Emerson introduces AI‍-‍enabled troubleshooting guidance

Emerson has introduced Guardian Virtual Advisor, an AI-powered software solution to support end-to-end lifecycle management. Emerson says its Guardian Virtual Advisor combines AI with deep domain expertise to help users evaluate and enhance the performance of their automation systems, driving smarter decisions and operational excellence.

Lifecycle services provide a comprehensive approach for industrial users to support and maintain operations throughout the entire lifecycle of a plant — helping them maximise uptime, address operational inefficiencies and protect their automation investments. Frost & Sullivan estimates the industrial space has more than US$1 trillion in operational losses globally, driving greater demand for lifecycle services.

Emerson says that for over two decades, its Guardian Digital Platform has accumulated a vast repository of troubleshooting information — but searching articles and reference documents is a manual approach that slows down quick responses to developing issues like performing system maintenance or managing security updates or new software releases. Guardian Virtual Advisor is designed to be an intuitive, AI-powered application where users can enter natural language questions and receive an easy-to-understand answer and a link to the appropriate reference documents.

“When a user is in the middle of a task, they don’t want to read through thousands of knowledge base articles; they want the answer as soon as possible,” said Nina Golder, vice president of Emerson’s Guardian software and solutions. “Guardian Virtual Advisor quickly provides the direct answer to questions in conversational language, and delivers the referenced product information or system-specific hotfixes, saving valuable time and energy so teams can keep systems running at peak performance.”

Currently available to manage DeltaV distributed control systems, Guardian Virtual Advisor will be extended to include Emerson’s other automation platforms, such as AMS and Ovation.