Porolis is bringing AI, blockchain tech to gemstone grading

Porolis Technologies’ Kroma device specializes in scanning colored gemstones. / Photo credit: Porolis Technologies

Digital gemology firm Porolis is a finalist of the inaugural Design AI and Tech Awards, which spotlights innovations by startups, enterprises, and corporations in Singapore.

Porolis Technologies has developed a way to modernize how colored gemstones are graded, authenticated, and tracked.

The Singapore-based company’s GemLUX ecosystem combines AI, blockchain technology, and photomicrography – the process of taking highly detailed photographs through a microscope – to deliver faster, more consistent, and affordable gemstone assessments.

This lets Porolis offer a new approach to an industry that has long relied on manual methods. Its ecosystem aims to create a more standardized, efficient, and transparent gemstone trade that would benefit miners, traders, and consumers alike.

A device called Kroma

Gemstone certification is often expensive, slow, and heavily dependent on human judgment. Certification from well-known labs from the US and Switzerland can cost between US$100 to US$300 for a 5-carat stone, which goes up even more with shipping and insurance costs.

Porolis offers a quicker, more affordable alternative. At the center of its ecosystem is Kroma, a portable device that specializes in scanning gemstones in various lighting and optical configurations. It captures high-resolution images showing the gemstone’s color, structure, and microscopic inclusions.

The device features a touchscreen interface to guide users through the scanning and submission process, making it suitable even for users with little or no technical background in gemology.

The Kroma device provides objective gemstone analyses through AI. / Photo credit: Porolis Technologies

These images are then analyzed by Porolis’ cloud-based AI service, which is trained on a large dataset labeled by professional gemologists, to identify key properties that impact valuation.

The Kroma device replaces the need for multiple handheld tools traditionally used in gem labs, such as polariscopes and refractometers, and provides objective results through AI analysis.

Gemstone fingerprints

Porolis has also developed a method for creating a digital “fingerprint” for each gemstone. This fingerprint is based on the natural microscopic inclusions inside the gemstone, which differ between stones.

Using this information, Porolis generates a unique identity for each gemstone and records it on a blockchain. This makes it possible to track a gemstone’s full journey from mine to market, helping to prevent fraud and build trust in the trade.