Did You Hear That? Robots Are Learning The Subtle Sounds Of Mechanical Breakdown

Brakes squeal, hard drives crunch, air conditioners rattle, and their owners know it's time for a service call. But some of the most valuable machinery in the world often operates with nobody around to hear the mechanical breakdowns, from the chillers and pumps that drive big-building climate control systems to the massive turbines at hydroelectric power plants. That's why a number of startups are working to train computers to pick up on changes in the sounds, vibrations, heat emissions, and other signals that machines give off as they're working or failing. The hope is that the computers can catch mechanical failures before they happen, saving on repair costs and reducing downtime. "We're developing an expert mechanic's brain that identifies exactly what is happening to a machine by the way that it sounds," says Amnon Shenfeld, founder and CEO of 3DSignals, a startup based in Kfar Saba, Israel, that is using machine learning to train computers to listen to machinery and diagnose problems at facilities like hydroelectric plants and steel mills.