Hey everyone, Figured I'd share something interesting I've been working on and get your take on it. A little about me first - I'm 24 and basically grew up around heavy equipment. My parents built their firm from the ground up, so I've been surrounded by bulldozers and excavators since I was a kid. Went the computer science route in college, and now I'm back helping them out with the tech side of things – order management, inventory, you name it. Anyway, lately I've been really digging into this whole AI thing. You know, ChatGPT and all that. Started showing our technicians how to use it for some of their tasks, and it's been a real productivity booster. But I took it a step further. Since I know a bit of coding, I built a little tool that's like a "copilot" for the guys out in the field. Basically, it's an AI trained on all the repair manuals for the equipment we use, plus our past maintenance records. This reduced service calls by 80% over the past 2 months, so no more transport costs or waiting for dealerships to schedule us a technician to come over. Still early days, but I think it has potential. What do you all think about AI making its way into the field? Excited? Skeptical? Let me know
I think a data base of service manuals and troubleshooting/ testing procedures that was organized and easy to navigate remotely is a great idea.
I agree with Dave, this is an interesting idea. How is the AI accessing or learning the manuals? Are there online manuals for everything you use, did you have to pay for the online manuals?
I used the repair manuals they already had & bought some others in pdf format. Basically I aggregated unstructured data (repair manuals & historical maintenance records) and created an algorithm that when you give it an input, it searches and retrieves the most semantically similar data from those & then rewrites it in a step by step way. So, technicians input symptoms ("acceleration is weak", "engine does not rotate smoothly" or "I have X error code on the dashboard") or things they want to find out ("how to remove/install the torque converter", "how to test & adjust the relief valve" etc.) and get an instant step by step guide with pictures.
At its core, that's basically it. Generative AI just makes it easy to navigate now.
I'd like to see some smart AI come up with a fits all super inexpensive bidirectional scan tool, that never needs updates because its so smart it just figures it out. Then next move on to total ECU and or what ever proprietary machine controllers exist, and replace them with fully non manufacture proprietary computers, that are user friendly. I would think there is a lot of competition for service manual information. Does Alldata do equipment ? Yes that is important, but out in the deep woods of Alaska I don't think internet is easy to come by. It would be better to have all that sort of data on a super duper terabyte hard drive, that doesn't need a constant connection or a yearly fee, unless you want updates. And by the way, I just hate looking at the computer type manuals. I like pages to flip, its just way faster. The old way is always the best when it comes to some things. Even some of the electronics.
With paper manuals you can look at more than 1 page easier. It's nice to have copies of the required pages if you have a more complex repair.
If it ever gets to that smart AI, I bet manufacturers will include those in their offering as an upsell when you buy the machine. Seems unlikely they'll let non manufacture proprietary computers on their machines. AllData doesn't do equipment. I researched places where I could get all OEM data, but there isn't one for equipment. Regarding internet connection, it depends on what AI model you're using. If you use OpenAI models (the one that built ChatGPT) you'll need internet connection, but there are smaller smarter models like Llama 3 8b that can run on device (therefore not needing any internet connection) That's great feedback, why would you say it's easier to flip through pages? Is it because that's the way we're been used to doing it or something else that computers screens struggle to accomplish? I've seen some manuals from Caterpillar with a really awkward summary that were pretty difficult to navigate page by page.
by computer screens I mean all types: tablets, mobile etc. not only desktop
When you buy or purchase and OWN THE MACHINE, then it is not THEIR MACHINES they have no say what you do with it or to it. I and I suppose many others with my mindset, DO NOT CARE WHAT THE MANUFACTURE THINKS. Sure they would not like it, because then they can not charge huge amounts to fix problems or for the high priced black boxes that no service information is available for them. And you have to pay for a yearly subscription to be able to use a scan tool for them. This is one of the reasons they love electronics. It is always easier to flip pages, and you don't have to worry about sun glare on a stupid screen either. And the most important thing of all it is way better and healthier for your eyes. Blue light from LED, LCD's has some in the health care business thinking it could be a cause for macular diseases, and I would personally include the microwave energy from cell phones and wifi etc. as well. I agree about how bad some manuals can be, it is evident that they are done by non mechanic's, and can leave out so many details. The best automotive manuals where made in the 50's with real photo's and not line drawings. I have not seen any new CAT manuals, since about 30 years now, so not sure what the new ones are like. I know they are not very affordable now like back in the 80's.
This sounds like another subscription, snap-on already has what you could call an algorithm, There scanners have a page called intelligent diagnostics, where you can search the code to get a probability of failures, hens probable cause of failure, I use it daily in the automotive industry. Its basically verified info put out by the manufacturer of the software coders, I could see A.I taking over some of the verification, throw in a robot, A mechanic like myself would be out of business! Not so fast! Somebody has to fix the computers $ robots that cant fix themselves!