Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 10

TECHNOLOGY REPORT
QUALITY CONTROL
SkillReal says inexpensive camera
and math add up to faster, better
inspections
A company says that its digital twin alignment system, incorporating
a sophisticated AI algorithm and an off-the-shelf
camera, has the potential to revolutionize the auto industry,
potentially saving it up to a staggering $20 billion in the effort
to detect defects on the manufacturing line.
Generally, such inspections of spot welds, bolt holes and
the like are handled one of three ways:
* Slow manual inspections that can have high error rates.
* Even slower inspection with coordinate-measuring machines
(CMMs) that can take hours to inspect 150 spot welds.
* Tremendously expensive technology, such as lasers, that
still aren't perfect.
SkillReal, an Israeli company that just exited stealth mode
Susan Shaw, Ford's customer research lead, works on an SAE committee
on controls and displays that is working to communize buttons and icons
as much as possible.
Shaw also mentioned the byzantine nature of some vehicles'
ADAS settings menus. For instance, while it might take
two button presses on one vehicle to adjust the sensitivity of
forward braking, it can take far more on another. And they
may be behind different menu names, such as " driver assistance "
or " additional settings. "
Shaw advocated for all OEMs to include deep UX expertise
and experience on their development teams, including nearconstant
user testing, even for things that appear to be " just
common sense. " " We find repeatedly that common sense isn't
common, " she said, quoting Voltaire. For an example of iconographic
confusion, Shaw pointed to her 78-year-old father
" English is not his native language, " she said. " And he told me
there's a button on the steering wheel he's never touched because
he thinks it's the Wi-Fi button. Well, it's the voice recognition.
It's got the same arcs as the Wi-Fi thing at home does.
I'm like, 'Well, those go up, these go out.' But to someone who's
78, that's not enough of a distinction. He's afraid he's going to
have to pay for Wi-Fi, so he refuses to touch the button. "
For older drivers and those new to driving, Saw recommend
the website " My Car Does What? " which is managed by
the National Safety Council. But, she emphasized, with commonization,
the need for such a site would be reduced. In addition
to helping reach a common understanding of vehicle
controls and indicators that work, Shaw said a good user experience
researcher will attempt to balance not only language
issues but also regional and ethnic cultural differences that
could lead someone to misinterpret or misuse a vehicle feature.
Especially in an era in which OEMs are producing more
" global cars " than ever.
Chris Clonts
10 August 2024
after proving its technology at Volkswagen's Wolfsburg plant,
says that using a roughly $1,000 camera and a gaming laptop,
its software can compare a photo of a part with a digital twin,
highlight problems and be completed in mere seconds.
That's in contrast with what some OEMs and suppliers do,
which is essentially hand an inspector a Sharpie and a PDF showing
weld locations and other features. The inspector then visually
compares them and marks the part for deficiencies.
Pete Grabowski, SkillReal's chief operating officer at its North
American headquarters in Livonia, Michigan, said the costs of
these inspections can really add up because of OEM demands
involved in safe launches, in which suppliers are made to pay
up to $50,000 a month to third-party companies to ensure
parts meet OEM and any regulatory standards. That adds up
quickly when a supplier has dozens or hundreds of parts going
to multiple vehicle programs.
Peter
Grabowski
with the part of
the tech that,
combined with
its algorithms,
can improve
the speed
and accuracy
of parts
inspections.
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
BOTH IMAGES: SAE/CHRIS CLONTS
Automotive Engineering - August 2024

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