If things work to plan, in about five years from now, the average shop floor worker will no longer need complicated machinery to carry out simple tasks like lifting and moving heavy items. Tata Sons is collaborating with Harvard University on a wearable device which would be more like a suit or an exoskeleton.Powered by soft robotics, it would, for instance, add more strength to the elbow joints to allow the person to lift something that he'd earlier need a machine for. But this is still a few years away. Till then, the group's technology office, led by Dr Gopichand Katragadda, is working on a simpler set of wearable devices to essentially do the same thing.Create the connected factory worker of the future.Over the past year, the crane operators at the Tata Steel plant in Jamshedpur have been part of a unique pilot project. They've been given a new device which looks like a retro analog watch, but comes loaded with sensors tracking temperature, heart rate variations, motion and ambient gases. The device is part of a project spearheaded by the Group Technology Office at the Tata Group, with companies like Titan, TCS, Tata Elxsi and Tata Communications involved with different aspects of the product. “The wearable device fits in with our overall concept of the connected worker. We are using sensor technology for safety and other aspects of the job he is performing and hope to be leaders in this space,“ said Dr Gopichand Katragadda, group CTO, Tata Group. For instance, the device would alert the wearer of the carbon dioxide or monoxide levels in the room reaching a level unsafe for humans.
Safety is just one of the several applications wearable devices are finding on Indian shop floors.KPIT Technologies has introduced an augmented reality-based glass that can help trainees learn the nuances of certain processes needing specific hand gestures like moulding. “Manufacturing companies in India are looking at technologies like augmented and virtual reality to transfer knowledge across generations of workers. Using the AR glass, a worker can practice it virtually before working on the shop floor, so the actual learning can be much faster,“ said Probodh Chiplunkar, global head digital transformation business unit, KPIT Technologies.
IT companies are realising that the manufacturing and industrial sector lends itself to a lot of applications for emerging technology like drones, augmented and virtual reality and sensor tracking. At certain industrial ports and factories, drones and chip-based IDs are already being used to ensure that no person is accidentally left behind.
Another solution that is gaining popularity with customers, both in India and abroad, is a smart glass-based handsfree warehouse-picking solution. From the time materials arrive at a factory, unloading them, getting process approvals, changing the labelling to match internal systems and putting the crates in correct place can easily take up a few hours. “You can converse with the AR Glass which has the intelligence built in and it will tell you where to go. This has saved customers incredible amounts of time,“ said Chiplunkar.Crunching a process that typically takes about three hours to less than 15 minutes has led to productivity improvements by 24% and cycle time and planning optimisation by 30%.
L&T Infotech has a similar AR glass solution that allows field engineers to inspect and identify areas safe for construction. Because this happens in real-time and allows for quick decisionmaking, it has led to an increase in operational efficiency and worker productivity, said the company. Another device helps increase worker productivity and efficiency by allowing the person to document and file all claims right away.
It is still early days, with the applications in augmented and virtual reality still evolving. However, as Indian manufacturing is waking up to the importance of making their shop floors smarter and safer, technology will continue to be an enabler. Indian companies are at the same stage of the maturity curve as their global counterparts, which opens up the possibility of real innovations happening in this space.
0 comments:
Post a Comment