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Video A Toolbox That Helps Keep You From Losing Tools (Video) 82

Posted by Roblimo from the one-day-there-will-be-no-1/2-sockets-anywhere-in-the-world-because-they'll-all-be-lost dept.
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Dan Mcculley, the interviewee in this video, works for Intel and claims they have "about 140" projects going on inside their fabs and factories, of which the Smart Toolbox is but one, and it's one some technicians came up with because Intel workers lose something like $35,000 worth of tools every year. This project is based on the same Galileo boards Intel has used to support some high-altitude balloon launches -- except this is an extremely simple, practical application. Open source? You bet! And Dan says the sensors and other parts are all off-the-shelf items anyone can buy. (Alternate Video Link)

Timothy Dan, we are standing next to a toolbox. Yes, it is a little different, because we have some LEDs some labels and they are unlocked. Could you talk about what it is for and what you hope it will do?

Dan McCulley: Certainly. So this is one of about 140 project we have inside our fabs and factories at Intel right now. What we are doing is taking the Galileo board that we used to make balloons go into space and other interesting things. And using it inside our manufacturing environment. So we are taking our makers, this idea of open source, innovative, rapid prototyping, technical do it yourself, and applying it to the little problems we have in our factory. This particular little problem is smart toolbox. So we lose about $35,000 worth of hand tools every year in our factories. These are the little wrenches of the world.

This goes missing in the giant spaces that is the factory. And so what they have done here is actually take the Galileo board and use the web server on the board plus the physical computer side of the board to create a smart toolbox. And so what that allows us to do is when I walk up to the toolbox with my tablet, I am unable to unlock it, that’ll change my little LEDs from red locks to green unlocks. When I physically open it, it now knows that I am in front of the toolbox so I was really there. The light sensor detects that. Underneath each of our tools here, we have a light sensor as well.

And so as I take tools out of the toolbox to go work, it keeps track of which tools I have taken. I close the lid. It gives me a second to make sure that I was really serious about closing the lid and then it does an inventory of the tools in the toolbox. It calls home to its home server and says this toolbox now has these two tools associated with me. And so what that does for us is it solves that $35,000 problem. It keeps track of what tools are missing, who had them last, where we took them.

This is one of about 140 projects we are doing like this in Intel. This is the prototype. We’ve got one of these in the world right now—here it is. It was built by two of our night shift technicians in about six weeks, they had no experience with the Galileo board when they walked up to it. They were able to pick it up, take a real problem they face every night counting tools, solved it in six weeks, and have a real product that is out to use to solve that problem in the world.

Tim: Can you talk about the sensors that are inside of it?

Dan: So this particular system is very simple. So you can imagine solving this with RFIDs and readers and the way that you solve it at the grocery store, but these wrenches are only worth a couple of bucks, and are not worth solving that problem. So we are using these simple light sensors, so when the tool is over the top the light sensor goes dark, when the tool is out of the way, the light sensor lights up. All of that feeds back to the Galileo on the inside if you want to come peek it how really prototype-y this is. It has got a red board in there, a couple of resistors.

Tim: All wrapped up?

Dan: Yeah, very technically sound and ready to go. What’s interesting about this kind of stuff for us, you know, this is one of 140... there is a whole bunch of others, all solving those little problems that don’t particularly matter. And what we’ve done with Edison, our next phase of this, is you take that development board, rapidly prototype it make something that looks, works great and then shrink it down to an Edison package. And now you have a physical computer, with a webserver that all fits into the top of the toolbox and then goes out into the world and becomes you know a great thing.

Tim: How is this is literally off the shelf?

Dan: All this is literally off the shelf, we are using codes that came with the light sensors, reusing NodeJS which is an open source web server, all Linux. All are reproducible, copyable and easy to do.

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A Toolbox That Helps Keep You From Losing Tools (Video) More

A Toolbox That Helps Keep You From Losing Tools (Video)

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  • Yah, my tools seem to grow legs and walk off as well,

    • Re:"losing" tools (Score:5, Informative)

      by roninmagus ( 721889 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @04:47PM (#48461643)
      I watched the video, and this is actually the problem they're solving. Not solving "losing" tools, but solving "employees taking tools." You have to unlock the box with a device registered to you, and the box registers what tools you take.

      • Re:"losing" tools (Score:5, Insightful)

        by MozeeToby ( 1163751 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @05:15PM (#48461959)

        There's 3 types of people:

        1) People who lose tools by accident
        2) People who steal tools on purpose
        3) People who don't lose or steal tools

        You might prevent or reduce losses from category 1. You will create a minor inconvenience for people in category 2. And you will piss off everyone in category 3 who will feel like they're no longer trusted.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Zynder ( 2773551 )
          I need mod points. Perfect explanation. +1

        • And,

          4) People like me who lose their tools on purpose because my wife keeps asking me to help her hang blinds while I'm playing Far Cry 4.

          "I can't find the drill bits, hon. We're gonna have to put this off until I settle Pagan Min's hash."

        • There's 3 types of people:

          1) People who lose tools by accident
          2) People who steal tools on purpose

          That is an oversimplification. There are also people who like to keep tools at their workstation overnight for the convenience, or people who replace tools at a slightly different place where they were originally found, or people who loan out tools they borrowed to another technician/person who might need those tools also.

          3) People who don't lose or steal tools

          You might prevent or reduce losses from category 1. You will create a minor inconvenience for people in category 2. And you will piss off everyone in category 3 who will feel like they're no longer trusted.

          Even if we assume that you have an OCD employee in category 3 who always replaces a tool at the exact location he found it in -- the minute he no longer needs the tool. I can guarantee you

    • Just implement a stop and frisk before leaving work. Tools found.

  • Nothing new here, except the Open Source part. In Aviation, worse than losing the tools, is leaving one somewhere it shouldn't be and potentially downing an aircraft.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      we've not been very successful with RFID tags on tools; the small ones are hard to tag, and the big ones absorb damage that breaks the RFID tag. Silhousets on the wall and foam cutouts in tool boxes work very well, as long as someone is responsible for the tool count at shift change. We lose 20 minutes turning in tools at the end of each shift, but it's still cheaper than losing an engine.

      • Re:And this concept is standard in Aviation (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @04:43PM (#48461599)

        I worked in a quartermaster type position during a student summer job for the Air Force once. I pretty much lived inside a giant steel cage when I wasn't scrubbing down the hangar (yes, a hangar. and the lockers inside, and the adjoining hallways. and I got to sweep it. and drive golf carts to take out the trash--which was actually a blast, just don't get caught by the SPs for skiing them).

        Anyway, they had a barcode sticker on everything and every mechanic had an ID. They'd come up to the desk in the morning and ask for a set of tools. I'd trot around my cage and find them, put in their ID, scan each tool, and hand them over. At the end of the day, they'd bring them back. Then, we'd run a report showing which tools were still checked out and go hunt down the responsible mechanics.

        Worked pretty well as far as I can tell. 100% recovery rate during my time there.

        • In the Air Force, this is important. If you work on anything that ends up in, on, or part of an aircraft, keeping track of the tools prevents leaving them in an intake, flopping around an electronics bay, or flying up and hitting the pilot in the head during flight, all of which have happened.

          I remember that, having to check my tool bag in as I entered the flight line, then checking it out. Counting the number of tools each time, and if the count didn't match having to go through the inventory to find wha

          • But I watched the video, and then I thought, this for $35k? Intel? No, they must be more concerned with the work not getting done.... I hope.

            I believe some of that chip-making equipment is pretty expensive - I am surprised that its protection was not given as the primary benefit. Perhaps they already have a solution for that environment, and this is for basic facilities maintenance.

          • this for $35k? Intel? No, they must be more concerned with the work not getting done

            In the details the guy mentions it was made by the night shift crew. Thier primary concern is probably having something interesting to help stay awake.

            • There's probably some lost time too, besides the cost of the tools. If they have to walk across their football-sized factory to get another whosit, it's a productivity cost, and that can add up. If they eliminate time spent at the start and end of day checking tool boxes for accurate contents, more time savings = more money savings.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Maybe with this doctors will stop forgetting tools inside victims.

  • Not what it does... (Score:3)

    by beelsebob ( 529313 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @04:19PM (#48461339)

    It doesn't help you not lose tools. It helps you blame someone when a tool goes missing.

  • because Intel workers lose something like $35,000 worth of tools every year.

    That sounds a lot cheaper than even a single one full-time engineer busy developing and maintaining this cool product. There must be some other motive...

    Open source? You bet!

    Yeah, because all of Intel's other software has been open source.

    What's not to love about the company — and its careful PR campaign preparing the market for the demise of AMD? What a lovable corporation — I think, I have a thrill up my leg again.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Zynder ( 2773551 )
      I'm suspicious like you of their motives knowing their past practices. This is why I snub the Galileo and Atom platforms for my tinkering. Arduino, BeagleBone, and ARM work just as well.

  • There is nothing really novel here in that hotels have had this technology in their minibars for like 10 years - they know what you touched so they bill you even if you replace it. Basically this is moving that concept from the mini bar into a toolbox. I think it is quite impractical since it relys on tools all being in special spots, it would never work in a home environment. A better solution would involve small RFID tags affixed to each tool and an NFC lock on the toolbox. You unlock the toolbox with you

    • Why are you adding explosives to the toolbox?

    • The designated-place concept is borrowed from aviation(though usually it's just cutouts/silouettes, no sensors) where 'losing a tool' is a minor problem; but 'leaving a tool inside the engine' is a potentially lethal problem.

      It requires a certain amount of fiddliness; but it is undoubtedly better organized than a simple 'in box/not in box' arrangement.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by brunes69 ( 86786 )

        I can see that case.

        I guess all I am saying is there is the expensive implementation like this, which makes sense in terms perhaps of Intel or aviation, but would not be feasible to scale to the consumer. Then you have a consumer level implementation that is a lot cheaper and simpler but doesn't meet the requirements needed if you're working on an airplane. No different than many other things.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Zynder ( 2773551 )
          Maybe they're doing it because it's just cool to be absurd in your inventions sometimes. But knowing Intel (because they're a business), this is just a little test prototype for a much larger system. Maybe a way to do that automated shopping cart checkout thing? Who knows? Probably only Intel.
    • Hell. its a less effective solution to a problem thats been solved already. I was talking to a person a while back who was telling me that in a large Fabrication facility he was in, they had what amounted to a huge machine that housed all sorts of tools, from wrenches to individual sockets, when a worker needed a tool, they would go up to it, swipe their ID, select the tool, and it was dispensed. Tool was associated with their ID, and off they go. Probably saves time hunting for the size you need in a buck

  • Sure. Ever heard of libraries?

    Now having a web server waiting for a connection from a tablet to unlock the toolbox (so you have power requirements + extra nuisance) is certainly something I DON'T want to mess with when I just want to go ahead and screw (pun certainly intended) something.

    • You could fit every tool with an RFID tag and put a small computer with an RFID reader in the tool box. When a tool it taken out of the tool box, the tool box would check it off the list. When you're done with the tool box, you could get a list of any missing tools before you put the tool box away. If you notice something is missing right away, it should be easy to locate the tool, unless you intentionally what to lose the tool so you can take it home. This could be what's happening. Even then, $35,000

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by unrtst ( 777550 )

        You could fit every tool with an RFID tag and put a small computer with an RFID reader in the tool box. ...

        This was one of the best ideas I ever saw when I read it in one of Cory Doctorow's books. I think the book was "Makers", and here's the excerpt where it was introduced: http://www.iconeye.com/404/ite... [iconeye.com]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Zynder ( 2773551 )
      Since you made the pun, this is often the same lame excuse why a guy doesn't wear a condom.
  • The basic idea is appealing, but surely you could do it better by rfid tagging the tools or something. The toolbox seems totally impractical:
    1)You have to get out your phone/tablet to open my toolbox. Don't stick your phone charger in there!
    2)This is super wasteful of space.The entire top tray of the box now holds 2 wrenches, 2 sockets, a volt meter, and a couple of things I can't really identify.Mine, without all the fancy foam and sensors holds a socket SET, a wrench SET, a volt meter, and some other r

  • OK, I know that is only a prototype, but really guys, he specifically said it wasn't worth doing tool ID. When I work on something my toolbox tends to accumulate nuts and bolts and odds and ends, and isn't always deployed in a well lighted place. In fact it has been deployed in the rain at night. A simple light sensor is just not gonna cut it, at least in my real world.

    A tool box that actually identified and inventoried my tools without carefully placing them in space wasting foam cutouts would indeed be

  • Giving staff that have a proven ability to lose wrenches, a tablet, so they can track the wrench doesn't seem like a valid solution....

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Zynder ( 2773551 )
      You're thinking in old world terms. In the modern office, they don't buy you a tablet. They'll expect you to use your own smartphone. If you're lucky, they may throw you some kind of phone subsidy as compensation, but that isn't common.

  • It appears to only be able to tell if something is missing from the toolbox, which is perhaps useful because you can have an external indicator on the box that shows that the toolbox does not contain everything, and may reduce the occurrences of having a toolbox stored away before it has been properly restocked, but it does not do anything to actually locate the tools that were once in the box. Even if the range were limited to a few hundred meters within the box, that would still be extremely useful beca

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Amouth ( 879122 )

      You have a very valid point. For their light sensor method to work they are having to implement shadow boarding (laying out everything in a predefined pace). If a shadow board is done correctly then a quick glance at it will tell you exactly what is missing (high contrast colors between the background/foreground/tool in place)

      While i see the value in having a "smart" toolbox, i for one would want it to be able to give me the inventory along with helping me find the tool as you say. "digitizing" the same

  • Just scan the lunchboxes carried out the gate at night.

  • And how much will it cost to solve that $535k problem....we used to spend 4 hours on the clock making a tool that saved 15 minutes, so - you know, like, ROI?
  • In essence, it's just inventory control. There are quite a few companies that make systems like this (my company uses a few for small tooling parts). I see this being relevant for small fab shops or similar who don't have the capital to invest in the larger, more unified system - but still have an issue with misplaced tools. So they make DIY system using a prototype board and some basic sensors. In the end, this is a very basic prototype that is more of a proof of concept than a practical prototype. And de
    • And it's cool for Intel if it gets others thinking, "What could I do with a Galileo or Edison?" Maybe someone puts sensors under his bottles of liquor, to know if anyone has taken them off the shelf temporarily... or a new home security system, helping you confirm that all windows are shut at night... possibilities are endless if you start to think about it.

  • Auto mechanics own their own tools. Most shops give a "tool allowance" for them to buy new tools on a regular basis, but the fact is that owning your own tools makes theft pointless and accidental loss expensive. Problem solved.

    When I look at this toolbox and the amount of effort to "check out" or "check in" a tool - plus the fact that the capacity of the box is now 1/10th what it used to be - that $35,000/year is starting to look like a rock bottom bargain if they have anything more than 3 or 4 people us

    • Re:There's another way to handle this that's easie (Score:4, Informative)

      by Amouth ( 879122 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @07:23PM (#48463127)

      So to chime in on the whole Tech owning their own tools. I hate to say this but that works fine for Auto Mechanics because they are working on random people's cars. If the Tech doesn't have the right size wrench he'll jsut use pliers or an adjustable wrench, face and corners be damned, won't matter not their problem. Same with a torque wrench, let them just tap it a few times, or use the air gun.

      Move over to the industrial world and a real manufacturing/process plant where over torquing something can stop production, or damaging the bolt can cause delays in repair (lost of production) and we have a real problem. Most plants do not allow Techs to bring in their own tools. I know Plants that have banned adjustable wrenches (if you don't' have the right tool for the job don't' do it mentality)..

      All that being said in real industrial settings, tool control is a big deal. The more sterile and regulated the environment the more important it can be. See the link below where it was a contractor failing to do a tool count that did some real damage.

      http://defensetech.org/2012/01... [defensetech.org]

      Tool counting is a basic thing, and should always happen. Things like this tool box can be used for good and bad, it all depends on the culture of the company and people using it. Sure they could use it to bash people over the head for loosing tools, but they could also use it as a safe guard/helper/checker to help the tech out in doing a tool count to make the work go quicker. I know places where this would be seen as yet another big brother in the plant, and places where they would love to have this because it would make their job easier and quicker. Its all about culture.

      Personally i love the simplicity of it, although i will say that you have to have a solid 5S/Shadow boarding in place to use in place light sensors like this. It would work very well for specialized tool sets, but not your run of the mill mechanics toolbox. For that cheap RFID tags/single box reader might be more appropriate. (and could also be used for locating the tools if lost in the equipment).

      Trust me that the cost of something like this is a drop in the bucket compared to the costs of real specialty tools, and the impact to production/operations when a tool is lost.

    • Auto mechanics own their own tools. Most shops give a "tool allowance" for them to buy new tools on a regular basis, but the fact is that owning your own tools makes theft pointless and accidental loss expensive. Problem solved.

      Not really. You still have the problem of other workers, or the boss, "borrowing" a tool and forgetting (purposefully or not) to return it. And you have the problem of forgetting a tool in the vehicle or under the hood or whatever.

  • That's stupid as hell.

  • So I have been noticing that people, especially when interviewed, have developed this bad habit of beginning every statement with an unnecessary 'so'. So this is really starting to annoy me. So lately everytime I listen to a podcast or watch a video that word jars me like a electrical shock. So I know it's coming, and I pray that the speaker will recognize that it is a problem. So but they don't. So will this ever go away?

  • I know exactly where all my tools are. (Score:3)

    by VIPERsssss ( 907375 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @06:50PM (#48462921)
    They're all in my son's room. These guys need a teenager, not a web server.
  • i'd guess, most "lost tools" end up in a co-workers toolbox anyway, so those $ 35.000 are probably exaggerated. then it's more about organizing and making inventory once a year. and if it's about theft - put rfid-tags into the tools, and cover the exits with scanners. that's cheaper and less prone to fail than lots of expensive toolboxes with embedded computers (btw. - i'd steal the toolbox as a whole, if they were that nerdy)

  • It's a very inefficiant toolbax, spacewise. Plus, If I'm using foam cutouts, I already know my tool is missing.

  • Or (Score:1)

    by koan ( 80826 )

    Do away with human workers, robots don't lose tools.

    • Do away with human workers, robots don't lose tools.

      "Do not lose tools" is not one of the Three Laws of Robotics" :-)

  • when I first saw this I thought "cool, the idea is to get the tool out without setting off the buzzer". Then I got to thinking that maybe if all surgical instruments and materials were tagged with RFID it would be easier to find them inside patients. I think I'm ready for a break now.
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