The digital twin revolution is underway

Can you tell us about your technology?

At SAMP, we generate digital twins for industrial sites, working directly from real-life conditions on the ground. A bit like Google Earth, our tool creates highly accurate 3D site maps. These reconcile the technical documentation – which is never up-to-date or complete – with the real-life conditions on the ground. SAMP can accelerate industrial sites’ transformation, modernisation or maintenance projects, and allow companies to respond more quickly to sustainable development goals. Decarbonisation projects, for instance – i.e. switching to biomass or hydrogen – require a lot of engineering. When the project assumptions are based on obsolete paper plans, precious months end up being lost. Some projects don’t even get off the ground, as knowledge of the site’s current state is so poor! With SAMP, the duration and costs of these projects can be lowered by about 30% thanks to our Shared Reality portal and the data that all professions involved can make use of.

What are you going to present at VivaTech?

Mainly, our tool – a 3D web portal – via live demonstrations and videos. Users will be able to browse virtual industrial sites, prepare worksites, check the completeness of the documentation, etc. SAMP is highly visual, so we move quickly. Our stand will also feature the tool used by our partners for the on-site 3D capture. This technology has really come on a lot. Today, the 3D scanning tool takes the form of a large futuristic backpack. You can walk around the facility and capture all the data that make up our raw material, in real time. A model will wear the device to show how it works. 

How is your technology innovative? 

Historically, what was known as a site’s “digital twin” was a mapped reproduction, made entirely using 3D modelling software. This type of work takes many months. It’s very expensive. And the end result is already out of date, because the site has changed in the interim. Our completely innovative offer is a patented tool based on the latest advances in 3D machine learning, and on the AI’s ability to identify the site's equipment in the 3D scanning technology (pumps, valves, pipes, etc.) and to link with the existing technical diagrams. This cutting-edge technology allows us to compile all these data, which had never previously been gathered, in a highly visual way. We are the only ones currently doing it. 

What are you hoping to achieve from taking part in Viva Tech? 

We are hoping to meet prospects and industrial companies from all over the world, bearing in mind that we are mainly targeting two sectors: water and energy. We currently have around ten customers, in addition to Engie. And we are starting to expand across Europe. We have plans to open offices in another European country quite quickly, and perhaps in North America as early as next year. 

What would you invent if you had one magic power?

A good mood diffusion machine for the Paris public transport system...