Occulus Rift, but for energy: how virtual reality could shake up utility firm performance
Humans have a hard time with processing numbers.
The fact is that our brains are much better at processing images and colours. Give a human a relatively simple math problem like dividing two large numbers by one another and it can take them several minutes to work out the answer.
By contrast, humans are great at understanding images and making inferences compared to computers: the trivial tasks of identifying what a chair is, for example, are extraordinarily difficult for computers.
These truths are behind the recent effort by utility companies to start using virtual reality to help run their businesses more effectively. Utility companies rely on reams of data to manage their complex far flung network of substations, transmission lines, and power plants.
Humans are not particularly good at managing this data, but computers are. In contrast, it is human judgement that is required to figure out how to make judgement calls, regarding issues like a circuit breaker that is nearing the end of its life.
Putting the talents of computers and humans together, utility companies are examining how they can use VR as part of their maintenance process.
The idea behind using virtual reality in the electrical grid is that it can help utility companies to better diagnose and identify problems within systems. For instance, rather than sending a worker to a substation that may or may not have a problem that is leading to lost power, utilities could instead have the technician strap on a virtual reality headset and review the site remotely.
Doing such inspections without physically leaving an area would enable the technician to review more substations and other areas of the grid more quickly. That in turn could lead to faster resolution of maintenance problems and less risk of unhappy customers.
A Californian utility company PG&E is one firm investing in virtual reality to help improve its operations.
PG&E has more than 150,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines, meaning that virtual reality holds considerable promise to help improve maintenance efficiency.
The technology still has a long way to go though. For one thing, while it sounds good in theory to just put on a headset and review maintenance data, it’s an enormous challenge to go from reams of data to a visual set of images that humans can review and interpret.
For another thing, problems with utility grids are often complex, which means a computer has to be programmed to interpret data and display potential areas of concern in a way that lets humans understand what the problem might be.
Virtual reality has turned an enormous corner in the last couple of years, thanks in large part to Palmer Luckey and the Occulus Rift.
That hardware has the potential to upend many traditional tasks, especially when used in combination with drones and other autonomous vehicles tech. But the industry is still in its infancy and it will take time before VR companies learn to create truly useful applications.
The VR projects being taken on by PG&E represent a step towards practical applications for VR in an industrial setting. The hard work on that front is just beginning though. Investors should keep an eye on this emerging sector and think about ways that it might improve the bottom line for various industries in the future.
This article originally appeared on OilPrice.com