The Impact of Digital Transformation in Construction

by BIM Learning Center

The construction industry is experiencing an extraordinary rate of digital transformation. Digital technologies have rapidly transformed construction sites. Construction professionals can now have real-time intelligence about quality and quantity of progress derived from information captured by sensors, such as cameras and laser scanners, as compared to the 3D model of the intended result. We are eliminating waste in the field by ensuring that each crew has exactly the right information, materials and equipment required for the task on a lean, just-in-time basis.

This digital transformation has enabled a renewed focus in the industry on what’s most important – high quality work, safely done. Due in part to these technologies, we are becoming better professionals, bringing more value to our customers: “on time and within budget” is table stakes. This new focus on quality and safety, though, doesn’t come alone. One of the main benefits that comes with it is improved productivity.

Article here

 

MIT Has Developed a Robot that Can Find the Leak in Any Pipe System

by Tom Ward. Futurism

THE LEAK FINDING ROBOT

An MIT research team called PipeGuard has developed a robot capable of finding the smallest leaks in pipes regardless of what they are made of. It can be inserted into the water supply through any fire hydrant, and comes in two models: one which passively floats along a pipe, and another that can be controlled.

The system — which has been in development for 12 years — uses a small robotic device in the shape of a shuttlecock that gathers data on divergent pressures using sensitive detectors on its rubber skirt. Simultaneously, it monitors its position. When the ‘bot is removed from the pipe using a net, the two sets of data it uploads are crosschecked to find leaks.

Image Credit: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The robot completed field tests on the devilishly tricky trial pipe at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia, during which it found an artificial leak 100 percent of the time. Now it is being deployed in Monterrey, Mexico, in order to help the city combat the $80 million cost of 40 percent of its water supply going to waste.

Eventually, the engineers hope to create a version that can expand to any sized pipe it is placed in, as well as to introduce a mechanism that allows it to repair small leaks on the spot.

A WORLDWIDE SOLUTION?

The discovery provides a solution to two serious issues in water distribution networks: 1/5 of supply being lost due to leaks and current technology being incompatible with some piping materials. Mark Gallager, a director at the Cambridge, Massachusetts, Water Department, said in an MIT press release that the system could also “could minimize the damage to infrastructure and the loss of water services to homes and businesses, and it could significantly reduce the associated cost.”

However, the bigger picture is that the robot, in a later incarnation, could help reduce the dangers caused by gas leaks. The world’s natural gas pipes are often poorly maintained and inadequately mapped. This, when combined with detection only being possible when the situation is critical, creates extremely dangerous situations which have resulted in explosions in some cities.

The Construction Industry Has Tech Fever

by KATE L. HARRISON

Smart construction sites now use augmented reality, drones and more.

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

At first glance, a muddy, disorganized and congested construction site might not seem like the best place for flashy, expensive tech like drones, remote-controlled machinery, and AR glasses. But Willy Schlacks, president and co-founder of EquipmentShare, knows for the modern job site, these tools are a match made in heaven.

Schlacks’ company is transforming the estimated $713 billion construction industry with their Internet of Things solution, ES Track. With a solution known as telematics technology, his company aggregates large amounts of equipment data to modernize old and much less efficient processes within the industry. Telematics is the branch of information technology that deals with the long-distance transmission of computerized information. It is just one of many technologies changing the construction industry today.

Here’s a look at some of the technologies Schlacks says are moving the industry forward by helping boost operational efficiency, streamline projects and cut costs:

1. Data Aggregation

Data is the key to effective equipment and project management in the modern construction industry. Powered by telematics, contractors, owners, and fleet managers are able to pull valuable data like run times, oil levels, tire pressure and location, for every piece of equipment. Aggregated over long periods of time and at large volume, this data gives owners and operators greater visibility into the functionality and value of their equipment — allowing them to make smarter decisions when it comes to fleet management and equipment deployment.

“Instead of letting their equipment collect dust in a warehouse corner,” Schlacks says, “contractors can pinpoint dozers, tractors and lifts they should either rent or sell to drive greater ROI.”

2. Drones

Providing a real-time look at job sites and construction projects, drones capture insights into material volume, equipment location and on-site progress. And they’re more than a fad. It’s projected that the construction industry will purchase more than 6.3 million drones by 2025.

“While a bird’s-eye view of your site is exciting, the biggest impact drones have on the construction industry is the data collected on the back-end,” says Schlacks “Without pulling, tracking and analyzing data, drones wouldn’t be all that valuable.”

3. Augmented Reality

Augmented reality (AR) gear is helping workers visualize equipment and jobsite data in real time. Increasingly, contractors and equipment managers are leaning on AR technology to proactively catch breakdowns, double-check building plans, and track on-site progress.

Whether on a tablet, helmet visor (like the Daqri Smart Helmet) or AR glasses which are forecast to reach 5.4 million units by 2020, augmented reality allows workers to see what’s going on inside a machine, through their screens. For instance, an augmented reality app might allow a contractor to hold up their phone to a piece of equipment and instantly see an overview of data, such as fuel level, tire pressure or engine conditions.

4. Automation

It may seem futuristic, but robots and automated equipment powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) are also finding their place on the construction site. Automation is helping to improve safety by preventing crashes, speeding up project timelines, and increasing efficiency. Take, for example, the Hadrian robotic bricklayer, which lays bricks 20 times faster than human hands.

“While full automation in the construction industry is still 10+ years out,” Schlacks says, “We’re starting to see hints of automation in more predictable and controlled construction environments such as highway and mining operations.”

There’s no arguing that emerging construction technologies are driving greater efficiency, increasing productivity and boosting the bottom line for contractors. As more adopters lean on telematics data and bring modern technologies to the job site, the construction industry of the future will look very different than it does today.

The new age of engineering and construction technology

by Jose Luis Blanco, Andrew Mullin, Kaustubh Pandya, and Mukund Sridhar

New technologies are transforming all stages of the engineering and construction process. Here’s what companies need to know about the evolving landscape.

The engineering and construction (E&C) industry is at the cusp of a new era, with technology start-ups creating new applications and tools that are changing how companies design, plan, and execute projects. By providing advanced software, construction-focused hardware, and analytics capabilities, these innovative start-ups are eliminating many of the problems that have dogged the E&C sector for decades, including difficulties compiling and sharing project information. Such improvements could not come at a better time, since construction projects are becoming increasingly complex and expensive, putting managers under greater pressure to improve costs, timelines, and efficiency.

Many E&C companies have begun incorporating new construction technologies into their daily activities, but most of their efforts have focused on software tools for digital collaboration. The reasons for this narrow focus vary, but some players hesitate to expand into any other area because they have traditionally struggled to deploy new tools at scale, limiting their impact. The modest returns they’ve seen to date make these companies reluctant to explore additional productivity-enhancing technologies, especially those requiring substantial investment. Other companies are simply unfamiliar with tools and solutions in areas beyond digital collaboration.

To help E&C companies navigate the landscape and develop more effective deployment strategies, we analyzed more than 1,000 construction-software start-ups and their products. First we identified common use cases for which software tools are being developed across all project phases (design, preconstruction, construction, and operations and management). These include activities such as managing performance or monitoring safety. We then examined investment patterns to determine if solution providers are shifting their resources to different applications, since this could provide hints about tools that may soon hit the market.

This article focuses on current and future use cases related to the construction phase of projects because that is the most complex and time-consuming phase in the E&C process. As part of our analysis, we also reviewed data from McKinsey Global Institute’s Construction Productivity Survey, which received responses from more than 200 senior E&C executives. The survey data helped us understand common challenges that arise when companies deploy and scale up digital solutions, as well as possible mitigation strategies.

 

In a Robot Economy, All Humans Will Be Marketers

Here’s one way the technological revolution isn’t very inspiring.

By Tyler Cowen

 

No, I can’t recommend a wine.

Photographer: Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images

The fear that robots, or more generally smart software, will put us all out of work is one of dominant economic memes of our time. But that fear is misplaced. We’re unlikely to see mass unemployment; rather, workers will shift into new economic sectors — albeit with transition pains — as has always been the case. The real risk is that the robots will push too many of us into less socially productive jobs — especially those in marketing.

Let’s consider the ATM. Contrary to what many people think, the widespread adoption of automated teller machines in the 1990s didn’t significantly diminish the demand for bank tellers. ATMs made bank branches easier and cheaper to operate, and that led banks to hire more staff, including tellers.

These tellers play a smaller role in counting cash and handling deposits than before, so what are they doing instead? Economist James Bessen explained: “Their ability to market and their interpersonal skills in terms of dealing with bank clients has become more important. So the transition — what the ATM machine did was effectively change the job of the bank teller into one where they are more of a marketing person. They are part of what banks call the ‘customer relationship team.’”

This shift toward marketing, in the broad sense of that term, isn’t just about bank tellers. More legal work is done by smart software, but cultivating client relationships has never been more important. Some functions of medical assistants are being automated, but hospitals and doctors are still trying to improve the patient experience and reach new customers. Amazon Inc. warehouses use robots to pull goods down off the shelves, but someone has to persuade consumers to buy the stuff.

Above and beyond these specific examples, consider the general logic of labor substitution. Machines and software are often very good at “making stuff” and, increasingly, at delivering well-defined services, such as when Alexa arranges a package for you. But machines are not effective at persuading, at developing advertising campaigns, at branding products or corporations, or at greeting you at the door in a charming manner, as is done so often in restaurants, even if you order on an iPad. Those activities will remain the province of human beings for a long time to come.

How much is this shift of labor into marketing a step forward? To be sure, a lot of commercial persuasion is useful. Marketing informs consumers about new products and their properties, or convinces them that one product is better for them than another. It was marketing that got me to stop watching baseball and switch to the more exciting NBA. Sometimes the very existence of an ad — even apart from any direct informational value — makes a product more enjoyable. If a particular basketball sneaker is associated with LeBron James, through an endorsement and TV commercials, some people will enjoy wearing that sneaker more.

That all said, a lot of marketing is a zero- or negative-sum game. Each business tries to pull customers away from the other brands, and while the final matching of customers to products is usually closely attuned to what people want, more is spent on these business battles than is ideal for social efficiency. My bank might make me feel better about being a customer there, but its services just aren’t much superior to those of the nearest competitor, if at all. Maybe Coke really is better than Pepsi, or vice versa, but it’s not that much better — and billions are spent trying to persuade consumers to make one switch or the other. By one estimate, the Coca-Cola Co. spent about $4 billion last year on global advertising.

The more a sector exhibits economies of scale, and thus some monopoly profits, the higher wasteful advertising spending can rise. Although consumers enjoy these panderings to some degree, there’s a limit on value added. As workers shift from serving tables to greeting customers, many diners will feel just a little more welcome. Going to the bank will also be a more fun experience, as tellers who used to count cash are now trained to sell us on how the bank is managing our savings. Still, that’s an uninspiring vision of what we will do with the human labor freed up by robots. There’s a darker vision too: Some of those marketers may look toward fraud, such as the Wells Fargo employees who signed up unknowing customers for new accounts.

Artificial intelligence is not as smart as you (or Elon Musk) think

by Ron Miller

In March 2016, DeepMind’s AlphaGo beat Lee Sedol, who at the time was the best human Go player in the world. It represented one of those defining technological moments like IBM’s Deep Blue beating chess champion Garry Kasparov, or even IBM Watson beating the world’s greatest Jeopardy! champions in 2011.

Yet these victories, as mind-blowing as they seemed to be, were more about training algorithms and using brute-force computational strength than any real intelligence. Former MIT robotics professor Rodney Brooks, who was one of the founders of iRobot and later Rethink Robotics, reminded us at the TechCrunch Robotics Session at MIT last week that training an algorithm to play a difficult strategy game isn’t intelligence, at least as we think about it with humans.

He explained that as strong as AlphaGo was at its given task, it actually couldn’t do anything else but play Go on a standard 19 x 19 board. He relayed a story that while speaking to the DeepMind team in London recently, he asked them what would have happened if they had changed the size of the board to 29 x 29, and the AlphaGo team admitted to him that had there been even a slight change to the size of the board, “we would have been dead.”

“I think people see how well [an algorithm] performs at one task and they think it can do all the things around that, and it can’t,” Brooks explained.

Brute-force intelligence

As Kasparov pointed out in an interview with Devin Coldewey at TechCrunch Disrupt in May, it’s one thing to design a computer to play chess at Grand Master level, but it’s another to call it intelligence in the pure sense. It’s simply throwing computer power at a problem and letting a machine do what it does best.

“In chess, machines dominate the game because of the brute force of calculation and they [could] crunch chess once the databases got big enough and hardware got fast enough and algorithms got smart enough, but there are still many things that humans understand. Machines don’t have understanding. They don’t recognize strategical patterns. Machines don’t have purpose,” Kasparov explained.

Gil Pratt, CEO at the Toyota Institute, a group inside Toyota working on artificial intelligence projects including household robots and autonomous cars, was interviewed at the TechCrunch Robotics Session, said that the fear we are hearing about from a wide range of people, including Elon Musk, who most recently called AI “an existential threat to humanity,” could stem from science-fiction dystopian descriptions of artificial intelligence run amok.

I think it’s important to keep in context how good these systems are, and actually how bad they are too, and how long we have to go until these systems actually pose that kind of a threat [that Elon Musk and others talk about]

— Gil Pratt, CEO, Toyota Institute

“The deep learning systems we have, which is what sort of spurred all this stuff, are remarkable in how well we do given the particular tasks that we give them, but they are actually quite narrow and brittle in their scope. So I think it’s important to keep in context how good these systems are, and actually how bad they are too, and how long we have to go until these systems actually pose that kind of a threat [that Elon Musk and others talk about].”

How to Survive (and Thrive) in the Age of Robots: An Interview with Patrick Mullane of Harvard Business School

by Indeed

Thanks to advances in automation, robots can vacuum your floors, restock your fridge and even steal your job. Well, perhaps.

As robotics, software and artificial intelligence have grown more sophisticated, so experts have been grappling with how it might affect the workforce. A 2013 Oxford University study found that 47% of U.S. jobs may be lost to machines and software, while a 2016 study from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development puts that number at 9%, following an examination of single job tasks that could potentially be automated. Even so, the OSCE estimate a further 25% will change significantly due to advances in technology.

While the experts might go back and forth on the specifics of how much “the rise of the robots” will impact workers, there’s no doubt that organizations and employees will need to adapt to remain successful. But how? To dig deeper into this changing landscape and learn how employers and job seekers should respond, we talked with Patrick Mullane, executive director of HBX, Harvard Business School’s online learning platform.

How big is this threat?

It’s tempting to imagine a worst-case scenario in which millions of workers lose their jobs to machines. For instance, tech billionaires Bill Gates and Elon Musk are in the forefront of those voicing concerns about the future. However, automation is not a new phenomenon, and as Mullane points out, many of the jobs we lose may very well be replaced by different positions that require new skill sets.

This prediction is partly based on Mullane’s own leadership experience. Before working for Harvard, he was the CEO of a manufacturing firm that produced flexible materials for medical, transportation, industrial and electronic purposes. In this role, he had a front row seat for the impact of technology on employees working in traditional industries.

“What changed wasn’t that we didn’t need skilled people to help us manufacture things. It’s that we need skilled people who knew how to program a machine, versus somebody who knew how to do a manual setup and manually make a part. So I think that’s kind of a stereotypical poster child, if you will, for what automation technology is going to do to the economy.”

So while it may be impossible to predict how many jobs we’ll lose to automation, we can look forward and consider how learning new skills can prepare employees to take on the jobs of tomorrow.

From blue collar to white collar, the rise of the machines will impact everybody  

Who will be affected? Pretty much everybody, says Mullane:

“I say that anybody who leaves high school without, for example, basic Excel skills — it’s going to be a much tougher world for them. There’s not a job you’ll go into where you won’t touch a spreadsheet program, or word processing program, or an ERP system in a company that’s managing inventory production. There’s just nothing you can do anymore that isn’t going to have a technological edge.”

Mullane zeroes in on “middle skill jobs,” as especially susceptible to disruption. These are jobs that don’t necessarily require a bachelor’s degree but which do require a high school degree. In fact, according to Mullane, the change is already underway: Today, a higher level of technical knowledge is already expected from these employees and job candidates. The expectations for white collar workers will rise even higher, he adds:

“They may start moving up into things like data analytics, where a lot of companies can’t seem to find enough people who know how to work with the big data and crunch numbers,” says Mullane.

Millennials may not be learning the skills they need to succeed

According to Pew Research, millennials are on track to be the most educated generation in history, with a higher percentage of this generation earning bachelor’s degrees than any before them.

Could it be that this tech savvy generation has already gotten the (robot-generated) memo that blue collar and white collar workers need to bump up their skill levels to compete in a more automated workforce?

Not so fast, says Mullane. Although he agrees that plenty of young people are earning undergraduate degrees, he doubts that facility with tech in their personal lives always translates into the workplace. He also points out that many graduates still lack the skills they need to successfully compete in this changing job market.

“A lot of liberal arts programs don’t include what used to be included in liberal arts,” he says, pointing out that these courses once had heavy doses of science and math classes, which would equip graduates with more of the critical thinking skills necessary for evolving job roles.

But even if undergraduates are getting these skills along with the most relevant, up-to-date information available, the rapid rate of change can make it difficult — or impossible — for an undergraduate department to provide graduates with what they’ll need in the future.

“It’s hard to predict what you should be teaching so that five years down the road, students in your programs are going to have the skills they’re going to need,” Mullane says.

The future of construction is now with these innovative wearable technologies set to transform the industry.

by BOSS Magazine

The digitization of the construction industry continues to rise, and 250 million smart wearable devices are predicted to be in use by 2018.

The construction industry has always been aware of wearable technology’s potential to increase productivity and safety. However, implementing wearable technology in the workplace has proved itself a challenge for this particular industry.

Not only have previous wearable models turned out to be impractical, but employers have expressed distrust in the tech, with worries that their privacy was at risk of being violated.

Additionally, suppliers of wearable technology must ensure the equipment they intend to bring to market is user-friendly, affordable, and easily transferable from worker to worker.

As the construction industry continues evolving, so will wearable technology.

Here is a brief look at some of the top innovative wearables to look out for in 2017:

SolePower Work Boot

SolePower is a Pittsburgh-based startup with a self-charging shoe sole design that earned them a spot on Popular Science’s 2014 Invention Awards list.

Their latest work boot prototype took six months to create and is part of their initiative to create the first self-charging industrial wearable.

The SolePower boots hold sensors within for a multitude of reasons such as Wi-Fi, temperature detection, and GPS.

Additionally, it contains inertial and electronics measurement units for tracking motion and location.

“These are things we normally take for granted in a smartphone,” said Hahna Alexander, Co-Founder and CEO of SolePower.

The fact that this means employees would then have employer-issued work boots rather than having to purchase their own is an added incentive.

Spot-R by Triax Technologies

This wearable is merely the size of a pack of chewing gum, which means it is easily carried.

The wearable contains a small sensor to track workers’ movements to indicate when injuries occur.

Spot-R comes equipped with a button for alerting others of any safety concerns, such as incidents and hazardous areas in the workplace.

The team at Triax has also developed a closed, secure network intended to be set up on site.

“You can think of it like the Wi-Fi at your house. When you come home, your phone automatically connects,” said Chad Hollingsworth, President and Co-Founder of Triax Technologies.

“The workers’ sensor that they wear on their belt automatically connects to the network and then checks them out.”

This network was engineered to address the issue many workers took with the device’s tracking capabilities.

XOEye Smart Glasses

https://player.vimeo.com/video/171586131

XOEye Technologies is looking to combat the current worker shortage with a wearable that can help professionals more efficiently train and instruct newer, less-skilled workers.

The smart glasses can also be used for communication purposes and contribute to reducing the time used in decision making.

Subcontractors and project managers can be updated faster, regardless of being off-site.

Additionally, the wearable can improve safety and reduce mistakes and rework.

DAQRI Smart Helmet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The construction helmet is a standard necessity for the industry that has been in use since the start.

While construction helmets have solely served as protection from any physical harm, DAQRI is turning them into a versatile wearable.

With the capability to record real–time video, workers can quickly consult with each other when issues arise on projects and tasks.

The Smart Helmet can also display work instructions allowing employees to easily visualize their task and how it fits the project as a whole.

One can never be too safe when working in construction, so it is truly a huge incentive that the smart helmet also improves safety by notifying employees of a detected impact from a fall.

Redpoint Safety Vests

Another standard on any construction site is the safety vest.

Redpoint Positioning is taking note and incorporating technology to make the safety vest with its real-time location services (RTLS) platform an essential wearable.

Safety is undoubtedly a priority for any construction industry supplier, and Redpoint is no different with their vest also affording workers a way to be alerted when entering danger zones onsite.

Additionally, the vest serves as protection from heavy equipment by instructing actuators to either slow or completely deactivate machines when the vest is detected nearby.

Big Data and it’s benefits to Infrastructure

Planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, repairing, & decommissioning large infrastructure is complicated and expensive and involves hundreds of stakeholders. Being able to juggle this in a cost effective way requires the ability to record and interpret large volumes of information in a timely manner.

This need has always existed but recent advancements in technology have enabled extreme amounts of information to be captured, this capturing of data is a double sided sword because we can now quantify how much we’ve captured, and not utilised.

The use of BIM in construction projects is becoming more widespread and it’s benefits are widely advertised, for example 4D Bim where the 4th dimension is time allows for users of the program to track construction from piling to topping off. With this information you can then ingrate the supply chain into your planning schedule so that the materials needed are delivered on a ‘Just in Time’ basis.

Integrating Big Data

Being able to GPS track your assets as they move around or between a construction site could give you the ability to better plan their usage and reduce the need for duplication, if you can do the same amount of work but without the need of an extra crane this can have a big impact on the bottom line. The GPS data could also allow you make make hotspots of where the activity is happening and track that information so that you can effectively manage traffic on site. All of this information can be routed to the site office in real time allowing the site manager to make an informed decisions.

Using Big Data in such a direct way by the end user can be hit and miss because it may depend upon their interpretation of that data. With the ability to use artificial intelligence to scour through realms of data at breakneck speed it is possible to have a system determine an outcome that matches your desired criteria.

For example, if you want your fleet of vehicles to work in the most fuel efficient way possible you could input all of their GPS data along with traffic information and weather patterns and have the system tell you which route will save the most fuel, or which route will get them there fastest.

Simulation

Using the data as a way of changing and improving a process in real time or after the fact is useful but big data has another card up it’s sleeve, simulation. Using historical data that you’ve collected from the many Km’s of rail track that you’ve already built allows you to simulate different permutations to the process and improve it before you start your next project.

The simulation work allows companies make efficiency gains in areas that might otherwise go unexplored or unnoticed.

Complexity

Knowing what to measure and record can be difficult and using the data that you do have to improve your systems or processes is even more difficult. Add that to the the fact that there is almost no plug and play solution out there for those companies building infrastructure who want to leverage all of these possibilities the entry to market present some hurdles.

Professional Development for Our Robot Replacements

Link

The classic industrial robot is a deaf, dumb and blind arm deployed to carry out repetitive tasks reliably. Now, companies such as Autodesk Inc. are developing peripheral vision systems and software which allows robots to work closely with humans in factories and workshops. (video by Matt Gottschalk, David Nicholson) (Source: Bloomberg)