USA: Looq AI has launched qPole, an AI-powered solution designed to make the power grid more reliable and resilient by understanding utility poles the way experienced engineers do. The system analyses physical structure, geometry, materials, and real-world context to generate engineering-ready models of each pole.
With an estimated 180–200 million distribution poles in the US, many ageing or in extreme weather zones, utilities face growing pressure to maintain reliability and comply with wildfire and storm-hardening mandates. Traditional pole inspections are slow, labour-intensive, and sometimes hazardous, taking around 30 minutes per pole when combining fieldwork and office processing.
qPole streamlines this workflow, reducing the total time to just seven minutes per pole. Field capture drops from 15 minutes to about two, while AI-assisted office processing takes only five minutes. The system automatically detects pole components such as crossarms and transformers, producing precise CAD models that identify current or potential failures and recommend remediation.
“The AI captures a pole’s ‘DNA’– its height, diameter, material and attachments – just like a human engineer,” said Dominique Meyer, CEO of Looq AI. “This saves an estimated 19 million work hours annually in the US, allowing utilities to focus on grid hardening rather than manual data entry.”
Field measurements are accurate to under a centimetre, preventing unnecessary replacements and optimising construction planning. Industry experts say qPole represents a major step forward in asset modelling, safety, and operational efficiency, offering utilities a practical, reliable tool to modernise their distribution network.
Source: T&D World