Machine Accomplished: Indian Railways To Use AI-Powered Robot To Ensure Safety On Trains; Calls It USTAAD

The Central Railway, to ensure the safety of trains by eliminating human errors, has built an Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered Robot, the Times of India reports. The robot will click photos and record videos of the train, under the gears and then send the footage to engineers for maintenance and repair.

The robot, which is named Undergear Surveillance Through Artificial Intelligence Assisted Droid (USTAAD), is built by the mechanical branch of Central Railways Nagpur division. USTAAD will examine the parts of coaches in real-time via an HD camera and then channel them over WiFi.

Sunil Udasi, spokesperson, Central Railways said, "It captures video and still photographs of the under-gear parts of the coaches in real time and transmits them over WiFi. The engineers can see these videos on an big screen as well as record them. The camera of the robot can be rotated in any direction as per command given by the engineers”.

The engineers will also be able to zoom in case of any doubts, Udasi said, while adding the camera will also capture videos in low-light and dark-mode as it is equipped with an LED floodlight. “By use of this robot, the chances of a mistake and any deficiency overlooked by the human eye can be eliminated,” Udasi said.

Udasi also said that with USTAAD, engineers would, with ease, be able to watch and examine areas which cannot be seen and approached usually, due to the narrow spaces between under-gear parts. Once USTAAD is tested more minutely, Railways is planning to use it across various zones.

The Indian Railways has recently embraced Artificial Intelligence for customer engagement and Emotional Intelligence for officials.