ABB and Imperial College London empower next-gen engineers with AI innovation
Author : Sophia Bell, Group Editor
07 April 2025
DPA’s Editor Sophia Bell was recently invited on a tour around Imperial College London’s carbon capture plant to gain an inside look at how AI can solve maintenance issues in just minutes. Here’s what she learnt.
Back in 2023, DPA’s Editor was invited to Imperial College London, one of the world’s leading universities, to learn more about its newly renewed partnership with ABB. The university first began working with ABB in 2012 on a project to develop a carbon capture plant – the only one of its kind installed in an academic institution.
Since then, the site has served as a next-generation teaching facility for thousands of students and leading industrial companies.
Now, the digital transformation of the university’s carbon capture plant is in full swing, resulting in the launch of a potentially game-changing technology: My Measurement Assistant+, the first AI-powered digital solution for the maintenance and troubleshooting of measurement devices at industrial sites.
Mind the gap
One of the most pressing issues facing the engineering and manufacturing industries today is the skills gap. Despite a staggering 93 percent of the general public believing that UK manufacturing plays a vital role in the UK’s economic growth, only two percent of the workforce is under the age of 30.
With many manufacturers now facing retirement age, something must be done to plug the gap and ensure their vital expertise is not lost to future generations.
That’s where AI comes in.
The benefits of AI
Artificial intelligence can shoulder repetitive day-to-day responsibilities, allowing engineers the space to increase their expertise, broaden their knowledge, and work more efficiently.
According to Accenture, one third of daily tasks in the chemical engineering sector, in particular, will be positively impacted by generative AI (GenAI). The ripple effect is already being felt throughout the industry. AI tools are transforming research by automating data analysis, running complex simulations, and even generating hypotheses. Not only does AI help to accelerate experimental cycles, but it can also provide insights that might otherwise have been missed.
Last year, for example, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to the American Biochemist David Baker, who successfully worked with DeepMind to develop an AI model capable of predicting proteins’ complex structures. Solving a 50-year-old problem for the industry, the discovery will help scientists better understand antibiotic resistance and create images of enzymes that can decompose plastic.
A hands-on approach
For important discoveries such as this to be realised, however, it’s essential to deepen understanding of digital technology at the education level.
Universities and technical institutes like Imperial College London are currently revising their curricula to include courses on AI techniques, data science, coding, and well as the ethics and governance behind this technology. Given the rapid pace of development, institutions and employers must also invest in training programmes to ensure their teams keep pace with emerging technologies. This approach will prepare both graduates and employees for a workforce in which interdisciplinarity and computational skills will be critical.
The partnership between ABB and Imperial College London demonstrates the benefit of hands-on training; it ensures that students are not only familiar with tools that are in high demand in today's job market, but are also capable of leading future innovations.
“Whilst classroom learning builds a strong theoretical foundation, working directly with digital and AI tools allows students to apply these concepts to solve complex real-world challenges,” said Professor Omar Matar, Head of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London.
Partnership with Microsoft opens windows to innovation
Recognising the untapped potential of AI in device maintenance and technical support, ABB approached Microsoft to help diversify its digital measurement offering.
“In 2018, we realised that some of our customers were beginning to struggle to maintain their equipment,” commented David Lincoln, Inclusive Institute Lead for Measurement and Analytics Division.
“When we looked in our technical support data, we recognised that for a striking 80 percent of the calls we were receiving, the information was already available within the documentation itself.”
To solve this issue, ABB decided to develop a web application that could act as a single access point for information retrieval, device diagnostics, and remote support in industrial operations. The result was My Measurement Assistant+, an AI-empowered solution designed to simplify the maintenance process by bringing together data from multiple IT and operational technology sources.
Thanks to its collaboration with Microsoft, ABB was able to integrate ABB Ability Genix Copilot, a GenAI solution, to help industrial companies improve efficiency, productivity and sustainability by contextualising vast amounts of data.
As part of the technology’s development, ABB engaged a market surveying company that, among other questions, asked customers, “What is the average time it takes to troubleshoot a complex measurement device like our own?” The answer that came back was staggering: 14 hours.
By contrast, ABB believes that My Measurement Assistant+ could help resolve technical support issues in mere minutes and improve first-time fix rates by up to 50 percent.
“It empowers frontline workers by offering the right information at the right time, and the right place, reliably," David Lincoln, Global Digital Lead, ABB Measurement & Analytics, said.
How it works
With an intuitive user interface and accessibility from any device, My Measurement Assistant+ empowers technicians and engineers to access troubleshooting guides and video tutorials instantly while in the field. This enables them to tackle complex issues with confidence and efficiency.
Leveraging Dynamic QR Code capabilities, maintenance engineers can point their smartphone camera at any device, scan the code, and immediately get access to a detailed health report and analysis for the specific device. The solution also makes possible detailed root cause analysis based on live device data.
So, does My Measurement+ eliminate the need for human support altogether? The short answer is no. “A combination of human expertise and AI will be the key to success for the future,” commented Uwe Tschirner – Division Manager at ABB. The idea is for artificial intelligence to streamline the process of maintenance for human workers.
As generative AI has a tendency to provide incorrect answers – or “hallucinations” – where there is a data gap, ABB made the decision to prevent CoPilot from answering, rather than running the risk of providing incorrect information in critical applications.
“A smart answering machine is very useful, but to unlock the true value of this technology, it needs to start automating tasks,” said Lincoln. “So, when we created our My Measurement Assistant+ Co-Pilot, we recognised that there's going to get to a point where the customer can't always solve the problem using the generative AI.”
To fill this data gap, the integration of AR-based visual support allows customers to make secure video calls with ABB experts for remote over-the-shoulder issue resolution. During the call, engineers are talked through the problem in real time, and will have access to screenshots, documentation, as well as a PDF report upon completion. This reduces the need for on-site visits and increases uptime by helping solve issues quickly and efficiently.
“I believe we have everything to gain from innovation in the digital and AI fields,” Lincoln concluded. “But I cannot emphasise enough the importance of young engineers learning these technologies because when they get out into the field, they need to be able to deal with these problems using the tools around them.”
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