Japan to build first-ever checkup system with AI and advanced data storage

A Japanese government-funded project to develop the world's first predictive maintenance system for industrial plants will employ artificial intelligence and advanced technology to store data in a secure and user-centric way. The IOTA Foundation, a German-based nonprofit organization behind the technology, said it has been chosen as a partner in the project funded by Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, a national research and development agency operating under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The project, which seeks to strengthen the durability of critical infrastructure, will optimize facility management systems deployed in power, industrial, petrochemicals and oil refining plants throughout Japan by digitizing maintenance data and using artificial intelligence to predict when checkups are needed, according to the foundation. Data for plants across Japan is currently stored manually, causing issues with integrity and sharing capability, it said. The project aims to shift data to a decentralized database using IOTA's distributed ledger service called the Tangle, while AI systems are expected to replace engineers amid Japan's shrinking labor force.