Here's a gadget that knows what tool you need and shows you where it's located. A team of student engineers at Colorado State University have designed a five-drawer toolbox that stores instructions for specific projects -- such as a brake job -- and tells you what tools you will need. Then the toolbox locates each tool and opens that tool's drawer. Once the job is finished and you've replaced your tools, the toolbox closes its own drawers.
The student engineers -- Michael Hake, Aron Seader, Kai Erickson, and T.J. Shaul -- offer full instructions on how to turn a standard Harbor Freight toolbox into a smart dream machine.
Michael Hake (left) and Aron Seader (right), along with Kai Erickson and T.J. Shaul (not pictured), have created an intelligent toolbox that can look up a tool on its user friendly touch screen display.
Once you select a project, the toolbox knows which tools are needed to complete the job, and the drawers containing the required tools open.
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My company uses what we call intelligent tool cabinets in several assembly areas. They are accessed via the employee's ID card. The system logs time, date, user, tool(s) removed and logs the same information when they are returned. They are quite expensive, so they are not something a homeowner could afford for their garage or work area.
It seems like a miniature of voice base interactive tool box. If we are able to add some sort of intelligence with the help of sensors to the tool box, we can convert it to a smart tool box.
Hey John, I am sure you would be able to put on of these together if you had the materials the hardest thing was getting the circuit board soldered up and working in one shot.
Nugent_56, Thank you! The drawers are noisy because the lead nuts used were the general purpose ones and have a slight amount of backlash allowing the lead screws to wobble ever so slightly.
The larger tools have a RFID chip built into them. The smaller tools like sockets have tip switches in the slots where they go in the drawers. These are matched up by the processor to the tool numbers. Reports show who took or replaced each tool and on what day and time. If a tool is missing, the screen shows who checked it out and when. A handheld wand can be used to track it down if it is left somewhere. Our purpose for them, besides keeping tool inventory, is to ensure that no tools are left inside an assembly when it is shipped from our facility.
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