I see projects like this posted to guru.com regularly. -wes
On Sat, Mar 20, 2010 at 8:21 AM, Rich Shepard <[email protected]>wrote: > While meeting with one of my clients this past week I identified a need > for automating data acquisition in a gold mine mill. This is a harsh, > dirty, > noisy environment, but every shift has compliance monitoring requirements > for several regulatory permits. > > Now the mill workers enter values on paper forms and carry them to the > environmental office where an environmental tech (with a Masters degree) > spends too much time keyboarding the hand-written data into the spreadsheet > they're current using (replacing that 'storage' system is what we're doing > for them). One page is legal size and jammed with boxes for > measurement/observations; other pages are letter size. The entire work flow > is highly inefficient and error prone. > > I offered to provide my client with options to automate the data > collection using tablet computers or, preferably, hand-helds that are > ruggardized and sealed for use in industrial environments. I think that > entering data via keys would be better than entering by stylus because it > eliminates the unable-to-interpret problem of scrawled numbers. > > My perception of the tool is that these units would run linux, use SQLite > as the back end, and have a simple app (python, ruby, whatever) that > presents the measurements to be made, one-by-one in a yet-to-be-determined > sequence, and allows the worker to key in the values (numbers or text as > appropriate). The computers would then be carried to the environmental > office where the data would be transferred to our permit compliance > management system, or there could be docking stations in the mill. This > system could also be expanded to water and air quality monitoring at > various > mine sites (out-of-doors) where the wells, streams, and other sampling > sites > are not instrumented. (It's difficult to instrument sites that are under > 10-15 feet of snow at 6,500+ feet elevation.) There is also the potential > to > expand this type of automation to other aspects of the mine such as > operations and maintenance, safety, and security. The company is very open > to automating what makes sense as a way for employees to be more productive > and to reduce errors. > > So, if you're interested in doing this hardware/software project as part > of > your business, please contact me off the list. This would be _your_ > business > opportunity, and our only involvement would be introducing you to our > client > and ensuring the integration of data transfer with our system. > > You'll also get the opportunity to visit beautiful Elko, NV, and the > mine/mill site 50 miles to the northwest. :-) I'll provide hotel and > restaurant recommendations. > > Rich > > -- > Richard B. Shepard, Ph.D. | Integrity Credibility > Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc. | Innovation > <http://www.appl-ecosys.com> Voice: 503-667-4517 Fax: > 503-667-8863 > _______________________________________________ > PLUG mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
