46 - Functional Safety, AI Blindspots, and Designing Systems That Actually Work with Jason Watts

About this episode

Jason Watts discusses practical automation, functional safety, and the challenges of designing effective systems in the industrial sector.

What happens when a controls engineer raised in coal mines starts turning chicken manure into renewable energy? In this episode, made possible by PLCnext Technology, we get a masterclass in practical automation, functional safety, and building systems that work in the real world. Jason Watts, Owner and Founder of Alpha Industrial Technologies, joins Phil Seboa and Ed Fuentes to discuss building an automation company around passionate engineers, using AI as an adversary in the design process, and why improperly applied safety functions can be more dangerous than no safety at all. In this episode, we explore: Building an automation company with a flexible, passion-driven workforce model Using AI as an adversary to stress-test engineering designs and find failure modes Cross-industry technology transfer from mining and automotive to agriculture Why Safe Torque Off (STO) is often implemented incorrectly and the case for risk assessments Converting poultry manure into renewable natural gas and fertilizer using bio digesters and IIoT ---------- This episode is proudly made possible by PLCnext Technology PLCnext Technology is the ecosystem for industrial automation consisting of open…

People in this episode

Hosts: Phil Seboa, Ed Fuentes

Guest: Jason Watts

Topics covered

• functional safety
• automation
• AI in engineering
• renewable energy
• system design
• risk assessment

Keywords

• functional safety
• AI blindspots
• automation systems
• renewable energy
• risk assessment
• bio digesters
• IIoT

Sponsors

PLCnext Technology

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Alpha Industrial Technologies

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