Through the looking glass

There’s an app for that, on that?! Google Glass, a wearable computer with an optical head-mounted display built into a spectacle frame, is only available in the limited Explorer Edition for select testers and software developers, but an MTConnect app is already available. (MTConnect is an open, royalty-free standard intended to foster enhanced interoperability between software applications and manufacturing devices and equipment, thereby lowering the barriers to “manufacturing intelligence.”)

Indiana Technology and Manufacturing Cos. (ITAMCO) is a Google Glass beta tester and developed its MTConnect app for the device. The app is available free of charge and does not include advertising, according to Joel D. Neidig, technology manager for the gearing and machining services provider. “Apps are a secondary thing for our company,” he said, “but we will probably be open sourcing the code for that app so others can build upon it and make better apps. It’s about giving back to the industry.”

The MTConnect app for Google Glass, shown here, enables a user to gather and share MTConnect-provided machine data. The display is in the upper right-hand corner.

According to ITAMCO, Google Glass, coupled with MTConnect functionality, provides a previously unattainable view into the manufacturing process, enabling users to travel the entire shop floor, gather and share MTConnect-provided machine tool data and access the Internet while being liberated from laptops and hand-held devices. The app enables MTConnect agents to directly stream data to Google Glass, which recognizes the machine tool, grabs appropriate information from MTConnect and parses the MTConnect stream to display it in a user-friendly manner.

The company added that users will be able to view the power status, emergency stops, alarms and messages, controller mode, axis positions, spindle overrides, machine and part locations, current part status and more for MTConnect-compatible equipment. Also, if there is a camera inside the machine, Google Glass will stream the video to the user and overlay the machine tool data so the user can quickly analyze the situation, make a decision and share the data.

The app works for machines synched with Glass, and those machines provide updates as machining operations progress, Neidig said. The system doesn’t include a lot of machines because then users would be getting updates all the time, he explained, but it does monitor a few machines they are interested in. “If you’re not by the control, you can see what the latest updates are.”

Neidig envisions everybody at the company will eventually wear the device, with safety shields inserted into Google Glass to provide eye protection. This would enable a new machine operator to view training videos while at a machine, supplementing the training program. The display is in the upper right-hand corner of a person’s vision. “It’s up and out of the way,” he said. “It could be playing and you could be looking away from it, or you could be looking up at it. It’s pretty user-friendly.”

Because Google Glass doesn’t have an attached keyboard and isn’t designed to, users can manage the device from a PC or keyboard-enabled device, Neidig said.

For more information about Indiana Technology and Manufacturing Cos., Plymouth, Ind., call (574) 936-2112 or visit www.itamco.com.