New tool enables remote hardware troubleshooting

SplatOverflow -- inspired by StackOverflow, a widely used platform for tackling software issues -- brings a similar approach to hardware support, enabling users to diagnose and fix hardware issues asynchronously with the help of remote experts.

A paper about the new tool will be presented April 30 at the Association of Computing Machinery's CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Yokohama, Japan.

The tool, conceived by Amritansh Kwatra, a Ph.D. student in information science, aims to address a major gap in hardware maintenance: the lack of scalable, structured support for troubleshooting issues.

"Currently, design information, documentation and end-user discussions have all existed in separate spaces," Kwatra said. "They have also been disconnected from the actual hardware, so searching for this information is quite daunting for users whose expertise is not in hardware."

SplatOverflow creates a 3D model of a malfunctioning device, paired with detailed information about the 3D model, which experts and users can examine together to determine a solution.

The researchers are exploring applications in other contexts.

"We are currently looking into using SplatOverflow for machine sanitation and maintenance in agriculture," said assistant professor Thijs Roumen. "We are also interested in seeing its deployment in education and other domains."

Looking ahead, the team hopes to expand SplatOverflow into an open-source ecosystem -- much like StackOverflow.

"We invite others to explore the use of SplatOverflow in other contexts," Roumen said. "We are thrilled to explore longer-term deployment, to see how we can gradually grow this into a real, open-source platform for hardware support."