Android in industrial embedded environment

Question

what do you think about using android in an industrial embedded environment?

I'm thinking, for example, about a vending machine with a touch screen monitor. I can think about many advantages:

• It would increase the ease of making an advanced user interface
• Android provides tuned libraries to handle task like low power internet connection or encrypted connections
• Thanks to dalvik VM, it is easier to run on different HW platform (Arm9 - Arm11 - ....)

but there are also some cons like:

• Android is not thought for a mission critical environment (like a device handling money)... at least not to some extent.
• If not kept up to date, the software may have some bugs that compromise safety. Issue is worsen by widespread adoption.
• Someone might regard Android as resource hungry compared to a real time implementation of linux, with code written in C rather than java.

On the internet you can find some resource on the subject, but most is out of date:

http://www.hsc.com/Portals/0/Uploads/Articles/Android-Porting-on-Embedded-Platform_v2_0633850602027036930.pdf

http://www.androidforembedded.com/whitepaper/android-for-embedded.pdf

anyone has direct experience on the matter or can link me to some resource? What do you think about it guys?

Cheers,

Halliehallman

Answer 1

Android can definitely be used in a non-cell phone device. There will be pros and cons that you can find all around the web, which could be discussed during weeks. On our side, we have been playing with Android for a while now (from the port of the OS on custom ARM board to app dev) and we see real interest from customers. Regarding reliability, as in any embedded device, it is important to validate it by yourself against the use cases that your system will have to deal with. Eventually, if cons make you decide not to move to Android, you can have other ways to develop interesting HMI such as QT which runs efficiently great HMIs.

Anyway, you can check out our website (http://www.adeneo-embedded.com) and contact us if you need some help.

Parsley

Answer 2

I know of a Swiss company - Noser Engineering AG, which provides development of Android Software for embedded devices. Also check-out their showcase android to market

Margit

Answer 3

Touch screens in anything industrial is pretty much out of the question, believe me. You'd just get laughed at and wouldn't be able to sell it. Luckily, a vending machine isn't an industrial application and there a touch screen would be more suitable.

If you just want a touch screen with some GUI pre-made, there are probably 1000 companies already making such products, no need to re-invent the wheel. It would need to be > IPx5 classed too, if you want to put it outdoors in the rain and snow.

The main challenge for this kind of application is the money transactions, not the user interface. You should start there. What good money transaction software is there already available on the market, and what hardware is most suitable for it? To handle the transactions will be the real software problem for this application. Anyone can make some GUI touch screen fluff and have it toggle some relays or drive a stepper motor.

Also, I reckon the market for this application will mainly need 1) reliability 2) reliability and 3) reliability. The design, user-friendliness, visual appeal and fluffiness may let you sell one machine to a customer, but reliability will make you sell several.

Agio

+1 for illuminating the distinction between industrial applications and those that handle money. If you goof up credit card code, you could lose your vendor privileges with the card company, and forfeit proceeds from previous transactions. If you goof up material handling code, you could kill somebody. – Alceste

Industrial doesn't necessarily mean safety-critical, but it definitely means "rugged". Anything industrial must be able to withstand nasty environments with water, dust, chemicals, massive EMI, crappy voltage supplies etc etc. Expect that the average person pressing a button in an industrial application will be wearing very dirty gloves. As for safety-critical industrial software, the only acceptable OS would be a RTOS that has gone through detailed source code verification and is implemented through a safe subset of C (or possibly Ada). Linux and Android are completely out of the question. – Agio

A couple of jobs ago we had a machine the size of a couple of tennis courts, with a touch screen user interface. There are some acoustic touch input technologies that are extremely rugged. – Inamorato

You are wrong. I work for a company that builds industrial machines having touchscreen panels, and sells them all over the world. They are stone processing machines, used in rough environments. – Ascus

@Ascus How am I wrong? How exactly is it fun and convenient to work with a touch screen panel, smeared with dust and dirt, while wearing work gloves? I somehow suspect that the touch screen is not what gets those machines sold... – Agio