedish-Norwegian company Optea is ready to present its pioneering The Forest Falcon to the world’s gaze at Elmia Wood. A ‘head-up display’ (HUD) featuring all the necessary information projected directly into the air within the operator’s field of view so he has no need to move his gaze could take the operation of forest machines to new heights.
“Our images appear as if you have a transparent screen hanging on a fishing rod five meters in front of you, exactly where you look when you’re working in the forest,” explains Esteban Arboix, CEO of Optea AB. “Because you get the information right there and right away, you can also work faster and more efficiently.”
Arboix has a solid background in working with projectors for conference rooms, and this is the technology he has brought with him out into the forest to use in a new way. When he approached the Swedish forest industry’s research institute Skogforsk with his idea, the doors opened up to doing practical trials in the forest together with the industry’s leading players.
HUD has been on the wish list of the forest industry for many years. As early as 1999 at SkogForsk’s seminar of the future during SkogsElmia the idea was proposed to use fighter aircraft technology in forest machines. However, the technology proved to be too expensive and difficult. No one was able to take the concept and develop it into a good functioning application until Optea now launches its own HUD named The Forest Falcon.
As well as increasing the efficiency of felling operations, the new HUD technology will also be a big leap forward for a better work environment. The operator can keep his eyes focused on the same point during all stages of his work. He can select trees and operate the boom while at the same time the screen display that is hanging in mid-air in front of him gives him all the necessary information.