REPLY: inaugurates Area42, the development center dedicated to the most innovative technologies in the field of robotics, advanced mobility and virtual reality

Reply today inaugurates Area42, the new applied research center focused on the development of the most innovative technologies.

They are in fact Autonomous Warehouse, Last Mile Delivery, Robotics, Connected Products, Blockchain and Metaverso are the areas that animate the Area 42 Lab corners and on which…

Reply inaugurates today Area42, the new applied research center focused on the development of the most innovative technologies. They are in fact Autonomous Warehouse, Last Mile Delivery, Robotics, Connected Products, Blockchain and Metaverso are the areas that animate the Area 42 Lab corners and on which Reply experts work daily to transform ideas into innovative prototypes, exploiting the potential of technologies, and applying them to real use cases in the industrial sector.

The Area42 Laboratories are the distinctive element of Reply's new Turin headquarters which covers an area of ​​20.000 square meters completely renovated and optimized in line with the new working models of the Group, which are more open and collaborative. In the new spaces, Reply will host its customers to experiment and incubate new concepts and test the latest technologies to enable digital products and services to be adapted to their innovation context.

The 6 Area42 Laboratories focus on the themes that represent the frontiers of innovation for the industrial world:

• Autonomous Warehouse where solutions are studied and developed for the autonomous management of warehouse activities, thanks to the use of autonomous drones and vehicles capable of interfacing with innovative warehouse management platforms such as LEA Reply;
• last mile delivery, the laboratory dedicated to the development of solutions to integrate and manage the mobility of self-driving vehicles and robots within predefined spacesdefinished (e.g. campuses, hospitals, factories…) and able to interact with the surrounding environment;
• Robotics, the laboratory that combines Artificial Intelligence technologies with robotics to test the agility of autonomous robots and use scenarios of interaction between them and large environments that require repetitive maintenance and control activities;
• Connected Products, the space dedicated to the design and development of related products and services from the prototyping of devices to the creation of front-end applications, also thanks to the support of IoT accelerators;
• Blockchain, within the framework of an ever greater evolution of the concepts of smart city and shared mobility, this laboratory experiments with the application of technologies blockchain to enable real scenarios based on the Digital Vehicle Identity;
• Metaverse, the laboratory focuses on the application and integration of Mixed Reality solutions to create immersive applications, virtual environments in which it is possible to enter and move and where virtual objects and physical objects coexist, opening the doors to the worlds of the Metaverse.

“The Area42 laboratories represent a unicum in the modern panorama - stated Filippo Rizzante, Reply CTO - here we give life to new concepts and apply the latest technologies to provide solutions capable of creating value for business and society. We experiment and implement innovative ideas that have a strategic impact and generate a competitive advantage for our customers. Today we focus on six highly topical issues, but technological evolution will always take us further, respecting what we have always done at Reply: preparing and making the future concrete ".

Area42 joins Reply's laboratories in Europe;

the Test Automation Center, dedicated to the automated monitoring & testing of the quality of business critical products and services, and the IoT Validation Lab, dedicated to the validation of interconnected solutions, also present in the new Lingotto headquarters to create a real hub laboratories applied to industry; Area 360, the center for augmented and virtual reality supporting the business, based in Milan; the Immersive Experience Lab in Munich, where new generation immersive experiences are experimented; the Cyber ​​Security Lab, in Cologne, dedicated to the study and testing of cyber threats, and those soon to open in London dedicated to robotics, edge computing and sensory technologies.

"The birth of Area42 is part of a broader project of excellence in terms of real estate redevelopment that we have started here in Turin - continued Tatiana Rizzante - While respecting the constraints imposed by the Superintendency of Architectural Heritage for what is considered a symbol of modern architecture, we wanted harmonious and stimulating spaces to work, discuss and do research. The interconnection of spaces intended for different functions - from single work to team work, from sharing projects to moments of leisure, from lounges to workshops - creates a fluid and open space. Our young people, but also customers and partners can live an immersive experience and experiment with technological innovation ".

Where

The Lingotto building that houses Area42, at number 250 in via Nizza in Turin, recently acquired by the Group, was the subject of an important renovation project. In the same way, also that of the Caserma de Sonnaz, still in progress, allows two iconic buildings for the city of Turin to be told and revived in a contemporary key.

The engines of the projects are the concepts of innovation, collaboration, well-being, to give space to its main protagonists: people and research.

The completely renovated Palazzina del Lingotto offers open spaces and new paths that facilitate relationships and that comes alive with the most current languages ​​and codes. Reply people find themselves living in a large multifunctional space with areas off limits to mobile phones and meetings. To encourage concentration, and common spaces, dedicated to brainstorming, but also to sports, catering and leisure, for greater sharing of ideas and socialization in the workplace: an active and constantly evolving ecosystem.