Google Glass, the success comes with Industry 4.0 – The Republic

snubbed CONSUMER, GLASSES “INTELLIGENT” REALITY INCREASED ARE ONE REASON FOR BEING IN THE fACTORIES OF THE FUTURE: AND THE HOUSE OF MOUNTAIN VIEW ADDING A cROWDED bevy of COMPETITORS

Patrizia Feletig

It was one of the most important technology events of the year, as will now be one of the most anticipated items on the markets the device for virtual reality announced by Google during the three days of its annual conference for developers software (from Wednesday to Friday of last week), held every year at the headquarters of Mountain View. The device, announced along with a host of improvements and new features of the Android operating system, will compete with the new Facebook Oculus Rift as well as with the Samsung’s Gear VR and Lives produced by HTC and Valve. It was rather disappointed those who expected the conference new revelations about the fate of Google Glass (except of course that in many of the new products announced are implemented the innovation experimented with “glasses”) and yet, even if withdrawn from the retail market due to lack of buyers , Google will not give up on the glass: has not abandoned the project and promises a new version by writing on the site: “the journey does not end here.” The new destiny of Google Glass, which allow you to integrate what you see with the information appearing in a top corner of a lens but especially to enlarge and detail any minute object, as well as see beyond the protective layers, is in factory 4.0, the one that brings in the Internet industry in the workbenches.

But this time Google is not alone: ​​many prestigious names of hi-tech – Microsoft, Toshiba, Minolta, Vuzix, Sony, Fujitsu, Facebook, Epson – are convinced of the potential of SmartGlass in production processes. Each week filed a new patent to improve and enhance the various features of SmartGlass molding them to the needs of various professional groups. He was born with the occasion, the “context computing”, the model of interacting in enhanced mode with the surrounding environment, integrating complex systems such as Cloud and IoT. No longer aimed at the leisure, the SmartGlass becomes a tool to improve efficiency and performance. “You can get to a cost savings of 40-70%,” assures Mauro Rubin founder of JoinPad, Italian companies of tools aimed at simplifying the development of industrial processes based on intelligent glasses, in this case the Japanese Epson Moverio. The JoinPad cooperates with several multinational automotive, aerospace, energy, infrastructure. “For Siemens, we have developed a solution for the maintenance of power networks, step by step guide operator intervention, improving its physical safety, reducing the risk of inconsistent activities in hazardous environments.” If there is to fix a fault in a high voltage electrical substation, wearing smart glasses coach will be directed exactly at the point of intervention. Turning his eyes toward a transformer component will appear superimposed in his line of sight, thanks to embedded microprocessor-projectors in the temples, the product code, availability in stock, the faulty card, the replacement times. valuable information when you have your hands full. The operator views the sequence of steps to be taken and may request a real-time consultation with a specialist who follows the action as if it were in place thanks to the built-in camera in SmartGlass. Another case, more and work on electrical networks, comes from the French Schneider Electric, according to which half the time of a repair is being wasted by having to go back to the information needed to draw from several sources. In the Chinese subsidiary of the multinational, where the technicians are testing the viewers to “augmented reality”, he is able to determine immediately the type of the faulty component, as is indicated on the lens, the optimum operating temperature, fluid levels and the history of maintenance. The critical issues, including that relating to privacy, which undermined a massive adoption of Google Glass by consumers, are not however feel in the workplace. From construction sites to factories and logistics, the SmartGlass complete the work tools. The Daqri company achieved an integrated model to the protective helmet which costs 10 thousand dollars. In use steelworks Ksp in Kazakhstan, he gives instructions for the processing that is automatically turned off when the built-in camera in the viewer detects the acquisition of the correct manual skill by the worker. Still examples. With the introduction of SmartGlass to ITAMCO, US mechanical engineering company, have managed to reduce to two the technical interventions that required usually 3 or 4. While the 200 workers in the shipyard at Newport News in Virginia wearing augmented viewers reality TV, read about the slow execution sequence of operations. Save a lot of paper diagrams, explains Patrick Ryan, the engineer of the project supervisor, inserted in the construction of six submarines for the US military. G l i SmartGlass enclose geolocation solutions of objects and artificial intelligence for image recognition. To activate the feature, some models are connected via cable with computational units tablet type, to slip into your pocket, or via Bluetooth bracelets that interpret the forearm muscle movement codifying. For example, raise the arm stops a machine tool, shake the hand slows down the pace, and so on. In noisy environments, where the voice commands, the lenses can not be imparted, with a viewfinder and then moving your head, they activate functions. And great strides are being made also to conserve battery life: from the initial 20 minutes have already gone to 6-8 hours.