AI in practice: Case study on a flotation plant
Heikki Hyötyniemi, RAIMO YLINEN, Jorma Miettunen · 2000
The practice of AI is far from theory. Industrial plants need to operate reliably and fast, and there is no room for unoptimized heuristics. This paper introduces the flotation process, a complex process where new approaches are needed to make the production go on smoothly; AI type methodologies are needed in measurement (analysis of camera images), in monitoring of the process state (categorization of the froth classes), and in control (rule-based operation of the controller). All these tasks are carried out in a “pragmatic AI way”, emphasizing speed, reliability, and simplicity. 1.