Technology experts offer information about AI use in buildings, cities
Jun. 29—Industry experts in technology were in Joplin on Thursday to share information at a smart city symposium about how to make buildings and cities operate better, provide safety and security, and have systems that operate more efficiently.
Some city officials, representatives of engineering firms and others attended the half-day session. It was conducted by Frank Thompson, who operates a Joplin technology business, Automated Technology Co., and the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce.
Representatives of tech companies that included Siemens, ABB, Schneider Electric, U.S. Cellular, T-Mobile, Xunison, and Telleqt AI spoke and led question-and-answer forums.
They talked about cognitive buildings — those with data-driven systems — and the connectivity that powers or controls those functions.
"This is just a conversation we want to have to introduce what's out there, what's next, and there's no reason why Southwest Missouri has to wait for all the big cities and big companies to go first," said Travis Stephens, chamber president.
"Maybe we're not the pioneers for this, but at least we know what's out there and what's coming down the pike, and we can all plan ahead and ask the question 'How can we make our cities more efficient, smarter and more livable for our residents and citizens to get around and operate?'"
Thompson said technology has surpassed the definition of smart cities, and they are now becoming cognitive cities as artificial intelligence is increasingly used to operate digital and mechanical systems. Street lights, traffic signals, buildings and offices can all be controlled by artificial intelligence.
Chad Langston, of ABB, a company that specializes in smart technology, said that more people are moving to urban areas, making space more limited and creating more demand in the cities for energy and water resources.
"We need to utilize resources that as responsibly as possible," he said. "This is electricity, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), it's security, it's water, it's everything in between.
"When you take a look at what is really at stake here, 85 to 90% of the buildings that are under 100,000 square foot have no automation in them whatsoever. In the U.S., that's close to 7 million buildings. When you think of the magnitude, we could be doing better. In the U.S., we could be doing way better. How are we going to do that? Smart energy."
That involves using smart grid technology and creating systems that are designed for each building individually.
Consultants from the companies represented at the symposium each discussed how to start constructing smart buildings and cities powered by digital systems.
Dan Johnson, the city of Joplin's public works director, said that he learned from the symposium that "whenever we build new buildings or do significant upgrades, when we hire our design professionals we need to make sure they include in their services a smart city or smart building component."
