INTRODUCTION

The “Spotless Carwash Solutions” is in the business of automated car washing. They own car washes and also provide a service of building automated car washes from scratch for clients who want to enter the car washing industry.

The company uses an automated conveyor to pull a car through the washing process. The main problem is that: if the car’s wheels are not perfectly straight on the conveyor, a car might get off the track, catch the concrete part of the track and be pulled off of the track. As a result the washing process is stopped, the car might be damaged, etc.

They started by designing a product to detect the correct position (angle) of the wheels on the conveyor for a personal need and then sold it to a few customers. Currently, the need is in polishing the system and deploying it. 

There are two entrance cameras: the driver camera (watching the right wheel) and the passenger camera (watching the left wheel) to detect the position (angle) of the wheels.

The company started to implement it based on CPU, not GPU. They moved to Jetson Nano now and use Deep Stream, AWS, and API to check the QuickBook files.

They are looking for a developer to take their UI dashboard for operator and client and enhance it to be more user-friendly. This is a configuration dashboard that interacts with our computer vision software based on Deep Stream.

BUSINESS OBJECTIVES

Car wash operator can easily use the software

• Users’ satisfaction rates are high

• Users accept solution and help to improve it by giving a feedback

• A user who doesn’t know linux can install and use software

• Decrease Average Downtime per day by 20% in the next 3 months after release (per car wash)

Decrease Average E-Stop TIme per day by 30% in the next 3 months after release (per car wash)

BUSINESS PROBLEM/OPPORTUNITY

The conveyor might be stopped because a car’s wheels at the tunnel entrance are not properly aligned. In this case, the CV (computer vision) system will stop the conveyor which is causing a decreased number of cars washed, increased E-Stop time and as a result the car wash makes less money than it could.

BR 1: To provide a solution that allows car wash operators to monitor the entrance of the car wash so that they can resolve any issues as soon as possible;

BR 2: Redesign the existing Dashboard solution for the car wash operator that allows seeing what is happening in the tunnel entrance (are there any cars, are their wheels aligned properly, etc) and allows managing the CV polygons, conveyor, etc;

• APPROACH
  Understanding the existing UI dashboard: The developer would need to review the current dashboard to understand how it works and what features it currently offers. This will help identify areas that need improvement and features that should be added.

• Gathering user requirements: The developer should gather feedback from both operators and clients on what they would like to see in the dashboard. This information should be used to guide the development process and ensure the dashboard meets the needs of its users.

• Designing the new UI: Based on the feedback gathered, the developer should create a new design for the UI that is more user-friendly and intuitive. This may involve simplifying the layout, adding new features, or reorganizing the existing ones.

• Testing and deployment: Once the new UI is developed, it needs to be tested to ensure that it meets the requirements and functions correctly. After testing, the dashboard can be deployed to the operators and clients for use. Ongoing monitoring and maintenance may be necessary to ensure continued smooth operation.

TECHNICAL DETAILS

• The application will be run on the computer with the following hardware configuration: current hardware is a pre-configured Jetson Nano J1020 from Seeed but with an added m.2 256gb SSD, heatsink fan, and m.2 intel wireless adapter.

• OS: Ubuntu 18.04 (nVidia Jetpack 4.6) and higher;

• Framework: QT;

• Scrips: Python, PowerShell;

• Read MJPG and RTSP video streams;

Maintainability: it should be easy to understand the application’s code and implemented logic, to add new features and fix bugs

RESULTS

During the first iteration of the project we have built the dashboard application that allows monitoring the cameras of the driveway. The application allows basic configuration in the internal config file (without user interface). End user can perform basic commands from the application that are based on Python scripts.

LESSONS LEARNED

• Consider hardware requirements early: The hardware requirements for the application were specific and included a pre-configured Jetson Nano J1020 with specific hardware additions. It is important to consider these hardware requirements early in the project to ensure the application is designed to work with the specified hardware.

• Choose appropriate software: The technical requirements specified the operating system and framework to be used for the application. It is important to carefully choose the software components and libraries that will be used in the application to ensure compatibility and avoid potential issues.

• Plan for video stream processing: The application is required to read MJPG and RTSP video streams, which can be a complex task. It is important to plan for and design the video processing capabilities of the application early in the project to ensure it can meet the requirements.

• Ensure maintainability: The requirement for easy maintainability is important for any software project, but particularly for this one, given that it may require frequent updates and feature additions. It is important to write clean, modular code and use appropriate software design patterns to make the application easy to understand and modify.

CONCLUSION

• Addressing a specific problem: The project is designed to address a specific problem faced by Spotless Carwash Solutions - the risk of a car getting off the track during the automated washing process. This underscores the importance of identifying and addressing specific problems to improve efficiency and safety.

• Collaboration is key: The project involved collaboration between different stakeholders, including the carwash company and the developers who designed the software, designed and project manager. Effective collaboration is crucial to ensure that the software solution meets the needs of the end-users and is integrated effectively with the existing car washing process.

• Ongoing maintenance: The project highlights the importance of ongoing maintenance and updates for software solutions, particularly those that have safety implications like this one. Ongoing maintenance ensures that the system remains effective and safe for all users.

• Prioritizing user experience: The project includes an important requirement to enhance the user interface and experience of the system for both operators and clients. Prioritizing user experience is crucial to ensure that the software is intuitive, user-friendly, and effective in improving the car washing process.