Automated Visual Inspection Software

In Asset Performance Management (APM) automated visual inspection refers to the ability to supplement human inspections with fixed or mobile cameras. This could include simple stationary cameras, automated robotics, drones, or satellites. For energy organizations, automated visual inspection allows organizations to gain more fidelity around their assets, remove potential manual misjudgment, and help to transform visual data into data that is ingestible within IT systems. Automated inspections help organizations reduce employee risk, scale asset monitoring into remote or high-risk locations, and ultimately provide a cost-effective way to scale asset management practices.

Automated visual inspections increase safety, reduce costs, improve efficiency, and enhance environmental protection. By leveraging AI-powered systems for asset inspections, energy companies can detect defects, monitor equipment, and identify potential hazards with greater speed and accuracy than traditional manual methods.

Benefits of automated visual inspections include:

• Enhanced Safety: Automated systems can operate in dangerous or inaccessible areas (e.g., oil rigs, power lines) where human inspection is risky, minimizing potential harm to workers. Early detection can identify potential issues like leaks, corrosion, or equipment malfunctions before they escalate into serious hazards, preventing accidents and environmental damage.

• Cost Reduction: Automated inspections can reduce the need for manual labor, lowering inspection costs and freeing up personnel for other tasks. Early detection of issues allows for preventative maintenance, minimizing costly repairs and downtime.

• Improved Efficiency: Automated systems can inspect equipment and infrastructure much faster than humans, leading to increased throughput and efficiency. Automated inspections can also operate around the clock for continuous monitoring and inspection.

• Environmental Protection: Automated inspection can detect leaks in pipelines, storage tanks, and other infrastructure, preventing spills and environmental contamination. Some AI-powered systems can monitor for emissions and other environmental hazards, ensuring compliance with environmental regulations.

• Enhanced Reliability: Automated inspections help with consistent and objective inspection, eliminating human error and improving the overall quality of products and infrastructure. By analyzing data collected during inspections, automated inspections can predict potential equipment failures and schedule maintenance proactively, preventing unexpected downtime.

Asset inspection is the process of continuously examining, evaluating, and optimizing physical assets to detect and prevent emerging issues to help ensure the assets are operating as expected. The purpose is to identify issues, assess conditions, help increase operational safety, and increase the performance of assets.

Asset inspection assessments can take a few forms: visual inspection, preventative inspections, functional tests, remote inspections, and specialized inspections. Asset inspections aim to reduce downtime, lower maintenance costs, increase safety, extend asset lifespan, improve compliance, and enable teams to make data-driven decisions.

The tools and technologies used in asset inspections break down into a few categories:

• Visual and Manual: handheld devices (flashlights, magnifying glasses, handheld cameras), checklists, borescopes/endoscopes, and ultrasonic thickness gauges are all good examples.

• Remote and Robotic inspections: technology like drones, UAVs, crawlers, robotics, and remote visual inspection tools (cameras on robotics) are all emerging technologies for asset inspections.

• Sensors: vibration sensors, infrared cameras, thermal imaging, acoustic sensors, and corrosion monitoring probes are common across the energy space today.

• Non-Destructive Testing: across industries, organizations use ultrasonic testing, radiographic testing magnetic particle testing, or dye penetration testing as inspection methodologies.

• Software: computer vision analysis, digital twins, asset performance management, and other software are critical to asset inspections.

The industries using automated visual inspection software are: Oil & Gas, power generation, metals & mining, specialty chemicals, and renewables.

Condition monitoring applications and asset inspection software can be seamlessly integrated to provide a unified view of asset health across mechanical, electrical, and structural components. Real-time sensor data from condition monitoring, such as vibration, temperature, and pressure, is continuously collected and analyzed to detect early signs of failure, while inspection tools like autonomous visual inspection and mobile operator rounds provide contextual insights from physical assessments. By integrating these systems within the APM platform, organizations can correlate observed defects with real-time performance data, automate anomaly detection, and prioritize maintenance based on asset criticality and risk, leading to faster, more informed decisions and reduced unplanned downtime.

• Enhanced Safety with AI-Powered Inspections: Computer vision systems can perform inspections in hazardous or hard-to-reach environments—such as oil rigs, power lines, or confined spaces—reducing the risk to human workers. By automatically detecting issues like leaks, corrosion, structural cracks, or equipment malfunctions early, computer vision enhances safety and helps prevent workplace accidents and environmental hazards.

• Reduced Operational Costs Through Automation: Automated inspections powered by computer vision significantly reduce the need for manual labor, lowering labor costs and allowing skilled personnel to focus on higher-value tasks. Early fault detection enables proactive maintenance, reducing unplanned downtime and avoiding expensive emergency repairs.

• Increased Efficiency and Inspection Speed: Computer vision systems can inspect infrastructure and equipment much faster than human workers. These AI-based inspection systems operate 24/7, enabling continuous monitoring, faster decision-making, and streamlined maintenance workflows—ultimately improving operational efficiency.

• Environmental Monitoring and Compliance: AI-based visual inspection tools can detect oil leaks, gas emissions, and other environmental threats in real time. This supports sustainability efforts and ensures compliance with environmental regulations by enabling rapid response to potential contamination events.

• Improved Reliability and Predictive Maintenance: Computer vision delivers consistent, objective, and data-driven inspections. By analyzing image and video data over time, these systems can identify patterns and predict failures before they occur. This predictive maintenance approach increases equipment uptime, reduces maintenance costs, and improves asset reliability.