Global Positioning

Satellites used for glodal positioning circle the globe.

Satellites used for glodal positioning circle the globe.


As little children we are taught the story of Hansel and Gretel who are faced with the challenge of finding their way home in an unfamiliar woods. As we all remember they discovered that pebbles as signs along the way create a map to follow. This lesson went to our hearts and the automobile clubs led the charge to install street and route signs at every fork in the road. Navigation using signs is a workable method as long as it is daytime and the weather cooperates. I can remember my mother turning on the porch light as a beacon to guide out of town visitors to our house.
Safe travel has long been based on line of sight position references

Safe travel has long been based on line of sight
position references


Lighthouses have long been used as beacons to guide sailors safely back to port. During the second world war a concerted effort was made to improve on visual position references. The British development of radar branched into the creation of LORAN.(short for LOng RANge navigation) It was not until the introduction of solid state electronics in the 1970s that marine and military use of LORAN became common. This system used a grid of land radio beacons to calculate the position of ships and planes. Most of the positioning systems still in use today are an evolution of the original LORAN. The position of a GPS receiver is calculated by timing the transmission from 3 or more transmitters in known locations. The measured position accuracy improves if the transmitters are closer or there is fewer obstructions. This is why we primarily use satellite or cell phone based GPS today.
I would like to report that our GPS navigation systems are infallible in their calculation of location. Even though they work most of the time, certain types of obstructions such as parking garages and metal buildings block or reflect the signals. Applications that require continuous guidance, such as the autonomous vehicles that I helped design for warehouse delivery, have additional local beacons to provide sufficiently accurate location. This also overcomes the intentional dithering that the US military adds to the satellite GPS signals. Other useful devices that use GPS locations, such as my www.mileagetrakker.com ,have an embedded workaround that makes the temporary loss of location user invisible. Even though this level of coding is complicated, the user experience is greatly enhanced.
Capture your full mileage deduction

Capture your full mileage deduction


Many of the things that we are trying to achieve are related to our current location. It is not surprising that some of the most successful automation effectively utilizes embedded GPS calculations.

Battery Assault

by Reynardo Detroit Electric 1917 taken in Maffra, Vic

by Reynardo Detroit Electric 1917 taken in Maffra, Vic

“I sell here, Sir, what all the world desires to have – POWER”, Matthew Boulton. From the infancy of the industrial revolution where Matthew promoted his steam engine, we humans wanted to encapsulate power in our hands. In the early 1900s electric cars running on lead acid batteries vied with the early unreliable internal combustion engines. Now, 100 years later, we mostly use vehicles powered by internal combustion engines, but a few remaining vehicles, such as lift trucks and Kiva robots, are powered by lead acid batteries. Lead acid battery life is still an issue. For example, Kiva (now Amazon robotics) robots, require brand new batteries every year.
Modern electronics ratcheted up the demand for portable sources of electric power. When I used my HP45 calculator, the nickle cadmium cells in the battery pod drove most users nuts.

HP45 by Daniel Sancho

HP45 by Daniel Sancho

As an engineer, I replaced cells in the pods as they died from military surplus. Never figured out what caused this highly variable battery life. Some died the first week, others went for a year or longer. Market pain of this level spurred heavy development effort, which resulted in the NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) battery. The highly toxic cadmium electrode was replaced by an intermetallic electrode, which in the most effective versions includes rare earth elements. This improvement tripled battery storage capacity (almost equaling lithium ion) A few marketplace knee jerk reactions occurred. Chevron bought the patent and blocked NiMH battery use in electric vehicles. NiMH use in hybrid vehicles was approved, because they still run on gasoline. The driving range of a Prius in electric only is about 1 mile. The Tesla end run using lithium batteries, probably caused the NiMH patent sale to BASF in 2012. The Chinese leveraged their short term monopoly on rare earth supply for political purposes.
Prius by JBleeker

Prius by JBleeker

When the Prius first came out the automotive engineering community believed that a short NiMH battery life would be its downfall. Slamming power in and out at variable ambient temperatures is exactly opposite to what is optimum for extending battery life. NiMH battery life proved better than our concern, but is still a factor. Smash and grab thieves currently target Prius battery packs, because they can get $1000 for a used pack when an owner is faced with a $2500 replacement after about five years of use.
We enthusiastically adopted the convenience of laptops when the intersection of lower power usage computer chips coincided with lighter weight lithium battery development.
Laptop Computer

Laptop Computer

Lithium batteries take advantage of the fact that lithium is the lightest metal. Unfortunately, all high density energy storage materials are a fire hazard. We have heard about lithium battery fires in laptops, planes and even Tesla cars. Our familiarity with normal cars causes us to forget that gasoline fires in cars are also very common. Most lithium battery makers are still focusing on electrode development in that battery life is still a frustration.
Based on a successful trial, Eos has just received third round funding for their grid scale zinc air battery. http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/eos-raising-25m-to-build-megawatts-of-low-cost-grid-batteries They are working with Con Edison to replace coal fired peaking power plants with batteries. It takes a whole lot of batteries.
Modular ZInc Air in Sea Land picture of  Big Bend Power Station by Wkniught94 talk container picture by Marc Cromme, Denmark

Modular ZInc Air in Sea Land
picture of Big Bend Power Station by Wkniught94 talk
container picture by Marc Cromme, Denmark

In modern logistic fashion, they package their batteries with the control electronics in sea-land containers. A multitude of these containers equals a power plant. The Eos battery evolved from the zinc dry cell that every one knows. Hearing aid manufacturers needed an affordable light weight battery to create a comfortable unit. The design of the dry cell was evolved to gather one reaction agent from the air. Most people do not realize this is similar to a gasoline engine which burns 10 lbs of air for every one pound of gasoline. Gasoline engine cars would be heavy, like Tesla electrics (4000 lb vrs 2000 lb), if they also had to carry the air that is burned. Eos evolved the zinc air battery further to create a rechargeable battery with a long life. This innovation cut the cost of storing electrical energy in batteries by 50 percent. Most of the electrical vehicle manufactures have taken notice and it would not surprise me if all electric vehicle manufacturers use zinc air for some portion of their batteries.
Batteries are encapsulating power in our hands. The cordless drills, shavers, weed eaters, vacuums, lawn mowers, snow blowers that we enjoy, are just the spin off benefits.

Cobots

C3P0 Model at Comic-Con by Ewen Roberts

C3P0 Model at Comic-Con by Ewen Roberts

Science fiction writers have given us a glimpse into the future. I can picture a time beyond my lifetime where we have advanced our robot technology to the point where a robot can be created in human form and work along side us. Certainly Star Wars caught all of our imaginations. The starting point for Collaborative Robots (COBOTS) was a lot more mundane. Early robots, like Unimate, were prone to deviate occasionally or drift from their programmed path. Our safety standards evolved to compensate for this short coming by enclosing them in locked bullet proof cages. Like wayward children, we had them play in their own sandbox. We were content to avoid joining the robots in their sandbox because most of the earliest robot applications were chosen because the robot was in a dirty and dangerous sandbox. The 6 axis electric robots that replaced the first hydraulic Unimates were more reliable, but still were less than perfectly safe. This history colored our vision of what a robot should look like. Innovation usually comes at us from the fringe, tearing up the “rule book” in the process. The Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner is a good example
First generation Roomba (Roomba is a trademark of iRobot) by Larry D. Moore

First generation Roomba (Roomba is a trademark of iRobot) by Larry D. Moore

It doesn’t look like a robot. It doesn’t even look like a vacuum. As one of the early Cobots it could safely work side by side with humans without danger. Cats — We are less sure about them, based on some funny Youtube video showing how they react to Roomba vacuums. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk4XB2wZqF4 This early cobot spawned a few commercial derivatives to tackle what my wife’s grandmother called uphill work. This is work like laundry that you finish this week, just in time to start again at the beginning next week. As a teenager I did some of that running an industrial floor scrubber for my aunt’s janitorial business. No matter how good a job you did cleaning the floor one night, the floor started just as dirty the next night.

T5 walk-behind floor scrubber by Tennant (left) and HydroBot floor scrubbing robot by Intellibot Robotics picture by Z22

T5 walk-behind floor scrubber by Tennant (left) and HydroBot floor scrubbing robot by Intellibot Robotics picture by Z22

The robotic scrubber does not consider this task a dead end job like I did. A new template for robots emerged. AGVs (Autonomous Guided Vehicles) sprouted into wide spread use. Their slow speeds and limited range of motions enabled co habitation of working space with humans.
Packmobile with trailer AGV, Egemin Automation picture by AGVExpertJS

Packmobile with trailer AGV, Egemin Automation picture by AGVExpertJS


It could be argued that the first versions of AGVs were not full robots because they simply tracked a wire buried in the floor. Evolved AGVs such as the Kiva robots that Amazon uses to accomplish same day delivery are full Cobots. Even though Amazon got a jump on the rest of the industry by the strategic purchase of Kiva, competition is beginning to emerge http://netonomy.net/2015/04/29/three-robots-that-will-change-ecommerce/. In much the same fashion that Roomba came in at the fringe, the need for a robot that could work side by side with a human ushered in the gantry style robot. The gantry has predictable X Y Z motions with hard end stops which eliminates the need for the bullet proof cage. The space advantage of a Cobot makes it my favorite choice when implementing an automotive cell. I am particularly proud of a jet engine turbine blade inspection machine that uses ultrasonics to detect cracked blades before they fail.
New Automation Ultrasonic Jet Engine blade inspection machine

New Automation Ultrasonic Jet Engine blade
inspection machine

Honda thinks the same way and I was not surprised when I saw a gantry robot carrying cylinder heads between machining stations at their Alabama assembly plant. The electronics industry is faced with the same issues of mixing automated and human assembly. They also have adopted gantry style cobots for their surface mount technology
Internals of a Juki KE2010L 4 head pick and place surface mount machine. the machine is used to place electronic components that are soldered to the face of a printed circuit board rather than having leads go through holes in the board.   The machine is loaded with standard 8" reels on mechanical feeders (front right) and a tray of QFP microprocessors (rear center)  Picture by Peripitus

Internals of a Juki KE2010L 4 head pick and place surface mount machine. the machine is used to place electronic components that are soldered to the face of a printed circuit board rather than having leads go through holes in the board. The machine is loaded with standard 8″ reels on mechanical feeders (front right) and a tray of QFP microprocessors (rear center) Picture by Peripitus


Technology will advance to the point where we can build a C3P0 Cobot. It will happen as a step by step evolution. We are on our way. Currently in the lab are vision, tactile and capacitive skin collision sensors which will become affordable.

Packaged 3D

A chocolate assortment in a vacuformed tray by Evan-Amos

A chocolate assortment in a vacuformed tray by Evan-Amos


Life could be a box of chocolates. The challenge in this era of mass customization is that the assortment of flavors that we want to buy changes with the wind. If you look at the picture carefully you will discover that the pockets match the shape of the chocolates. This means that if you want to change the assortment you require a new mold. The associates filling the box also find it hard to adapt to continuously and randomly changing customer order. It would also be helpful if the vacuum molded tray had some visual management labels to guide in the fulfillment activity.
Enter 3D printing. Invisalign pioneered the use of 3D printed molds to shape plastic sheet.
Vacuformed orthodontics are shaped over 3D printed molds by Smikey lo

Vacuformed orthodontics are shaped over 3D printed molds by Smikey lo

Since every retainer created is different, the 3D printing process also molds into each item identification information. Why did Invisalign choose plastic sheet?
From the earliest blacksmiths shaping swords, the engineering community has discovered that it is possible to increase material strength if the application does not need the high strength in all directions. The bio-compatible plastic used by Invisalign actually works as a retainer, whereas the 3D printed plastic used to make the mold is too brittle and you would not catch me sticking it in my mouth because it still contains active plastic precursors. Other plastic composite sheet can be even stronger because reinforcing fibers can be laminated into the mix
Fibers add strength to plastics and rubber by PerOX

Fibers add strength to plastics and rubber by PerOX

For example pneumatic car tires must have embedded fiber reinforcement to withstand the applied forces. Airplane manufacture is a logistic nightmare. About 100,000 parts must be manufactured and gathered together in the right order to make a plane come together. The Boeing engineers joke that FISH (first in still here) has replaced FIFO (first in first out) as their accounting system. Boeing in their Moonshine Project determined that staged delivery to the assembly floor is more that sending the parts. The parts themselves are useless without the matching tools to install them. In their historic system workers spent much of their working day traveling back and forth to the tool cabinets around the working area. As we gain engineering control, the implementation of molded tool trays on 3d printed molds is an effective shadow board so that it becomes possible visually to determine in the warehouse that all of the required tools are sent with each cart of parts.
747 airplane parts and tools are delivered together by Jeff McNeill from Chiang Mai, Thailand

747 airplane parts and tools are delivered together by Jeff McNeill from Chiang Mai, Thailand


Some of the solution for the shortage in transportation capacity has to come from efficiency. It would be easier if the marketplace didn’t want mass customization at the same time. I can picture us evolving to 3D print to order shipping trays so that full density skid size loads can be assembled upstream enabling fast loading and less unprofitable empty space in transit.

Robot Vision

Vision - The holy grail of robotics

Vision – The holy grail of robotics


We would like to have robots perform the tasks that we as humans do not want to do. Many of these fall into the heavy, dangerous, repetitive, precise, finicky categories. As humans we learned to accomplish these types of actions as little children, so we do not have a step by step roadmap on how to get this type of task done
The blind leading the blind By UR INC Motoman SDA10 at Smith Springs Lab

The blind leading the blind
By UR INC Motoman SDA10 at Smith Springs Lab


Most of us who have implemented robots find that blind repetition of actions, however well conceived leads to less than desired results. Real processes are not perfectly consistent and real parts have tolerances. As engineers we normally try to compensate for the fliers that we have experienced, but new types of defects emerge in the global race to the bottom. For example it was only recently that I had to fight with bolts where the hex head was partially formed. This totally jams the automatic feeding and installation equipment. Dumb and happy. The robotic automation cannot cull out the defective parts which is a simple task for the humans that they replaced. Fortunately in this case, I included a proximity switch in my arm end that could be used for sorting.
Capacitive proximity switches detect objects before they are hit

Capacitive proximity switches detect objects before they are hit


It is possible to use a proximity switch to measure to an accuracy down to .001 inch. (high accuracy measurements have a significant time penalty due to multiple probe motions) I recommend including extra vision catagory features when implementing new robot installations. In this fast changing business environment it is highly likely that your robots will need to be taught new tricks before they are taken out of service. Small investments in sensors like $100 proximity switches can be very useful in shortening the reaction time to unforeseen process challenges. The Fraunhoffer institute is pioneering in the implementation of capacitive “vision” In the linked article by Dr. techn. Norbert Elkmann the usefulness of advanced sensing is explored. “Manufacturing has great need of robots with high load carrying capacity for human-robot collaboration. Since the potential risk for humans in the event of a collision is naturally greater than when robots are smaller, the use of robots with high load carrying capacity in the direct vicinity of humans requires smart sensor systems such as capacitive sensors that detect proximity.” http://www.iff.fraunhofer.de/en/business-units/robotic-systems/capacitive-sensors.html
As we continue to use robots to replace humans, It will be necessary to create robots that incorporate human sensory capability. Touch will be one of the first areas that changes. Since material handling is one of the primary robot uses, controlling the applied force is a requirement. We have all been frustrated with the robot gripper in the arcade game. It drops the prize at every opportunity. If we wish to use a robot to replace humans the gripper needs tactile sensors. This mimics human touch using a strategy similar the human it replaces. Nerve endings, concentrated in our finger tips, transmit a whole bunch of data down the arm
Grippers have evolved from the arcade version to the state of the art Tactilus Multi-vector Sensor - Sensor Products Inc

Grippers have evolved from the arcade version to the state of the art Tactilus Multi-vector Sensor – Sensor Products Inc

Just force sensors by themselves may not be enough. It may also be necessary to have individual finger motion control. Other tasks arer even more sophisticated. Simply having force sensors may not be enough to prevent impact damage. The Lexus like most modern passenger cars has a ring of impact sensors around the body. Even though rush hour feels like bumper cars some days, it is not very effective to wait until the sensor detects contact as a strategy for safe following in traffic.
by METRO66 Wheeler Dealer Bumper Cars by Mariordo Driving Google Self-driving Car

by METRO66 Wheeler Dealer Bumper Cars
by Mariordo Driving Google Self-driving Car

As we look into the future of robotics, we will see a massive increase in the amount of data that is processed to accomplish the robot tasks. The current individual wires down the arm will be replaced by arm end processors and fiber optic links. Full vision control will occur in high volume premier applications, but cost limitations will result in selected use for other industrial tasks.

Mass Customization

One Size Fits All

One Size Fits All

This may sound corny but we live in the land of plenty. As Michael Pollen, the author of “Cooked”, puts it “If you are what you eat, and especially if you eat industrial food, as 99 percent of Americans do, what you are is ‘corn.'” http://www.ecoliteracy.org/essays/we-are-what-we-eat

Eat your cornflakes

Eat your cornflakes

But I don’t want to be corn. This is where the trend of mass customization it setting in. The industrial revolution was all about creating factories that could deliver massive quantities of identical product so that everyone could have some. The logistics system delivered full skid loads of boxes of cornflakes which populated the grocery shelves. The advent of computerized ERP has changed all of that. We now want to head to the store and grab the flavor of Gatorage that suits our fancy.
by Sarah Afshar - My love for Gatorade goes beyond

by Sarah Afshar – My love for Gatorade goes beyond

We just expect that the shelf will be restocked with the correct flavor without giving a second thought how the modern computerized ERP systems orchestrate that action on a JIT (Just In Time) basis triggered by scanning at the cash register. The plant that bottles Gatorade does not want to have any food remaining at the end of production each day to control bugs and pests. I am happy about that because it is a whole lot better method than using pesticides that could end up in the food we eat. Since the buying public is unpredictable the ERP system has to assemble a list for the the food warehouse of the needed flavors and quantities. The warehouse assembles (kitting) skids of the correct flavors of 80 lb gastorade concentrate packages in production sequence (in e-commerce this is called fulfillment)
Operators need a lifting device to assemble skids of heavy product

Operators need a lifting device to assemble skids of heavy product

A delivery run is made each day so that the correct raw materials are available at the start of each production day at the bottling plant. This is just one stop on the milk run that delivers ERP kitted bulk food products from the warehouse in the working day. We all got tired of eating cornflakes every day. Computer directed mass customization systems delivery the variety of goods that we want to the store shelves

Connectivity

Humans are all interconnected

Humans are all interconnected


The first long distance communication link was actually digital. The telegraph replaced flags, smoke signals and mirrors as the first reliable long distance link.
A telegraph key and sounder

A telegraph key and sounder

My dad’s best friend was a HAM radio enthusiast who worked for NASA. As a young child, I remember watching a teletypewriter translate radioed Morse Code and print at 20 words per minute. I thought the transmission was coming from Mars. Funny on today’s scale, in that this transmission was at the blinding baud rate of 8 bits/second. (still faster than you could send and receive Morse Code using the key.) The general public never wanted to learn Morse code so they migrated to the telephone, radio and television. My parents cottage / retirement home is on Lake Erie in a small village called Saybrook.
A lineman on a telephone pole.

A lineman on a telephone pole.


No it was no longer necessary to climb the pole to answer the phone. But, I can remember when a live operator came on the line to ask you what number you were calling from for billing. For us non-residents, it is mandatory to keep the cell phone plugged into the car charger so that you have enough broadcast power to last though a normal phone call. I am not surprised that Saybrook was a Finnish community. The equally sparse Finnish landscape prompted a Finnish company Telenokia in 1991 to invent the digital GSM G2 cell phone protocol. A digital link, initially at 40,000 bits/sec (the old telephone modems are at 48,000 bits/sec) replaced the G1 analog cell phone networks. This digital strategy made simultaneous voice and data transmission possible. We quickly adopted this communication link. Connected car services such as my IoT (Internet of Things) http://mileagetrakker.com automated milege report generation system became possible. Mileage Trakker even works in places like Saybrook which isn’t scheduled to upgrade beyond G2 cell coverage until next year.
Capture your full mileage deduction

Capture your full mileage deduction


Humans are funny creatures. In the near future we will all be transported by self-driving vehicles. I suspect that the resulting traffic jams will cause us to want enough cell bandwidth to synchronize the flow.
Computer control will stuff the roads

Computer control will stuff the roads

This is very similar to the task of keeping track of Kiva robots scurrying around a warehouse. Very high capacity “blanket” WIFI systems at 450,000,000 bits/sec by Extricom http://www.extricom.com are the minimum needed for this task. The actual bandwidth we will want is probably higher, in that it takes 32,000,000 bits per second, to transmit TV images to entertain us during the trip. We are watching all of our communication links converge into a single interconnected system.

KISS

KISS also applies to automation

KISS also applies to automation


KISS — Keep It Simple Stupid
Early in my career I was assigned the task of commissioning an $70,000 electric paint robot. Unfortunately at that stage of robot evolution, the seal design at the robot joints prevented it from painting more than the first part. The vapors shorted it out. What I learned is that it is more effective to tackle automating the simplest tasks first. Simple tasks take less investment to automate. Even though modern 6 axis robots can now handle painting tasks, combining them with required sophisticated guard enclosures places them far from the KISS category in my mind.
I was watching a 2 axis gantry “robot” carry engine cylinder heads at a Honda assembly plant in Alabama. Reminded me of a dog playing fetch with a stick. The jaws of the gripper opened and the human at the end was presented with the retrieved cylinder head. I install gantry robot transport systems for the same benefit, their simple motion and guards allow humans to safely work along side them. These robots do not care that I am comparing them to a dog. As Ada Lovelace wrote as her work began the digital age “The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform”
A Spaniel fetches a stick by Kleuske

A Spaniel fetches a stick by Kleuske

Kiva robots are even simpler. They race to the other end of the warehouse and wait like puppy dogs for us to collect the item they have retrieved. All of this without the clutter of the rails and guards of gantry retrieval systems.
Moore’s law marches on. The cost of computers has dropped to the point where we can afford to automate even simple tasks. It is easy to write down date, starting odometer, location, finishing odometer and purpose for one business trip. You get pissed off enough to invent a better way when you spend a chunk of every Christmas vacation inputting a list of a thousand or so business trips so that you qualify to keep the $8000 to $9000 dollar business mileage deduction. I want to use the KISS principle to fix all the aggravations in my life.
Capture your full mileage deduction

Capture your full mileage deduction

It is nice that an affordable computer http://mileagetrakker.com can talk to the car and generate the log for me

Mechanic Shortage

Oleg-Little bike mechanic Greyson

Oleg-Little bike mechanic Greyson


We probably will see an end to the Mechanic shortage when the little Greysons of the world enter the workforce. In the interim the retiring baby boomer multi-craft maintenance technicians are leaving a big hole in the workforce. It would be nice to think that the workers entering the market could instantly fill the hole. The reality is that the retiring workers gathered their broad spectrum skill over a lifetime in the field. As a double whammy the adoption of automation as a solution to other competitive issues has expanded the need for maintenance mechanics.
Most people still in the manufacturing game are well aware of the problem. The question is what to do about it. I have elected to list a few avenues to consider.
1) Factory rebuilds. Ralph Nader in his ignorance made planned obsolescence a generally known term. As engineers we are proud of our ability to design products with a known lifetime. This term can be good or bad depending on whether you are trying to use mechanical items beyond their design life. Smart business people recognize the benefit of rebuilding back to better than new on a planned schedule. For example the life expectancy of the first rebuild of a diesel 18 wheel truck engine exceeds the life of the original engine. Trying to staff enough maintenance talent on the third shift or weekend to keep equipment past its planned life running is a losing battle
2) Offsite maintenance. The thing I like best about Kiva Robots is their interchangeability. If you are automating a warehouse it is not necessary to hire a large staff of robot mechanics. These items can be sent offsite and quickly replaced with identical replacements. Many industrial trucks and lift trucks fit into the same category. Contrast this with central conveyor systems that shut the plant down if any section is not operational.
Material Handling Robot

Photo courtesy of Colin&Claire
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/


3) Autonomous Maintenance. In today’s lean environment we have to get past the notion that only maintenance craftsmen are capable of keeping the plant running. Operators know their work area best. Systems can be put in place to guide each operator in performing actions which prolong equipment life and improve uptime.
4) 5S. Shine is a key factor in keeping equipment operating reliably. Many times a repair is nothing more that cleaning within the mechanisms. The time for making a repair is diminished if the mechanic does not also have to clean the outside.
5) Team maintenance. Scarce multicraft technicians are a lot more productive if they have an assigned helper. This effective strategy also is helpful is broadening the skills of apprentices.
6) Scheduled Maintenance Free. Smart business people are purchasing items that require less maintenance. I was talking to a Tesla owner who only changed tires after three years of heavy driving. This is possibly why they do not need a dealer network. Wesley an industrial truck builder changed to flat-free aperature tires and maintenance free batteries to offer a vehicle without scheduled maintenance.
7)HMI. (Human Machine Interface) Much the same way that it is next to impossible to fix your car without obtaining the error codes, the computers attached to modern production equipment need to identify what is wrong.

Wingman

Who is watching your back?

Who is watching your back?

In this high tech world it is comforting to know that you have angels looking over your shoulder. For example you have a computer wingman driving with you every mile of the way.  You won’t believe me until you try to drive a Model T where the spark advance is controlled by the driver using a lever attached to the steering wheel.  It is very easy to stall the engine each and every shift by getting the spark advance wrong.  Technology done right, like computer controlled spark advance, is user invisible.

 

Ford Model T opened driving to the masses

Ford Model T opened driving to the masses

We all get frustrated with new technology that requires the skill of a rocket scientist to operate.  Robotic and CNC manufacturing machinery that was introduced in the 90’s fit in that category.  The computer processor in that equipment was barely able to keep up with running the equipment and did not have any leftover capacity to assist the user.  The good news is that we can now afford lots of computer capacity as Moore’s law predicted.   Multiple large capacity computers are embedded into just about everything we currently create.

The secret is in creating useful tasks for these computers to do.  A computerized “wingman”,  who bridges the gap between the bits and byte and the user is one of the most helpful tasks.  I work with Wesley an industrial vehicle builder who offers an autonomous tug vehicle.  This technology would not have the market interest or acceptance if it required a rocket scientist to purpose it for the task. The embedded “wingman” in the computer control enables a normal warehouse worker to program a delivery,  simply by driving the route it the first time.  Other good examples of invisible computerized “wingmen” include the Milage Trakker http://mileagetrakker.com plugged into my car that collects and tabulates the mileage that I drive without me having to think about it.  It also understands and interprets the engine error codes with information provided real time to my smart phone.

I am not sure that I pictured the angel looking over my shoulder as a R2-D2 robot.  As computers invade every aspect of our lives I am beginning to believe that this is exactly what I need.