Taiwan government-sponsored Information Industry Institute (III) has developed AR-enabled smart glasses for use by local steel maker CSC for inspecting equipment at factories.
Equipped with low-light lenses, gas sensors, GPS-based inertia sensors and wireless communication modules, the AR-enabled smart glasses are used in combination with safety helmets that the inspectors wear, said III's Smart System Institute (SSI), which developed the device.
Images of the inspected objects and surroundings are transferred to remote control centers for supervisors to monitor the conditions of inspection, and GPS-based inertia sensors enable them to detect anomalies such as inspectors' sudden faint and falls, SSI noted.
The AR-enabled glasses allow inspectors to access operating data of the inspected equipment. Whe there are problems, the glasses let the supervisors use real-time marks to give instructions to the inspectors, SSI explained.
Formosa Plastics Group also plans to adopt the AR-enabled glasses for routine equipment inspection at its petrochemical park in central Taiwan, SSI noted.
Meanwhile, III's Digital Service Innovation Institute (DSI) has unveiled RPA (robotic process automation) software solutions to replace labor-based work at textile firms.
RPA software solutions can replace highly repeated and tedious labor-based desktop operating processes such as data input, mail notifications, and routine report preparations, DSI said. Some textile makers have adopted the solutions to process orders and manage materials procurement for received orders, DSI noted.
Since there are no standard formats and terms for orders, these makers have to spend much time to consolidate various formats and terms for digital input of data on orders, DSI said. To solve the problem, DSI has built a terminology database for the textile sector and a synonym interpreting system based on machine learning technology, DSI indicated. The system can automatically interpret orders and then classify them, with the time taken to process orders reduced from 4-8 hours originally to only 20 seconds, DSI noted. The system can analyze previous orders to predict trends of demand for each product item, DSI added.
Specifically based on orders processed by the system, DSI developed an RPA solution to let warehousing management systems know detailed information on orders received and accordingly decide on the items and volumes of materials to be used in production in response to the orders. If materials in inventory are not enough, warehousing management systems will automatically call for procurement, DSI indicated.
AR-enabled smart glasses developed by SSI
Photo: SSI
Article translated by Adam Hwang
