When millions of electricity meters are to be replaced, speed and accurate documentation are two very important factors that normally counteract each other. isMobile and Substorm have developed an application for meter reading that improves quality and now the two Luleå based companies have decided to continue to drive development in AI and machine learning together.
isMobile collaborates with many customers within the energy industry who run large rollout projects to replace millions of electricity meters with new smart meters. In large deployment projects, speed and accurate documentation are two very important factors often counteracting with each other. To make it easier for installers and to increase efficiency, isMobile, in collaboration with Substorm, has developed Smart Reader, an AI application for meter reading.
“It is great to be able to use advanced technology, with AI, to create practical business value for our customers and simplify for the users of our systems. The tests show fast and accurate reading of meter status and serial numbers which streamlines the fieldwork, decreases manual lead times, and improves quality”, says Richard Rierstam, Product Manager at isMobile.
The Smart Reader app bases its reading on a trained neural network initially trained by interpreting thousands of images on meter displays and can be used for meter reading in, for example, electricity, gas and water.
“There are many digital work tasks that are not only repetitive and time consuming but also could be solved more efficiently by a machine. In this project, we have worked with Deep Learning, which is a general technology that can be used for a variety of digital problems where you want a computer to be able to perform tasks that are normally done by humans. Previously, an installer read the meter status and registered the value. This takes time and focus from the installer's other more qualified tasks. We have replaced this process with an AI that, based on a mobile camera image, first recognizes where the display is and then reads numbers from it and registers the numbers in a database. Through this, the installer’s work gets more efficient at the same time as the data quality is improved”, says Niklas Karvonen CTO Substorm.
We will continue to invest in research and development to be able to apply AI technology in our products. End customer communication, administration and analysis are some interesting areas for development. Our development is driven by our own expertise and in partnership with Substorm, which provides a strong and important addition with its cutting-edge expertise in AI, states Mikael Bäckman, CEO of isMobile.
Further information, please contact
Niklas Karvonen, CTO, Substorm, +46 70 554 44 16, niklas.karvonen@substorm.ai
Richard Rierstam, Product Manager, isMobile AB, +46 70 299 11 00, richard.rierstam@ismobile.com
About isMobile
isMobile is a tech-loving company with roots in the Swedish arctic and Europe as main market. We provide case and field service management solutions to service and maintenance organisations. isMobile operates from the head office in Luleå, with sales and support offices in Stockholm, Brussels, Helsinki, and Sevilla. We use best in class technique, expertise, and our 20 years of experience to provide smart and user-friendly solutions, built to handle constant change and customers’ unique requirements. We strive to create partnerships for better business and a better tomorrow. Smarter. Human. Agile. www.ismobile.com
About Substorm
Substorm was founded in 2019 by Sofi Elfving and digital business developers Tromb. The company was recently appointed one of the top AI startups in Europe. Substorm’s focus is intelligent automation and machine learning applications. Read more at www.substorm.ai