(Dialog IT/Royal Australian Navy)
Australian technology services provider, Dialog IT, has laid claim to developing what it says is a “world first” integration of Alphabet’s Glass Enterprise and Google’s artificial intelligence services.
Google parent, Alphabet, revealed to the world in July the revamped version of its smart glasses, with the firm sizing up the enterprise as it works to bring augmented reality (AR) to business.
Now, Dialog IT, in partnership with the Royal Australian Navy Fleet Air Arm (FAA), has revealed a proof-of-concept demonstration using the Google Glass headset for aviation maintenance activities.
The proof-of-concept demonstration was conducted in partnership with the Department of Defence’s Chief Information Officer Group, the FAA, and Dialog IT, as a Google Partner.
According to Dialog IT, the company’s engineers have been working with the early Glass Enterprise prototypes since May 2016, with initial clients including the FAA and the National Trauma Research Institute, headquartered at the Alfred Hospital in Victoria.
The solution Dialog IT developed for the Navy integrates Glass Enterprise with Google’s Machine Learning APIs (Vision API and Natural Language API) to help engineers with the FAA’s maintenance program. A pilot solution was deployed for assessment with the Fleet’s Squirrel helicopters.
According to Commander Fleet Air Arm, Commodore Chris Smallhorn, the hands free wearable head up display (HUD) technology, provided by the Glass headset, has the potential to improve maintenance task efficiency and safety.
“The technology enables video conferencing with supervisors from the actual location of the maintenance being conducted and enables a maintainer to have both hands free to conduct maintenance tasks, often at height and in difficult to access locations,” Commodore Smallhorn said.
“It is imperative that we, as one of the world’s most capable navies, stay at the forefront of technology and lead the way in researching the best and safest way to deliver our warfare capability.
“The partnership with Dialog has been ground breaking. We haven’t attempted something like this before, but we are committed to being innovative and agile in our operations. We are at the beginning of the program and it is promising,” he said.
At the same time, The National Trauma Research Institute (NTRI), at The Alfred hospital in Melbourne, has also partnered with Dialog IT to develop voice-activated, heads-up display glasses that combine the Trauma Reception and Resuscitation system (TR&R) with Google Glass.
Combining the TR&R system with Google Glass is expected to give doctors more immediate access to vital patient information, like heart rate, oxygen saturation and blood pressure, without the doctor having to leave or look away from the patient.
The glasses also have a camera and 4G+ connectivity, which will enable trauma teams to connect with medical specialists off-site.
Project lead at NTRI and director of Trauma Services at The Alfred Mark, Fitzgerald, said the glasses have the potential to save thousands of lives across the globe and will enable connectivity in trauma resuscitation that has never been seen before.
The new Google Glass projects come after Alphabet’s Glass Enterprise page announced Dialog IT as the vendor’s first partner in the Australasian region after the launch of Glass Enterprise globally in July.
