Work Smarter, Faster and Safer with Smart Glasses

#AI #AR #IoT #COVID19 #smartglasses

Video courtesy of CCTV Shanghai

Governments and organisations all over the world are forced to adopt different measures to ensure a safe workplace environment since the onset of COVD-19.

The use of the emerging technologies such as Smart Glasses, IoT, artificial intelligence and augmented reality to improve productivity while collaborating remotely or keeping a safety distance is one such measure which is a radical and permanent change.

Let’s see how Smart Glasses are used in different industries.

Applications of Smart Glasses:

#1: Manufacturing & Logistics:

Using smart glasses, production and logistics staff can easily scan the barcode or serial number of the part they are working on which brings up critical information or Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) on the glasses while they work hands free in high-risk situations. Such information can be customised to include machine data, video instructions, stock levels, reordering points, checklists, reference documents among others.

You can even speak to our smart glasses like you speak to Siri or Alexa. By using voice commands and/or scanning the barcodes or serial numbers with the smart glasses, staff can work with both hands while accessing all the information they need to perform their tasks correctly and efficiently without wasting time back and forth production floors and warehouses. When faced with difficulties they are unsure of, they can call a remote expert and get the issues resolved in a matter of a few minutes rather than hours or days.

For instance, quality engineers in the headquarters can digitally inspect the product for defects remotely without having to travel to site. They can also easily send videos, documents and other records, zoom in, highlight with augmented reality markers and replay for quality audits.

Meanwhile, production staff simply wear our smart glasses to show the inspecting engineers what they see in first perspective and in real time, take photos or send videos as a means to document potential deviations, providing a better, faster and clearer way to analyse and correct these later on.

This not only enables Just-in-Time manufacturing and logistics, it also ensures the highest quality assurance in the entire supply chain, reducing the costs of customer complaints, warranty claims and product recalls which can have terrible irreversible consequences for your business in a highly competitive environment.

#2: Health & safety:

Workplace health & safety became a top priority with extra safety precautions such as taking temperatures with handheld thermometers, filling in declarations and keeping registers of visitors and the workforce as part of compliance since COVID-19.

We have a revolutionary dual spectrum infrared thermosensor version that auto-detects human foreheads with single face or multi-faces scan, which can scan 200 persons per minute in crowded places, with +/- 0.3 degrees accuracy and with double the social distancing rule of 3 metres, ensuring protection for both frontline medical and security personnel as well as the general public.

Police, border forces and airlines also deploy our AI technology to detect, prevent and control viruses from spreading in public and crowded areas combing fever detection and facial recognition for public health & safety.

#3: Asset maintenance:

Many global enterprises, including asset maintenance companies, airlines and train operators in Asia use augmented reality smart glasses for faster real-time troubleshooting, asset maintenance and repairs, often reducing the time to resolve issues from hours or even days to a few minutes.

As reported by CCTV, Boeing estimates that a grounded plane cost USD 10,000 per hour, on top of inconvenient flight delays and the reputational costs of unhappy customer complaints.

With smart glasses, multiple technical experts across the globe can be called in to troubleshoot complex problems efficiently, saving down time and delay costs which can run into millions of dollars in lost revenue and compensation to customers.

Using integrated workflow automation systems such as SAP, personnel on the front line are always confident that all safety checks, repairs and maintenance procedures are carried out correctly with minimal bottlenecks affecting business operations. They can even record as they perform the work for audits, training and continuous improvement purposes. This effectively enforces accountability which creates a positive safety culture amongst the workforce and also reduces insurance premiums significantly.

#4: Continuous Improvement:

In the past, continuous improvement initiatives tend to be “good ideas” or “talk only” which may never be tested out and measured in reality.

Given that we are all so busy at work, many workplace suggestions and improvement opportunities are either not captured or communicated throughout the organisation.

Even if there is a manually handwritten or typed report, they usually never get followed-up. After all, in most cases, staff are busy doing their work, answering customers queries or going from site to site that they do not have a quick, easy and effective way to capture and communicate things that went wrong during the course of the day.

The use of smart glasses like ours that can last the entire 8 hour shift without having to carry an additional heavy battery pack enables pitfalls and continuous improvement opportunities to be identified easily and readily for implementation for a better efficient workforce.

There are many applications of smart glasses not mentioned in this article and the above examples are just the beginning to the era of artificial intelligence.