Paul Sikhakhane was the presenter at the last Durban branch virtual technology meeting and the subject was ‘Living on the edge’. The meeting was well attended, with lots of interaction and questions afterwards and the Durban branch would like to thank Paul for his interesting presentation.
Paul Sikhakhane.
Paul Sikhakhane is a director of Mzukulu Technologies and NICM and if you have attended any automation conferences or been involved with the SAIMC, you have probably met him. He’s enthusiastic, knowledge-hungry, eager to meet new challenges and excited to find out what new technologies are available and how these can be used to improve operations of companies.
Paul started his career over 20 years ago as a chemical engineer, but his passion for control and software led to the migration from process engineer to automation engineer which allows him to focus fully on his passion of industrial control and automation.
We knew that this wouldn’t be yet another talk on Industry 4.0/artificial intelligence which is fast becoming ‘Death by Industry 4.0’ and Paul lived up to his promise of putting a different and dare we say intelligent spin on things.
Whilst most companies who promote machine learning (a subset of artificial intelligence) are focused on cloud based technologies, i.e., living in the cloud, there is an even greater benefit from edge-based machine learning. Bringing machine learning to the edge facilitates real-time insights from live data streams and it is these insights which help improve efficiencies, detect product defects early in the cycle and identify machine issues.
Edge-based machine learning makes machine learning accessible to everyone: executing models on live data which is ingested directly from sensors, OPCUA, MQTT, cameras and sound.
Paul’s talk focused on the benefits of edge-based machine learning, what is presently available on the market and how you can start this journey today.
Please contact jane@technews.co.za if you missed it and would like a copy of the presentation and the questions needed to gain CPD points.
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