On April 28, 2022, Reply, a company specialized in the design and implementation of solutions based on new communication channels and digital media, inaugurated its new applied research center in Turin focused on the development of the most innovative technologies. The cutting-edge work of Area42’s workshops focuses on the areas of autonomous warehouse, last mile delivery, robotics, connected products, blockchain and metaverse.

Reply is a company specializing in Consulting, Systems Integration and Digital Services, including the design and implementation of solutions based on new communication channels and digital media. It partners with key industrial groups in defining and developing business models made possible by new technologies such as artificial intelligence, Big Data, cloud computing, the Internet of Things and mobile and social networks.

Reply’s experts work daily on these technologies, transforming ideas into innovative prototypes, exploiting their full potential and applying them to real industrial use cases. In addition to Area42, the group has 3 research centers in Italy and 2 in Germany.

• the Test Automation Centre, focused on automating the monitoring and quality testing of business critical products and services;
• theIoT Validation Lab, where interconnected solutions are validated and then integrated at Reply’s new headquarters in Turin, giving rise to the most advanced laboratory cluster in the industrial sector;
• Area 360, the augmented and virtual reality center based in Milan, which was created to support companies;
• theImmersive Experience Lab in Munich, which offers next-generation immersive experiences;
• the Cyber Security Lab in Cologne, which focuses on the study and testing of cyber threats;

New laboratories dedicated to robotics, advanced computing and sensory technologies will soon be in operation in London.

The new Aera42 center

Area42 is a laboratory for experimenting and turning creative ideas into reality, using the potential of the most advanced technology in the field of robotics, advanced mobility and virtual reality.

Reply has installed Area42 in a historic building in Turin on an area of over 20,000 square meters. Each workspace has been completely renovated and optimized with a more open and collaborative approach. Its experts will collaborate with its customers to experiment, incubate new concepts and test the latest technologies.

Tatiana Rizzante, CEO of Reply, states:

“We are investing heavily in Turin by mixing hardware and digital. But our offices are also a new way of understanding the workplace, very common outside of Italy, but with changes brought about by Covid. We have abandoned the large open spaces, but the spaces are also very flexible and temporary in their use, also taking into account the increasingly widespread remote work. And there is no lack of social contact spaces. We care a lot about human relationships, but also about health, and soon we will have a gym, terraces for outdoor moments, yoga activities and even kitchens for those who want to prepare food on site.”

Aera42 Laboratories

The six Area42 Laboratories are dedicated to the most advanced themes of innovation for the industrial world:

• Autonomous Warehouse: In this lab, solutions for autonomous warehouse management are studied and developed, using drones and autonomous vehicles that can interface with innovative warehouse management platforms such as LEA Reply ;
• Last mile delivery: the last mile delivery lab focuses on the mobility of autonomous vehicles and robots capable of interacting with their immediate environment in delimited spaces (campuses, hospitals, factories, etc.);
• Robotics: this laboratory combines artificial intelligence technologies with robotics to study the agility of autonomous robots and usage scenarios centered on the interaction between them and large environments requiring repetitive maintenance and control activities;
• Connected Products: the design and development lab for connected products and services, from device prototyping to front-end application creation, including support for IoT gas pedals;
• Blockchain: in the context of the ever-increasing evolution of smart cities and shared mobility concepts, this Area42 lab is experimenting with the application of blockchain technologies to enable real-world scenarios based on the digital identity of vehicles;
• Metavers: the Area42 lab focused on the application and integration of mixed reality solutions to create immersive applications in virtual environments, where users can enter and move around and where virtual and physical objects coexist.

Filippo Rizzante, Reply’s technical director, concludes:

“The Area42 Laboratories represent a unique universe in today’s technological landscape. Here we bring new and innovative concepts to life and apply the latest technologies to provide solutions capable of creating value for companies and society as a whole. We test and implement innovative ideas that have strategic impact and generate competitive advantage for our clients. Our work focuses on six key current themes, but technological developments are constantly pushing us to go further, in line with Reply’s vision and mission: to prepare the future and make it a tangible reality.”

Translated from Area42, centre de développement de Reply, où la technologie devient réalité