Google Glass has slipped quietly out of the consumer eye, although it’s still being used in warehouses and operating theaters. The augmented reality headset’s small form factor is giving it an advantage at Boeing too, where, according to CIO, the aircraft giant is almost ready to roll out a version of Google Glass used when working on the wiring in airplanes.
Boeing has been using Google Glass since 2013. In 2015, a group of electrical technicians used a beta version of the device to help with assembling wire harnesses, and Boeing publicized the way the device was being used by its technicians. The harnesses connect the wires throughout an aircraft, and they can be a confusing maze of connections. Technicians juggle laptops that show assembly instructions in PDF form in order to match what they see on the screen with the large layouts of wires ahead of them in the real world.
Therefore, giving technicians a hands-free approach could make the work a lot easier. It removes the need for keyboard commands, and instead provides an overlaid map of the wires, anchored by the Skylight enterprise platform. The information sits just at the top of the technician’s field of view, allowing them to quickly switch back and forth from the real world to the heads-up display. In the pilot program, each individual job was anchored by QR codes, which allowed the system to authenticate the employee and match their screen to their specific task.
CIO has a detailed look at how Boeing integrated the Skylight platform into Google Glass, as well as the next stage planned for the project now that the pilot program is over. Boeing is still working on learning how to integrate heads-up displays in a variety of areas in their manufacturing environments. They’ve also been exploring potential applications on the International Space Station.
At the very least, the device has given some technicians a hands-free way to map out their work – and has kept Google’s half-glasses form factor relevant.