this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2024
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Ok. Why tf does a wrench need to be network connected?
I'm assuming it's a torque wrench, which can apply variable force to a bolt.
Scan a barcode next to the hole, insert bolt, wrench applies correct force for the piece.
They can also similarly check the tightness of the bolt and record what it measured for quality control.
Every bolt doesn't use the same torque, and manually inputting the value is slower and more error prone.
Similarly, checking the torque and recording that it was correct and fixing any errors is slower and more error prone with manual lookup.
The why not just have the barcode have all of that information encoded in it and not reference a database on a network?
My understanding is that it's more for logging in industries like aerospace, where it's imperative to be sure that bolt X was tightened with force Y if you don't want the airplane to fall apart. Networking isn't the only way to do this, or even the only automated way, but I guess they didn't want to have to hook each wrench up to a USB cable at the end of every shift to download its log.
(The comments section on Ars is studded with remarks about Boeing, as you would expect.)