Winner of the Deep Learning Business Use Award Excellence Award
Ebara Environmental Plant Co., Ltd. (Head office: Ota-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Watanabe Yoshio; hereinafter referred to as Ebara Environmental Plant), a group company of Ebara Corporation (hereinafter referred to as Ebara), received the Excellence Award at the Deep Learning Business Utilization Awards, jointly held by Nikkei Cross Trend and Nikkei xTECH on September 30th. The award ceremony will be held on October 10th at the International Conference Tower of Tokyo Big Sight.
1. Background and Objectives
Ebara Environmental Plant, which is responsible for the design, construction, and operation of waste incineration facilities, is developing an operating system for waste treatment plants that utilizes the latest technologies, including AI, with the aim of achieving automated operation of incinerators and creating next-generation waste incineration facilities that do not rely on human experience in order to process waste more reliably. The award recognized the "automated crane system equipped with waste identification AI," which is part of this initiative, as an excellent project in the use of deep learning in business.
Overview of the project
The "automated crane system equipped with waste identification AI," which began operation in 2019, uses AI to identify the waste mixing situation in the pit captured by a camera, and an advanced control device makes decisions about how to operate the crane in the pit and automatically operates the crane. It was jointly developed by Ebara Environmental Plant and Ridge-i Inc., an AI development startup with an established reputation for image analysis in particular. By using deep learning to enable AI to identify the state of garbage, it is now possible to "identify garbage suitable for combustion and then feed it into the furnace," which was difficult with conventional automated cranes, and to "identify special garbage (garbage that can have a negative impact on equipment and combustion if fed in large quantities) and deal with it appropriately."
【Related Links】
■ Deep Learning Business Application Award Grand Prize
https://xtrend.nikkei.com/atcl/contents/watch/00013/00643/?i_cid=nbpnxr_authoropens in a new tab
■ Previous release: Ebara Environmental Plant begins operation of automated crane system equipped with waste identification AI