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Using Glass in a factory environment surprises me. Factories are notoriously loud, so unless Glass is really good at filtering out background noise, I'd imagine
by jerryr 10y ago
Using Glass in a factory environment surprises me. Factories are notoriously loud, so unless Glass is really good at filtering out background noise, I'd imagine that voice commands wouldn't work very well. My experience has mostly been consumer electronics factories in Asia, but I also see the following problems that may or may not apply to domestic factories:
* Equipment with clear resale value has a tendency to "walk away". We worked hard to avoid using consumer electronics such as PCs or phones on the line. When we did need to use them, we had to establish strict policies and secure storage for when the equipment was not in use. Glass seems like it'd fall in this category.
* Even dedicated, laser-based, handheld barcode scanners could be finicky with part labels. Camera-based scanners were unusable due to poor accuracy and latency.
* Internet connectivity is poor or non-existent. WiFi coverage is usually terrible due to physical and electrical interference from factory equipment.
AR work instructions would be a dream--especially if the technology could flag errors. The environment just seems especially hostile for consumer-oriented technology such as Glass. I don't have firsthand experience with Glass, but I'm really surprised this company is reporting success with it.
- awqrre 10y agoIsn't noise cancellation a solved problem when using multiple microphones?
- jerryr 10y agoThe Amazon echo has a pretty good microphone array, and it still has a hard time picking up my commands if there's background noise. And the background noise in factories is extreme. Notice that in the article's photos, the operator is wearing earplugs with Glass.
- justin66 10y agoIt should be a lot easier for a microphone that's right next to your head. Face one or more microphones away from the user, that gives you the environmental noise. Point one or more microphones at the user's mouth (or use some other method). That gives you what you need (signal much louder than the environmental noise, with the right microphone), along with some of that same noise. Apply some noise subtraction magic. It's actually pretty different than an Echo, which needs to pick out the user's commands via complex signal processing alone.
- hatsunearu 10y agoIf your raw SNR is low, then you're boned no matter what.
- pscsbs 10y agoGoogle Glass has physical controls on the right side to navigate the UX.
- jerryr 10y agoAh, makes sense. The article's photo even seems to show the operator using those controls. The article mentioned voice commands specifically though, so I was reacting to that.
- NamTaf 10y agoYeh, it'd definitely want to be some form of hardened industrial version of Glass, but the base technology (unobtrusive screen in front of eye with data connectivity) would be a dream for me when I'm doing inspections on plant, for example.
- coredog64 10y agoSeveral years ago I was trying to solve the problem of voice recognition in a noisy environment. After brainstorming with some colleagues, we came up with the idea of using a throat mike. The only problem was that we couldn't find reasonably priced hardware that would work with commodity computers.
- jerryr 10y agoJawbone Bluetooth headsets actually contact your jaw to use the conducted vibrations to cancel background noise, similar to your idea. Disclosure: I worked on their first generation Bluetooth headset. I'm not certain the current generations still work this way.
- Karunamon 10y agoNoiseassassin - yup, the later gen ones do as well, but as I understand it, Jawbone is basically dead at this point.
- Already__Taken 10y agoCould get a second wind with voice recognition because the problem with comms is everyone sounds the same through that style of mic.
- abricot 10y agoI had that one. It was really great in noisy environments... unless there were also wind. Wind outright killed the sound.
- M_Grey 10y agoWhat really needs to happen is for someone to figure out how to decode the electrical signals generated by subvocalization, train a DNN to interpret them, and use that.
- xgen 10y agoI don't think that is practical without invasive surgery. Afaik the best we can do with external monitoring is roughly tell whether a person is trying to move or thinking about moving. Reading thoughts doesn't seem realistic with current technology.
- klodolph 10y agoI know some people who are working on this stuff. No voice controls, all gesture-based. The idea is to replace service manuals.
- el_benhameen 10y agoThat's an interesting idea, but doesn't it add significant training overhead? The value of voice commands is that the user is already fluent in the basic language of the interface, even if the specific commands still need to be learned.
- klodolph 10y agoI played with a demo, and no, it doesn't add significant training overhead. It's less like Minority Report and more like an iPad attached to your face.
- jerryr 10y agoCool. Presumably they're already doing this, but I'd really recommend observation to understand the environment in which the product will be used and then following up with user tests as they prototype. There can be some surprising or unintuitive ergonomic concerns around heavy machinery. For example, factory equipment with automated movement often requires two-handed operation. Even if it could be operated with one hand, many machines will have two buttons--one on either side of the machine--which must be pressed simultaneously. This ensures the operator's hands are out of harm's way during the automated movement. If the operator takes a hand off of a button to perform a hand-based gesture, the machine comes to a halt. Also, operators tend to develop a flow as they perform repetitive operations. If a tool breaks that flow, it will likely be rejected or abused. It sounds like your acquaintances are targeting service technicians, not necessarily factory workers, so the above examples might not apply, but I'd imagine their targeted industry has its own ergonomic concerns. Sorry to ramble at you. Just excited because it sounds cool.