Pratt & Whitney and Indian Start-up Awiros launch AI-based Aircraft Engine Inspection Tool, Percept

PARIS AIR SHOW, June 20. Pratt & Whitney, an RTX business, announces the launch of Percept – an advanced AI-based Aircraft Engine Analysis Tool.

Percept is a computer vision product that operates on top of the Awiros Video Intelligence Operating System (OS). Its cloud-based interface allows users to capture images and videos of aircraft engines on their mobile devices and receive real-time responses on parts availability. This helps enable faster and cost-efficient turnaround of leased engine assets. Instead of an inspector having to examine an engine and check part-by-part, Percept automates this inspection, and reduces time taken by nearly 90%.

“The Percept tool helps reduce time and effort involved in the pre-and-post lease analysis of aircraft engines,” said O Sung Kwon, Vice President, Customer Support, Pratt & Whitney. “We have been working with Awiros, an Indian Computer Vision and Artificial Intelligence (AI) start-up for the past few years to mature this technology; we are excited to be shifting from technology development to now bringing an operational product to the market.”

“Building the Percept tool in collaboration with RTX has been one of the most exciting opportunities in the journey of Awiros as a startup. We are proud that Percept’s high-fidelity scanning of Pratt & Whitney engines with handheld mobiles phones, without any specialized hardware, is being commercially deployed in the aerospace industry.” said Vikram Gupta, Founder and CEO, Awiros.

Awiros was selected as the winner of the RTX Innovation Challenge. The Innovation Challenge was launched in September 2019 with over 60 Indian and global startups in Computer Vision, AI, and Machine learning (ML) domains. The teams proposed solutions to optimize and automate aircraft engine inspections with reduced human interventions. Awiros’ idea was evaluated through 2020-21 and is expected to be launched commercially later this year.

“As the fastest growing aviation industry and world’s emerging start-up capital, India has become a hotbed for agile aerospace innovation,” said Ashmita Sethi, President & Country Head, India, Pratt & Whitney (UTCIPL). “Percept is the result of some of India’s best and brightest minds collaborating with Pratt & Whitney to innovate a solution that delivers significant efficiencies and value to our customers.”

The Percept solution will be deployed exclusively on Pratt & Whitney’s most advanced commercial engines, including the Pratt & Whitney GTF™ engine and the V2500.