Caterpillar used ConExpo-Con/Agg to provide live demonstrations of Cat AI Assistant, its new tool to help equipment owners, operators and technicians quickly find machine data, troubleshooting guides and performance insights using natural language.

Cat AI Assistant, which the company unveiled early this year at CES, allows producers to engage with Caterpillar’s equipment and its portfolio of digital applications in new ways.

“We are grounding the assistant into our data sources – our source of truth,” says Oliver Garnier, a leader in AI research and development at Caterpillar. “We do not let AI respond and hallucinate. We really find the answer first and then provide answers to customers.”

For business owners, Cat AI Assistant serves as an extra set of eyes on their equipment. The tool helps them identify issues early and turn unplanned incidents into planned maintenance as operations grow.

“As an example, take idle time for your fleet for the last week,” Garnier says. “You could ask any type of question that you can find information about in VisionLink today, such as which machine is idling the most over the last month or over the last week – whatever you want. [Cat AI Assistant] is compiling data on the fly and returning information in a nice format.”

For machine operators, Caterpillar says Cat AI Assistant will ultimately connect every step of the workday – from machine startup to shift handoff. Although in-cab applications are still in development, Garnier says the AI tool is intended to act as a coach in the cab, providing operators with information to work smarter and safer without switching screens, returning to the yard or losing focus.

“Let’s say a new operator is joining, and he wants to know how to do something in the machine,” Garnier says. “You can just ask the assistant. It will return the information. Also, if there is a video associated with that search, it will return that video. You can look at engineering diagrams, as well.”

For technicians, Cat AI Assistant can quickly provide the right section from a library of thousands of instruction manuals with a simple voice command – and without interrupting the task at hand. It provides step-by-step guidance on repairs, highlights common issues and suggests additional parts needed to complete the job.

“The idea is to find the information faster and not go from one application to the other,” Garnier says. “You could be doing your job in VisionLink today and looking at your fleet. You would have a list of steps to basically do the repair, and at the end you will have a link to the exact document.

“Now, you don’t have to go into that application and search for the information,” he adds. “You just ask the assistant, and it will provide the information and point you to the right document.”