Hello and welcome to Bite Size Electric,
the podcast where we break down the biggest challenges and
best practices shaping the future of electric networks,
one bite at a time.
We're on our fourth and final episode on our
series about transmission asset inspections.
Today, I'm joined again by Alois Brunel,
VP of Product Management for AI at IQGeo,
to talk about the future of
asset inspections.
Alois, welcome back.
Alois Brunel,
VP of Product Management Manager Thanks,
Jeff.
In the last episode,
we talked about how AI photo analysis can guide
the teams who manage the inspection process.
Maybe you can start today's discussion with how you see the
process evolving from guidance into something even more automated.
What we're seeing now is a shift from AI as a tool to AI as an agent,
something that can take initiative,
not just provide insights.
So imagine an AI that continuously monitors incoming data,
field data, satellite imagery,
or inspection photos,
and automatically spots where new work orders should be created
before a human even looks at it.
So it's like giving every utility a proactive digital co-worker
who never sleeps and is always scanning for risks or anomalies.
Fascinating.
What kinds of data could these AI agents use
to make those proactive inspections possible?
We already talked about photos from the field
from past inspections or other work orders,
but we're already starting to also analyze satellites,
street view,
and LiDAR imagery from leading platforms like Google,
for instance.
And from there,
the AI can automatically detect and classify poles,
identify new structures,
and even compare them over time to detect changes.
Think about vegetation,
encroachment, leaning poles.
And this speeds up planning,
reduces site visits,
and creates a more complete picture of the network,
all before the first trap rolls out.
Wow, the future sounds great.
Alois, you know, you mentioned Google.
Can you talk a little bit about the future
and how we may be able to leverage Google?
At the moment,
we're partnering with the Google team to
leverage their imagery insights product.
So what it gives us is the ability to instantly
analyze every single street view image in a given
area and detect all the poles and their positions,
but also analyze what's on these poles.
And even going as far as measuring where all the
attachments and different equipments are on the pole.
And in the future,
we're going to be able to not only
use the street view images themselves,
but also the LiDAR data,
which enables a very precise measurement.
Wow, thanks, Alois.
That's an exciting future for the inspection process.
That is our final episode about transmission inspections.
Thanks for listening,
and we'll see you soon on Bite Size Electric.
