Incorporating mobile interfaces into industrial automation & control applications.

Opto 22 has announced the groov Action Plan, a service that quickly adds mobility to applications in industrial automation, control, and remote monitoring. The groov Action Plan result is a completed groov mobile operator interface—a custom mobile app—that authorized automation end-users, machine OEMs, or other personnel can use to monitor and control systems and equipment from smartphones and tablets. The groov Action Plan provides a planned path from concept to completion for creating, deploying, and supporting a groov mobile app.

With the groov Action Plan, an Opto 22 engineer works closely with a groov customer to understand project objectives, define requirements, and design the operator interface. The Opto 22 engineer also addresses networking setup and device connectivity. Graphics professionals at Opto 22 then develop the final groov mobile app. Follow-up service and support are included.

groov Action Plan customer Class Biologically Clean (CBC) in Madison, Wisconsin, manufactures softwall cleanrooms, isolation chambers, and similar products for research and medical use. According to David Holland, company vice president, using a smartphone or tablet to monitor and control a cleanroom’s environmental system is unique in the industry and helps to differentiate CBC from its competitors. For example, CBC’s groov mobile app eliminates the need to individually check several physical gauges on different pieces of equipment. Instead, environmental information for the cleanroom is presented on a single mobile screen.

With limited time and staff to develop the groov mobile app at CBC, Holland worked with local Opto 22 engineer Dave Engsberg to rapidly plan, develop, and deploy the groov mobile app. “Working with Opto 22 to develop the app was an easy process,” says Holland. “It was fast and allowed me to bring my mobile app to market quickly.”