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【2021 Solutions】 Enhancing Water Resource Efficiency: WoLong Intelligence Makes Good Use of AI for Early Warning and Decision-Making Functions

An incident of wastewater treatment audit at a home electroplating factory was the driving force for Xie Wenbin, the general manager of WoLong Intelligence Environmental Company, to venture into the environmental engineering field. Leaving behind the envied position of senior engineer at TSMC, he embarked on this entrepreneurial journey with a mission to create a better environment for Taiwan and future generations. Facing erratic climate changes causing droughts and floods, Xie utilized artificial intelligence (AI) technology to become a pioneer in water resource protection.

Observations on Taiwan's rainfall trends over the past half-century indicate that due to intensifying climate change, the drought cycles in Taiwan have shortened from 17 years to between 3 and 5 years. In April 2021, Taiwan experienced its worst water shortage in over half a century. Subsequently, central and southern Taiwan suffered from floods caused by heavy rainfall, making water resource protection a critical issue in today's society.

Xie Wenbin, formerly a chief engineer at TSMC responsible for water treatment, achieved remarkable results in a water-saving event organized by the Water Resources Agency and Hsinchu Science Park in 2015, where TSMC ranked first. During his tenure at the Environment and Development Foundation, he undertook the Industrial Bureau's project on enhancing water efficiency in industries, advising over 300 Taiwanese companies.

AI Adoption in Water Resource Applications Aims for Early Warning and Forecasting Goals

Since its inception less than six months ago, WoLong Intelligence Environmental Company has focused on government projects and SMEs for IoT setups or AI intelligence adoption in wastewater and sewage treatment, aiming to achieve early warning and decision-making goals to enhance water resource efficiency. There are three main themes of smart AIoT applications: predictive and decision-making water treatment systems, optimization of water treatment operation protocols, and smart water treatment management platforms. These are the core businesses of WoLong Intelligence.

Scope and Benefits of AIpoint Water Treatment AI Intelligence System

▲ Scope and Benefits of AIpoint Water Treatment AI Intelligence System

Xie Wenbin noted that the Industrial Bureau supervises 66 wastewater treatment plants, plus tens of thousands of regulated wastewater treatment facilities commonly facing issues with their chemical coagulation systems due to inaccurate and untimely human control and feedback-based chemical dosing, leading to unstable water quality. Large amounts of PAC and Polymer are used unnecessarily, producing a significant amount of sludge. Current testing methods contain errors, and there is a need to establish a more comprehensive AI testing data database to support and assist in setting dosing standards. The integration of big data with patented AI models enhances the efficiency and precision control of wastewater (pollution prevention systems).

Adopting AIpoint Precision Dosing System Achieves Emission Reduction and System Longevity

The adoption of WoLong Intelligence's AIpoint precision dosing intelligent system can achieve the following benefits:

• Reduce manual operation

• Reduce the amount of chemicals used

• Reduce sludge production

• Reduce carbon emissions / Save energy

• Extend system life

• System automatic prevention and maintenance

• Lower conductivity levels

AI Water Resource Service Models and Processes

▲ AI Water Resource Service Models and Processes

Indeed, wastewater and sewage plants vary in their degree of digitalization. Therefore, Xie Wenbin categorizes clients and sets up IoT devices and software/hardware systems for those not yet digitalized; for those already equipped with IoT, AI technologies are introduced to solve specific problems and enhance the efficiency of wastewater treatment. 'Not all customer issues need to be resolved with AI, and we never use AI for the sake of using AI,' says Xie Wenbin, who assesses and implements based on the actual needs of the customers. With his extensive experience in water treatment and the addition of AI experts, factories only need to provide water quality data for AI prediction and decision-making.

In practice, some factories have stringent cybersecurity requirements, so AIpoint's smart cloud platform can directly connect the data collection hardware to the factory site, and the data is not stored in the cloud. The system automatically categorizes and filters algorithms to find the most suitable model, which is then connected to the system end to generate predictions and decisions. Additionally, the cloud platform is secured with blockchain encryption, and the factory end follows the same steps for rapid integration. Also, the backend monitoring system can assist in early warning for water treatment or water recovery systems, including sensor fault prevention, automatic protection, and retraining of backend models. Projects typically last about three to six months, after which the model is adjusted based on the system's condition. This part is offered as a subscription service combined with after-sales service.

WoLong Intelligence Environmental Company also sets short, medium, and long-term goals. In the short term, it aims to maintain integrity and establish a strong brand identity; in the medium term, it plans to build an ecosystem with hardware partners and collectively expand the market; and ultimately, it hopes to export its services internationally. Financially, Xie Wenbin is looking to actively seek angel investment, targeting NT$20 million to achieve the company's goal of sustainable operation.
 

Founder and General Manager of WoLong Intelligence Environmental Company, Xie Wenbin

▲ Founder and General Manager of WoLong Intelligence Environmental Company, Xie Wenbin

「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only. Translation date:2024-05-19」

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Using AI vision to replace human vision, Claireye Intelligence uses AI to help the manufacturing industry with quality control

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【解決方案】2秒鐘完成結帳動作 Viscovery AI影像辨識助攻智慧零售
Complete checkout in 1 second, Viscovery AI image recognition assists smart retail

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【解決方案】輔人科技透過智慧感知床墊 心領神會 讓照護長輩變得有溫度
Furen Technology uses smart sensing mattresses to understand and make caring for the elders warm.

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core team gathered caregivers, doctors, and senior engineers and other professionals, jointly independently developed the "Smart Sensing Mattress" Foreaider-Z to provide homes and care institutions with more thoughtful and high-quality hardware and software AI smart care solutions Helping people without being too strict and helping people without blame is the founding purpose of Helper Technology, which mainly delivers on two levels The first is to put people first and make caring for the elderly a warm interaction In addition, caregivers should have a selfless dedication mentality It has been observed that the cared for may not be willing to express their own needs due to different reasons If the needs of the elders can be grasped through smart care technology, it will not only bring more dignity and dignity to the elders Space can reduce unnecessary communication misunderstandings, make the care process smoother, and reduce care costs Smart sensing mattress, the caring guardian of 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other information, hoping to provide better and more timely services to end customers In terms of business model, Furen Technology provides small-scale care units with a buyout system that integrates smart sensing mattress software technology In terms of cooperation with SI industry players, the company provides hardware equipment for integration and creates more promotion opportunities through SI channels For the empirical application of clinical trials, Furen Technology has currently cooperated with Taipei An'an Nursing Home to successively introduce smart sensing mattresses such as Lite, standard, Pro and other functional products into the care environment to provide diversified services for the elderly Intimate and convenient services of intelligent care During the cooperation process, since An'an Nursing Home is a small institution with a shortage of manpower, the bed exit warning function of the smart sensing mattress helps caregivers quickly remotely determine whether the elderly has left the bed or has fallen, effectively reducing the fall rate by more than 25 Through physiological micro-motion sensing technology, it can quickly help caregivers record the elderly's sleep status the previous night, creating a more convenient communication mode and information exchange mechanism between caregivers and family members In addition, the implementation of smart sensing mattresses can help nursing institutions obtain more positive evaluations in the evaluation Furen Technology develops smart sensing mattresses through physiological micro-motion sensing technology Smart sensing mattress voice AI recognition reduces the number of people sent to hospital for aspiration pneumonia to less than 5 of the overall number of cases Optimizing the voice AI recognition establishment mechanism has always been the goal of Furen Technology’s efforts to improve Luo Yilin said that he was very grateful to Furen Technology for having the opportunity to participate in the development plan of AI care services for respiratory diseases under the guidance of the Industrial Bureau and the Information Policy Council painting, and conducted field clinical demonstration at Puli Christian Hospital Through this project, not only the smart sensing mattress uses AI voice recognition and calculation technology to become more sophisticated, but also an AI training optimization framework is established to allow caregivers at Puli Christian Hospital to respond to the elderly’s upper respiratory tract-cough sounds and lower respiratory tract symptoms -The identification and warning performance of heartbeat and respiratory rate changes are more optimized, and the number of people sent to the hospital due to aspiration pneumonia in care institutions is effectively reduced to no more than 5 of the total number of cases in the month It is believed that with the integration of smart sensing mattresses and respiratory disease AI care services, the service is expected to 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like Furen Technology, there are always challenges and learnings in terms of funding, technical issues, obtaining and processing of production materials and parts However, Huangtian pays off its hard work Driven by the ultimate goal of "making filial piety easier", Furen Technology strives to make smart sensing mattresses the first smart care product in Taiwan that uses air pressure sensing physiological information For the original intention of starting a business that emphasizes the orientation of social value, how to make smart sensing mattresses take into account social value while maintaining a win-win and balance of commercial interests is a strategic issue that Luo Yilin must carefully consider when operating the company's products and business development In the face of business layout, Furen Technology will work hard to stabilize operations and marketing operations in the near future to give back to investors and target customers who have supported the company for a long time In addition, Furen Technology is more active in international business development and product testing in Japan, Vietnam and Poland Regarding the mid-term planning, Luo Yilin believes that the care needs and services of the elderly cannot be completed independently by one industry Furen Technology looks forward to cooperating with more like-minded smart care industry players in the future By gathering the professional energy of each industry, we can build a complete Only with a diverse product chain mechanism can we work together to conquer domestic and foreign markets To this end, Luo Yilin hopes that the company can create an integration of the software, hardware and service ecosystem of the long-term care industry and realize its wish to make care simpler Looking forward to the future, Furen Technology will hope to move from long-term care to preventive medicine I believe that if preventive medicine is managed properly, it will definitely make a great contribution to saving the cost of long-term care Luo Yilin said that more importantly, it will help the elderly in their later life Halftime enjoys a more understanding quality of care and a bright and hopeful life Luo Yilin, CEO of Furen Technology「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only Translation date:2024-05-19」