Human-in-the-loop design ensures operators always retain command; Ai agents operate proactively in the background, analysing plant conditions and recommending optimisations.
Emerson has introduced new Ovation™ AI Agents for the power and water industries, expanding the Ai capabilities of the Ovation Automation Platform 4.0 release. The five new agents – Sequence Assistant Agent, Alarm Insight Agent, Predictive Maintenance Agent, Root Cause Agent and Loop Performance Monitor Agent – will empower plant personnel with critical insights by continuously monitoring, analysing and recommending actions across critical plant operations.
 | |
| Designed to seamlessly integrate with the Ovation Automation Platform 4.0 release, the new Ovation AI Agents are embedded into native operational workflows and operator tools, eliminating the time-consuming need to switch between systems. |
This expansion builds on the success of Ovation Virtual Advisor and delivers new capabilities to Ovation’s growing portfolio of Ai solutions for the power and water industries, transforming how operators make decisions. While Ovation Virtual Advisor provides real-time, Ai-driven insights through natural language interaction, the new Ai Agents are time synchronised with the Ovation 4.0 system and work autonomously in the background, continuously monitoring plant and equipment conditions and recommending optimisations.*
 |
| Bob Yeager at Ovation User Mtg 2026 Pic: Jim Cahill,Emerson |
The Ovation AI Agents will be deployed in phases, with the following included in the first wave:
- Sequence Assistant Agent: Provides Ai guidance for sequence-function-driven control logic tools by generating context-aware prompts from real-time deviations and historical failures. During a steam turbine start-up, for example, the agent can pinpoint why a sequence has stalled and alert an operator with recommended corrective action, resolving issues in seconds that traditionally could take hours of manual investigation.
- Alarm Insight Agent: Prioritises and summarises alarm context during alarm floods, helping operators focus on the most critical alarms and recommended actions rather than being overwhelmed by hundreds of alerts simultaneously.
- Predictive Maintenance Agent: Acts as an early-warning system for critical plant equipment, detecting degradation, prioritising maintenance and helping prevent unplanned failures.
- Root Cause Agent: Performs real-time root cause analysis that goes beyond the control system itself to analyse the running plant process. By correlating alarms, trips and live equipment conditions, the agent identifies root causes of critical asset issues – enabling maintenance teams to shift from reactive to proactive actions.
- Loop Performance Monitor Agent: Continuously analyses control loop performance to identify poor-performing loops, including for issues such as oscillation, deadband and deficient tuning, and generates evidence-backed recommendations for engineering review.
Real-world impact and integrated architecture.
Unlike chatbot-style interfaces or external analytics layers, Emerson’s new Ai agents are designed to seamlessly integrate with the Ovation 4.0 Automation Platform – governed within the platform and backed by decades of power and water industry expertise. Built with human-in-the-loop design, the agents operate proactively, running in the background and alerting issues to operators – taking action with human approval. Every recommendation flows through human operators who retain full control.
Early deployments demonstrate measurable impact. In one scenario, the Sequence Assistant Agent identified a failed permissive condition in seconds – a diagnosis that would have previously consumed hours of manual investigation across logic diagrams and point values. At another major utility, the Predictive Maintenance Agent captured a subtle equipment anomaly before it became critical, preventing costly unplanned downtime.
Strategic alignment with Ai-enabled operations.
The five new Ovation AI Agents will launch this autumn, enabling customers to start deploying individual agents tailored to their operational priorities and expand their portfolio over time as needs evolve. The broader roadmap includes an additional 28 planned agents spanning operations, maintenance, optimisation, instrumentation and control, management and cross-domain functions. Emerson showcased the Ovation AI Agent Builder at this year’s Ovation Users Group Conference (Pittsburg, PA, USA 26-30 July 2026), demonstrating how it will help users design, deploy and customise unique agents specific to their operations – creating a dynamic and scalable pathway for Ai-driven optimisation.
*See also: Unique sync solution for control systems and digital twins. (6/7/2026)
@EmersonExchange @EMR_Automation @Emerson_News @HHC_Lewis #PAuto #Water #Power
No comments:
Post a Comment