Hitachi Plant Services Develops 'FREEDi - SHUGY', an AI Manual Operation Analysis Solution to Quantify Tacit Knowledge and Improve Work Quality
Hitachi Plant Services, in collaboration with Hitachi, Ltd., has developed 'FREEDi - SHUGY', an AI solution that captures and analyzes the 3D movements of workers' hands. It aims to eliminate skill dependency and improve quality in pathology and manufacturing.
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- 📰 Published: April 24, 2026 at 22:20
- 🔍 Collected: April 24, 2026 at 14:01
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 24, 2026 at 23:30 (9h 28m after Collected)
Hitachi Plant Services, Ltd. (President: Osamu Muto, Headquarters: Taito-ku, Tokyo, hereinafter 'Hitachi Plant Services'), in collaboration with the Research & Development Group of Hitachi, Ltd. (hereinafter 'Hitachi'), has developed 'FREEDi - SHUGY*1', an AI manual operation analysis solution that supports safe, high-quality, and efficient tasks for manual operations—a series of manipulations and movements in pathology testing processes and manufacturing lines.
This solution quantitatively analyzes manual operation information by measuring and converting the movements and positional relationships of workers' hands and objects (tools) on-site into time-series 3D data. It is provided as a digitized asset supporting the next-generation AI solution suite 'HMAX Industry', integrated into the biological safety cabinets of Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd. (hereinafter 'Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems'). Furthermore, utilizing the accumulated data, it will be rolled out as an educational solution service to support the skill improvement of on-site workers. Currently, its effectiveness is being confirmed through Proof of Concept (PoC) at pharmaceutical and drug discovery sites. Additionally, verification is underway at the National Cancer Center Hospital East (Department of Pathology and Clinical Laboratories) aiming to visualize and score partial tasks in pathology processes, accelerating efforts toward practical application in medical and pharmaceutical fields.
Moving forward, the company will commercialize this solution for practical use on-site, expanding it to a wide range of industrial fields including biotechnology and healthcare. Ultimately, by digitizing and standardizing the manual operations of experts and applying that knowledge to work support and automation, it aims to realize the optimization of sites where humans and robots collaborate (Lab Orchestration). Through initiatives connecting research and development to manufacturing and on-site operations, it will accelerate the maximization of customer lifetime value. Hitachi Plant Services will provide this solution as a Lumada*2 solution to help solve customer challenges.
Hitachi Plant Services, part of the Industrial Solutions Business Unit in Hitachi's Connective Industries (CI) Sector, is focusing on 'HMAX Industry', a next-generation solution suite that combines domain knowledge and advanced AI with data from a rich installed base of products (digitized assets). By providing 'Industrial Solutions' with these at the core, the company aims to maximize customer lifetime value, transform industries globally, and realize a prosperous society.
*1 FREEDi - SHUGY: FREE your Data input - Spatial Human-object Understanding for Guidance & AutonomY
*2 Lumada: The collective name for Hitachi's advanced digital solutions, services, and technologies for turning data into insights to drive digital innovation. For details, please see here (https://www.hitachi.co.jp/products/it/lumada/).
■ Background and Challenges
In sterile operations inside safety cabinets requiring strict quality control, or at manual work sites like manufacturing lines, slight procedural differences greatly impact quality and safety. However, it is not easy to share working know-how based on the experience and intuition of skilled workers without depending on specific individuals. Moreover, since confirmation has traditionally relied heavily on the human eye, accumulating quantitative work records is difficult, making retrospective verification hard when problems occur. The declining workforce has also led to inexperienced workers handling these tasks more frequently, presenting significant on-site challenges.
■ Business Concept and Technical Features of the AI Manual Operation Analysis Solution
Hitachi Plant Services, in cooperation with Hitachi and Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems, is developing this solution under 'One Hitachi'. It aims to solve on-site challenges through a four-stage approach: 'Record, Analyze, Support, and Automate'. Currently, targeting dispensing tasks in cell culture (agitation, fluid sampling, fluid transfer, etc.), the verification and implementation of the following technologies are underway.
1. Blind-spot-free 3D measurement and 'Human-Object' interaction analysis (Recording) through the integration of multiple cameras
From the footage of multiple cameras installed in work environments like safety cabinets, the 'hand movements' of the worker and the 'posture of the object (using AR*3 markers, etc.)' are detected and converted into digital twins as time-series 3D coordinate information. By capturing both sets of information in a unified coordinate system, robustness against blind spots is improved. Quantitatively recording the worker's movements in conjunction with the object's movements enables the precise tracking of interactions between humans and objects.
This solution quantitatively analyzes manual operation information by measuring and converting the movements and positional relationships of workers' hands and objects (tools) on-site into time-series 3D data. It is provided as a digitized asset supporting the next-generation AI solution suite 'HMAX Industry', integrated into the biological safety cabinets of Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd. (hereinafter 'Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems'). Furthermore, utilizing the accumulated data, it will be rolled out as an educational solution service to support the skill improvement of on-site workers. Currently, its effectiveness is being confirmed through Proof of Concept (PoC) at pharmaceutical and drug discovery sites. Additionally, verification is underway at the National Cancer Center Hospital East (Department of Pathology and Clinical Laboratories) aiming to visualize and score partial tasks in pathology processes, accelerating efforts toward practical application in medical and pharmaceutical fields.
Moving forward, the company will commercialize this solution for practical use on-site, expanding it to a wide range of industrial fields including biotechnology and healthcare. Ultimately, by digitizing and standardizing the manual operations of experts and applying that knowledge to work support and automation, it aims to realize the optimization of sites where humans and robots collaborate (Lab Orchestration). Through initiatives connecting research and development to manufacturing and on-site operations, it will accelerate the maximization of customer lifetime value. Hitachi Plant Services will provide this solution as a Lumada*2 solution to help solve customer challenges.
Hitachi Plant Services, part of the Industrial Solutions Business Unit in Hitachi's Connective Industries (CI) Sector, is focusing on 'HMAX Industry', a next-generation solution suite that combines domain knowledge and advanced AI with data from a rich installed base of products (digitized assets). By providing 'Industrial Solutions' with these at the core, the company aims to maximize customer lifetime value, transform industries globally, and realize a prosperous society.
*1 FREEDi - SHUGY: FREE your Data input - Spatial Human-object Understanding for Guidance & AutonomY
*2 Lumada: The collective name for Hitachi's advanced digital solutions, services, and technologies for turning data into insights to drive digital innovation. For details, please see here (https://www.hitachi.co.jp/products/it/lumada/).
■ Background and Challenges
In sterile operations inside safety cabinets requiring strict quality control, or at manual work sites like manufacturing lines, slight procedural differences greatly impact quality and safety. However, it is not easy to share working know-how based on the experience and intuition of skilled workers without depending on specific individuals. Moreover, since confirmation has traditionally relied heavily on the human eye, accumulating quantitative work records is difficult, making retrospective verification hard when problems occur. The declining workforce has also led to inexperienced workers handling these tasks more frequently, presenting significant on-site challenges.
■ Business Concept and Technical Features of the AI Manual Operation Analysis Solution
Hitachi Plant Services, in cooperation with Hitachi and Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems, is developing this solution under 'One Hitachi'. It aims to solve on-site challenges through a four-stage approach: 'Record, Analyze, Support, and Automate'. Currently, targeting dispensing tasks in cell culture (agitation, fluid sampling, fluid transfer, etc.), the verification and implementation of the following technologies are underway.
1. Blind-spot-free 3D measurement and 'Human-Object' interaction analysis (Recording) through the integration of multiple cameras
From the footage of multiple cameras installed in work environments like safety cabinets, the 'hand movements' of the worker and the 'posture of the object (using AR*3 markers, etc.)' are detected and converted into digital twins as time-series 3D coordinate information. By capturing both sets of information in a unified coordinate system, robustness against blind spots is improved. Quantitatively recording the worker's movements in conjunction with the object's movements enables the precise tracking of interactions between humans and objects.