Pristine's flagship product Eyesight is an application for smart glasses and mobile devices that enable remote training of workers in the manufacturing and field service industries. Eyesight works by facilitating live point-of-view video calls between users which allows for remote guidance. The construction of pipelines is a complex process requiring expertise at various phases, ensuring that the right person is available at each phase of construction is vitally important. Eyesight is a great tool to solve this problem but falls short on a few aspects that are unique to the construction of pipelines. The final phase of pipeline construction requires a weld inspector to test the strength and durability of welded sections of pipe. Getting an inspector on location to perform tests introduces bottlenecks as this is a very precise task requiring deep knowledge that can take years to master. Focusing on this aspect of pipeline construction was key as there wasn't an established solution. Our mission: design a solution that allows weld inspectors to remotely oversee weld testing and withstands the fluctuating work environment that exists during pipeline construction. We utilized a 5 day design sprint process to ideate, sketch and design our solution as a team. At the conclusion of our design sprint we arrived at a solution that included an application for smart glasses and phones.
Smart Phone Application
The smartphone application act as the central hub of Pristine Telepresence. Designed for use by the weld inspector it contains vital functions such as managing videos streams and providing remote instruction to equipment operators. Equipment operators are workers who are on site controlling the machine used for weld testing.
The users tab acts as the home screen providing a listing of all equipment operators that the weld inspector can connect with. Directly starting a live stream with an operator or scheduling at a future date is easily accessible. Once a live stream invite has been accepted by the receiving person the upcoming streams tab provides the ability to change the date / time or cancel the video stream.
Stream Invites displays pending stream invites that have not yet been accepted or rejected by the receiving user. Stream Invites are organized into two sections received and sent. Received displays invites the user has been received from another user and sent displays invites the user has sent to another user. When in pending status invites can be edited or canceled if the user is creator of the stream. If the user received the stream invite accept and busy (reject) are options. Recents displays a history of streams that have already occurred and streams missed.
Construction sites can be quite noisy so audio communication won't alway be a viable option to relay instructions to operators. During live video streams the weld inspector has the ability to visually communicate instructions to the operator using buttons displayed at the bottom of the screen. The plus button indicates to move faster, the minus button indicates to move slower, the up and down buttons indicates to lift or lower the test machine and the left and right buttons indicate to move the machine to the left or the right. When activated the color of the buttons change and an overlay appears on the screen.
Smart Glasses Application
The smart glasses application is designed for use by equipment operators. The equipment operator wears the smart glasses as they perform tests on welded sections of pipes. Using smart glasses gives the operator full use of their hands and allows for the viewing of directives given by inspector. Smart glasses have limited interaction options compared to smart phones so we wanted to make the experience has simple as possible. Features that are needed to start a live video stream are included in the smart glasses app.
Live streams that have already been accepted are the only information displayed. Starting an accepted live stream is the only action that can be performed.
When broadcasting a livestream from the smart glasses the operator receives visual cues that the inspector relays. Once the operator has made the necessary adjustments the inspector deactivates the visual cues to return the screen to the default view.
Sprint Sketches and WHITE-BOARDING
Our 5 day design sprint consisted of sketching and comparing of ideas, white board sessions and wire framing of possible solutions.
Smart glasses user flow sketches
Smart glasses navigation sketches
Smart phone and smart glasses interaction brainstorm
Early smart phone UI concepts print outs.
My Involvement & Contribution
The team allocated to the Pristine Telepresence project consisted of two front end developers, two back end developers, one project manager, three members of the customer success team and a designer. As the designer on the project I organized the design sprint and collaborated with the project manager to determine the scope of the sprint. I gathered the necessary materials such as sketch paper, markers and finalized the schedule to make sure the rest of the team were available. During the five day sprint we discussed, sketched and compared solutions and finally reached a consensus on the direction to be taken. I then designed mockups based on the solution we decided during the five day design sprint which were used for customer engagement and feedback.
