Participating in the international maritime expo, Meremess, in our hometown of Tallinn is always a special occasion. This event provides a unique platform to connect with the key figures, authorities, and innovators within the Estonian maritime industry, our home ecosystem.
After years of dedicated development, AEGIR was officially integrated into the curriculum at the prestigious Estonian Maritime Academy (EMERA). This partnership marked a major validation of our technology, signifying its acceptance not just as a commercial training tool, but as a vital component of formal maritime education for the next generation of seafarers.
We were proud to represent Estonia’s growing maritime tech scene at SMM in Hamburg, one of the world’s leading trade fairs for the maritime industry. As part of the Estonian national stand organized by Enterprise Estonia (EIS), we had the opportunity to showcase our solutions to a truly global audience.
AEGIR found its first official home with the full-scale installation of a green-room setup at our partner, the Reval Safety Training Centre in Tallinn. This deployment marked the critical transition of AEGIR from a development prototype to a fully operational training tool, used in daily certification courses.
We were thrilled to join our development partner, Reval Safety Training Centre, at the WindEurope 2021 trade fair in Copenhagen. This was our first major international event and a perfect opportunity to introduce the newly GWO-certified AEGIR simulator to its primary audience: the offshore wind industry.
In a landmark achievement for immersive training, the AEGIR simulator was officially certified by the Global Wind Organisation (GWO) as part of a training course at our partner facility, the Reval Safety Training Centre. This was a long and rigorous process, culminating in a pivotal moment not just for Varcus, but for the entire maritime training industry.
Following the success of the AEGIR prototype, we were inspired by the potential of overlaying data onto the real world. This led to the birth of the ESBEN concept, and our first trial was a true engineering feat. The initial prototype was a testament to raw innovation, consisting of a heavy 2kg mixed-reality headset tethered to a powerful, dedicated PC. The sole purpose was to answer a critical question: is it possible to project navigational data as a stable spatial overlay in a real, moving environment?
In the summer of 2021, we reached a pivotal milestone: the first fully functional prototype of our mixed-reality simulator, then codenamed “ShipSimulator,” was brought to life. Set up in a green room, this early version was our initial attempt to bridge the gap between the virtual and the physical. The goal was to move beyond the limitations of purely virtual reality and allow trainees to interact with real, tangible equipment within a simulated environment.
