Caterpillar is bringing to AI deployment what it learned from automating mining
Caterpillar is bringing to AI deployment what it learned from automating mining
卡特彼勒（Caterpillar）正将其在矿山自动化领域积累的经验应用于人工智能部署
Nearly every company that’s trying to deploy artificial intelligence runs into the same problem: it’s hard to integrate the tech into everyday operations. Industrial heavyweight Caterpillar has spent decades dealing with a version of that problem in the physical world, and now it’s using its experience to deploy AI. 几乎每一家试图部署人工智能的公司都会遇到同一个问题：将这项技术整合到日常运营中非常困难。工业巨头卡特彼勒在物理世界中处理这类问题已有数十年经验，现在，它正利用这些经验来部署人工智能。
Caterpillar’s push into the autonomous space started with mining, where labor shortages and hazardous conditions can make automation particularly useful. Today, it sells automated haul trucks, drilling, underground loaders, dozers, remote-controlled construction equipment, and more. It also offers a software command center, fleet management, and even remote terrain intelligence as part of its autonomous toolkit. 卡特彼勒在自动驾驶领域的探索始于采矿业，因为劳动力短缺和危险的工作环境使得自动化显得尤为重要。如今，该公司销售自动运输卡车、钻机、地下装载机、推土机、远程控制建筑设备等产品。作为其自动驾驶工具包的一部分，它还提供软件指挥中心、车队管理，甚至是远程地形智能系统。
“Now we’re in this super exciting time where we can take all of that learning from mining and bring it into much more dynamic environments, jobsites, quarries, and construction sites,” the company’s CTO, Jaime Mineart, told TechCrunch on during a fireside chat at the Ai4 conference in Las Vegas earlier this month. “现在我们正处于一个非常令人兴奋的时期，我们可以将从采矿业学到的所有经验带入到更具动态的环境中，比如作业现场、采石场和建筑工地，”该公司首席技术官 Jaime Mineart 本月初在拉斯维加斯举行的 Ai4 会议上接受 TechCrunch 炉边谈话采访时表示。
The industrial giant is now applying AI more broadly, including in tools used by technicians and its own employees. One example is the Cat AI Assistant, which lets field technicians standing next to a machine use voice commands to pull up repair procedures, troubleshoot potential problems, and identify parts that may be needed before beginning a repair. Mineart said the tool is now being used by customers, operators and technicians. 这家工业巨头目前正在更广泛地应用人工智能，包括用于技术人员及其员工的工具中。一个例子是“卡特彼勒 AI 助手”（Cat AI Assistant），它允许站在机器旁边的现场技术人员通过语音指令调出维修程序、排查潜在故障，并在开始维修前识别所需的零件。Mineart 表示，该工具目前已被客户、操作员和技术人员使用。
The assistant draws on Caterpillar’s proprietary data, which spans information generated by its connected machines. Mineart said Caterpillar has about 1.6 million connected assets globally and more than 16 petabytes of structured data. The company is also using AI to power software for scanning sites and generating digital twins in manufacturing to analyze operations, she said. 该助手利用卡特彼勒的专有数据，这些数据涵盖了其联网机器所产生的信息。Mineart 称，卡特彼勒在全球拥有约 160 万台联网资产，以及超过 16 PB 的结构化数据。她还提到，公司正在利用人工智能驱动软件，用于扫描现场并在制造业中生成数字孪生，以分析运营情况。
And like nearly every other company, Caterpillar is using AI across its enterprise operations, as well as for software development. “We use AI agents to modernize legacy code, generate and test new software, and identify defects earlier,” Mineart said. 像几乎所有其他公司一样，卡特彼勒也在其企业运营和软件开发中广泛使用人工智能。“我们使用 AI 代理来更新遗留代码、生成和测试新软件，并更早地识别缺陷，”Mineart 说道。
But Mineart is quick to point out that building the technology is only part of the challenge, as deploying an autonomous machine is not the same as transforming a site to use AI. Companies also have to rethink how people work alongside the technology and how existing processes need to change. “The hard part about autonomy and about physical AI is incorporating that technology into the customer jobsite and into the workflows,” she said. 但 Mineart 很快指出，构建技术只是挑战的一部分，因为部署一台自动驾驶机器与改造一个使用人工智能的现场是两码事。公司还必须重新思考人类如何与技术协同工作，以及现有流程需要如何改变。“关于自动驾驶和物理人工智能，最困难的部分在于将这些技术整合到客户的作业现场和工作流程中，”她说。
Mineart said the company leans on experienced operators to help train AI systems, leveraging institutional knowledge built over decades. And as machines become more autonomous, some operators may shift from controlling a single machine to overseeing multiple machines from a remote command center. That transition, however, is creating a new challenge for Caterpillar: training its 118,000 employees. Mineart 表示，公司依靠经验丰富的操作员来帮助训练人工智能系统，利用数十年来积累的机构知识。随着机器变得越来越自动化，一些操作员可能会从控制单台机器转变为在远程指挥中心监管多台机器。然而，这种转变也为卡特彼勒带来了新的挑战：培训其 11.8 万名员工。
Mineart said the company plans to spend $100 million over the next five years to train its workforce in AI, autonomy and robotics. That investment is likely being put towards helping the company make the most of the broader boom in AI infrastructure, which is already helping its top-line. Mineart 表示，公司计划在未来五年内投入 1 亿美元，用于培训员工掌握人工智能、自动驾驶和机器人技术。这项投资很可能是为了帮助公司充分利用更广泛的人工智能基础设施热潮，而这已经对其营收产生了积极影响。
Caterpillar’s quarterly revenue reached an all-time high of $20.5 billion in the second quarter, helped by strong demand for power-generation equipment used in data centers. Its power-generation division saw sales spike 72% to $3.10 billion, and CEO Joe Creed said that “no one is slowing down” when it comes to demand for cloud computing and generative AI infrastructure. 得益于数据中心对发电设备的强劲需求，卡特彼勒第二季度的季度营收达到了 205 亿美元的历史新高。其发电部门销售额激增 72%，达到 31 亿美元。首席执行官 Joe Creed 表示，在云计算和生成式人工智能基础设施的需求方面，“没有人放慢脚步”。