Jul 9 2018
The H3 Zoom.AI is a new cloud-based and artificial intelligence enabled services platform that links with camera drones to provide a faster, safer, and more accurate alternative to hazardous, hard to reach, or mass-scale maintenance inspection activities worldwide, enhancing worker safety, decreasing downtimes, and boosting productivity.
Artificial intelligence meets building inspections for the cities of tomorrow. (Photo: Business Wire)
With a primary focus on Smart Cities, H3 Zoom is showcasing Façade Inspector, a visual inspection tool that exploits machine learning and drones to change the way high-rise building facades are surveyed and maintained.
As new regulations demand for an increase in inspection frequencies while the number of buildings continues to grow, H3 Zoom’s Façade Inspector resolves the scalability challenge by launching a totally digitized process that can scan a high-rise building within minutes rather than weeks, while avoiding gondolas and enhancing worker safety.
H3 Zoom’s AI engine can look through numerous HD images and billions of pixels to precisely identify, qualify, and localize various types of defects, which are then represented in the form of interactive inspection reports.
Industry professionals can currently log into H3 Zoom.AI, access the building elevation maps they are familiar with, view a summary of defects found by severity and by type (paint peels, surface cracks, or corrosion marks and other defects), all of which can be seen as an overlay onto the elevation maps.
The solution’s interactive nature offers users the ability to “zoom” into any of the HD images that captured the identified issue. Each defect description also provided with a severity grading which the AI engine has acquired over time from expert inputs.
H3 Zoom’s Façade Inspector was test-bedded successfully in Singapore as part of an Innovation initiative led by JTC, the country’s prominent commercial real-estate infrastructure developer, under the Ministry of Trade and Industry. The solution slots into a very precise and existing engineering workflow, making it simple for building owners, contractors, and facilities managers to gain an instant benefit from AI technology.
We are proud to partner with H3 Zoom.AI to provide the research, development and test bedding support required to pioneer this innovative solution. We hope that new technological solutions like this can enable the Facilities Management sector to achieve more efficient operations and a safer working environment.”
Mr Mark Koh, Group Director, JTC
H3 Zoom was tested on a number of JTC properties, including the landmark buildings in the one-north district such as Biopolis, Fusionopolis, Ayer Rajah Crescent, as well as an assorted collection of building structures of varying types.
Other H3 Zoom launch partners include Singapore Land Authority as well as IBM, with whom H3 Zoom has been co-coordinating on several new developments—to be announced soon.
We’ve understood that successful AI-services will be task-specific, use-case specific, and vertical-specific. H3 Zoom.AI will turn each of these specific processes into digital equivalents for easier adoption.”
Shaun Koo, co-founder and CTO of H3 Zoom Pte. Ltd.
The Façade Inspector is offered as a cloud-based subscription service. It is also available as an API so that additional integration between smart city stakeholders can be supported.
This technology paves the way for the possibility of totally new service opportunities for numerous inspection services companies, real estate developers, contractors, owners, and operators.