Data and Drones in Automated Asset Inspection

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Automated asset inspection is the process of using technology, like drones, sensors, and artificial intelligence (AI) to conduct inspection activities on assets like solar farms, oil rigs, wells, wind turbines, manufacturing facilities, and more. 

Using digital technology, enterprises can create a comprehensive automated asset inspection system that provides detailed insights into the condition of the assets being inspected. Inspections are performed to inform maintenance schedules, identify issues early, extend the life of equipment, and ultimately reduce downtime.

Before technology, inspections had to be performed by workers, meaning less-than-continuous monitoring of asset status. By using drones, robots, advanced sensors, digital twins, and data science, asset owners can maintain a real-time, continuous look at their operations. The use of data and drones in automated asset inspection offers several advantages, including increased accuracy, efficiency, safety, and cost savings.

Drones and robots are also helping inspect hazardous environments like mines, high stacks and towers, offshore and subsea assets, and even areas with radiation precautions. The data collected can help build digital twins, track status over time, and inform predictive maintenance. 

Automated inspection leads to large amounts of data over time, which, if analyzed correctly, can provide endless value. Deploying AI and machine learning (ML) on inspection data can show trends, areas for optimization, anomalies, and serve as the foundation for digital twins. 

Automated inspection technologies won't replace human workers—they’ll become part of the team. Robots and drones can conduct dangerous, repetitive tasks around the clock while human workers focus on responding to alerts identified by the automations and other tasks humans need to perform. 

We don’t need to be robots to predict that automated inspections will continue to grow.