AI lift in the works for digital logbooks

A new artificial intelligence system to help analyze the "health" of lifts will be rolled out in the fourth quarter, the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department said.

In her latest weekly blog, Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho reiterated that the government has always paid great attention to the safety of lifts and escalators.

Engineer Lui Graham from the department said the Lifts and Escalators Ordinance requires those responsible for lifts and escalators to keep logbooks to record details of work done.

Lui added, that in the past, work logs have been kept in paper format, which may be damaged, have missing pages, or even be lost.

In November 2022, the department rolled out a Digital Log-books System for Lifts and Escalators with blockchain technology.

"The digital log-book allows those responsible - managers and practitioners from maintenance contractors, and the government's supervisors and inspectors - to monitor, record, manage, and analyze the elevator maintenance data in real time through mobile applications or online platforms," Lui said.

As of last month, more than 36,000 of 80,000 lifts and escalators in Hong Kong had gone digital log-books, accounting for some 45 percent.

The digital logbook won 23 awards at the 48th International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva in Switzerland in April: one special award, three gold, seven silver and 12 bronze medals.

Lui also said the department has been enhancing the logbook's functions, including developing AI technology, in analyzing the health status of the lifts and escalators with photos of major components received by the department, thus distributing the analysis results to the responsible personnel for follow-up actions.

The department, he said, conducts 30,000 inspections annually and random inspections on 2.5 million photos of elevator components submitted by the industry through the online platform.

"The new AI system will be able to significantly improve the current inspection capacity, from manual inspections of relatively fewer photos to an AI system to review all photos without spending additional human resources," Lui said.

Kai Shing Management Services general manager Enzo Lau Chi-chuen said inspectors at his company, which manages 3,000 lifts and escalators at more than 170 properties, had to spend more time inputting data into Excel spreadsheets in the past.

Since adopting the digital logbook system, engineers can now check the latest work logs anytime via the app.