Six hardware generations developed in 24 months, shaped by workers who wear it. Augmodo is making jobs easier with smarter, lighter Smartbadge™: Physical AI moving at software speed
Seattle, WA – SEPTEMBER 16, 2026 – Augmodo, which builds physical AI assistants for the physical workforce, today unveiled the Owl Mini and Owl Pro: the sixth generation of its Smartbadge™in just two years, and the smallest, most capable spatial hardware the company has built to date, which will roll out to customers in early 2027. Both devices trace back to one source: hundreds of hours of associate feedback on what to cut, keep, and build next.
The feedback was split in two directions - some associates wanted the badge to be as light and small as possible, while others wanted it to do more: feature display, communication and security all in one device. Augmodo built both to further its mission to enhance the physical workforce through intelligent automation and spatial AI.
The Owl Mini is the lightest device Augmodo has ever built. At 120 grams, barely bigger than a wireless earbud case, it packs a patent pending triple-camera spatial vision system, full-shift battery life, and panic button. Owl Mini begins rolling out to customers in Q1 2027.
The Owl Pro is built for facility-wide operations. An always-readable e-ink display, built-in walkie-talkie communication, and beyond a full day of battery life turn the badge into a single operational hub, covering inventory visibility, AI assistance, communication, and security in one wearable. Owl Pro follows in Q2 2027.
"We started with a bulky, Wi-Fi-only camera that lasted barely three hours. Six generations later, the Owl Mini is the size of an AirPod case, with triple the cameras and triple the battery life," said Ross Finman, CEO of Augmodo. "Iterating hardware alongside the people wearing it every day allows us to innovate faster, scale seamlessly, and make a real-world impact for frontline workers.”
The Owl Mini proves enterprise-grade Physical AI doesn't require heavy equipment. Built for seamless daily wear, key capabilities include:
Designed for comprehensive operational workflows, the Owl Pro transforms the traditional badge into an interactive, intelligent command center:
Both the Owl Mini and Owl Pro include an optional, associate-activated panic button for on-the-spot security alerts, with opt-in front-facing safety camera and time-bound audio recording functionality to support incident response. They will roll out first to Augmodo's existing retail and brand partners beginning in Q1 2027, with broader availability to follow.
Since its earliest pilots, Augmodo's worker-led design cycle has cut hardware weight by two-thirds and tripled camera power, while pushing battery life 3x on Owl Mini and 5x on Owl Pro.
Every generation of the Smartbadge has gone through the same test: real associates, real shifts, real feedback. Battery anxiety on early pilots is why full-shift endurance climbed as high as 5x on Owl Pro. The need to carry fewer devices is why Owl Pro folds communication and security into the same badge as spatial tracking. Hardware that gets smaller, smarter, and easier to wear with every version is what happens when the people wearing the device are part of building it.
Behind both devices is SpatialView™, Augmodo's analytics platform, which turns what the Smartbadge sees into real time visibility into store conditions. Instead of staff traveling to store locations to check on things in person, or business leaders working off data that's a week or a month old, SpatialView lets them see what the state of the shelf is inside any store in real time, from a laptop. By delivering non-intrusive, privacy-first wearables paired with that visibility, Augmodo empowers physical workers with spatial intelligence that drives efficiency, precision, and trust, built to disappear into the shift, not add to it.
Augmodo builds Physical AI assistants for the physical workforce. A passive Smartbadge turns ordinary movement into a live 3D map of what's happening on the floor, giving a new hire the situational awareness of a two-year veteran. It sees the work, not the worker. Augmodo already maps hundreds of millions of square feet every month, deployed across retail, brands, logistics, and field operations, with adoption growing among some of the largest retailers and CPGs in the world. Learn more at augmodo.com.
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