To help such workers, Aveva has launched an AI system that can read and learn operating manuals on their behalf.
In its first incarnation this AI has memorised the technical manuals for the power grids and wind turbines managed by Aveva’s parent company Schneider Electric.
It also continuously monitors the machinery via thousands of sensors.
The idea is that the AI can imitate the expertise of senior engineers with decades of practical know-how behind them.
So how can the AI assist an energy sector worker who is trying to hunt down the cause of a fault?
Simon Bennett, Aveva’s head of AI innovation, says the AI can locate where there has been, say, a power failure. It then delves into “a monster PDF manual”.
From this, the AI – via a computer screen – generates different ideas of what the problem might be.
It can also produce a 3D image of the affected machinery, such as a turbine, with Mr Bennett noting that engineers appreciate such visual responses to their questions.
Aveva calls the system its “industrial AI assistant”, and says the aim is that it will help to compensate for a dilemma facing many businesses – an ageing workforce that is retiring and taking its hard-earned knowledge with it.
So if someone is new to their job, says Mr Herzberg, “the AI can guide them… and look at the manual for you”.
Or as Mr Bennett puts it: “By asking smart questions of the AI system we won’t have to wake up some old, retired engineer in the night and keep him on the phone for an hour.”
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