9 June 2023 4:58 pm
Adding Technologies to your Construction Site

Adding Technologies to your Construction Site

Mar 20, 2023

Advertisements

The construction business has an enormous amount to gain from digitalization, so much so that it can be hard to know what to begin. So here are three ways to add technologies to your construction site.  Construction Pros enlightens us quite elaborately.

.

.

3 Ways to Add Technologies to Your Construction Site

By Brant Carter
The image above is ©Yuttana Studio – stock.adobe.com

The big challenge for construction professionals looking to streamline operations isn’t whether technologies can help – they can, no question. Rather, it’s where to start.

 

For one thing, construction-business leaders are sorting through a mass of available point solutions that, while purporting to solve problems in the short term, may or may not help address the foremost underlying issue that has dogged this industry since the Tower of Jericho went up: that is, construction projects involve many hands, and, too often, one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing. It’s long been a generally bitter recipe for inefficiencies, rework, delays and ballooning costs.

For another, we now face the intimidating idea of connected construction, which, as elucidated by the likes of Deloitte, seems to evoke a wholesale, holistic digitalization involving command and control, quality control, asset tracking, performance management, safety intelligence, digital twin and BIM+, workforce efficiency, energy management, and more. It’s a lot to chew on.

Deloitte itself doesn’t assume that construction firms will digitalize in one fell swoop. Among the first steps their experts suggest include asking yourself, as a company, “What use cases or business opportunities are you most interested in solving or enabling?”

Those use cases and business opportunities will differ depending on one’s line of business, market, the competitive landscape and so on. But I’m seeing three key areas in which construction firms tend to be focusing as they take steps toward the connected-construction vision that will – or at least should – materialize across the industry in the near future.

1. Collaboration Tools

Construction projects work best when teams as they’re most broadly defined – owner/operators, architects, engineers, and construction teams – work together. Rare is the project in which these teams are truly siloed. But it’s also far too rare that their collaboration involves data sharing based on real-time information. Rather, so much of what counts as construction-business collaboration happens through emailed spreadsheets and status summaries that can be outdated before the files get opened.

Effective collaboration means using a cloud-based platform that enables real-time access to constantly updated information from all corners of a project based on a particular player’s needs and security permissions. It also means establishing formal collaboration workflows among the players to delineate what the key data points for different roles are (the building owner will be interested in different views of a given pool of information than an electrical subcontractor) and how that data best be shared. Cloud-based project-management systems and collaboration tools are the vehicles to get this done.

2. Mobile Data Capture

Cloud-based data repositories may be far better than dispersed databases/spreadsheets, but the benefits of centrally stored, easily accessible data depend on the quality of that data. When it comes to construction projects, data quality – and, by extension, management’s ability to rely and make decisions based on that data – depends on inputs from teams on the ground. Those inputs will come from mobile devices into which crews provide updates either directly or indirectly based on task-related workflows embedded in those devices. Internet-of-Things (IoT) sensors are also increasingly in play, automatically feeding data to cloud-based project management systems and helping enable predictive maintenance. Either way, mobile data capture can vastly improve the volume and accuracy of the overall project’s data, and, by extension, provide the visibility for players up and down the chain to make better decisions during the course of a mass deployment or one-off build.

3. Predictive Analytics

Predictive analytics solutions use statistical models – and, increasingly, machine learning and artificial intelligence – to predict the future based on data from the past and present. In the construction context, predictive analytics is proving particularly valuable in identifying risks and assisting with forecasting. But there’s a growing universe of construction-business use cases, as McKinsey & Co. points out: from sharpening proposal bids to recognizing when a project may run into trouble. Here, too, centralized, cloud-based data sources and mobile data capture are essential precursors to predictive analytics in construction as they feed the large, up-to-date pools of data upon which predictive analytics depend.

 

The construction business has an enormous amount to gain from digitalization, so much so that it can be hard to know what to begin. Starting with cloud-based systems that enable real-time collaboration, mobile data capture, and predictive analytics establishes a foundation for enhancement and expansion into the broader vision of connection construction. Along the way, you’ll get a lot more done and save yourself some money – not to mention quite a few headaches.

.

 

Sustainable Cities and their Digital Twins

Sustainable Cities and their Digital Twins

Mar 15, 2023

Advertisements

There is more and more belief that the key to sustainable cities may lie in increasingly sophisticated digital twins. Let us see what Anthropocene has published.

 

The key to sustainable cities may lie in increasingly sophisticated digital twins

Researchers offer the first rigorous analysis “In silico” equivalents of urban areas as a powerful tool for sustainable development
By Sarah DeWeerdt
March 14, 2023

Dynamic computer models of cities known as ‘digital twins’ could help drive sustainable development across the world’s urban areas, an international team of authors argues in the journal Nature Sustainability.

Digital twins are more than just static models. They incorporate near-real-time data from sensors and other sources to produce “virtual replicas,” the authors explain—“in silico equivalents of real-world objects.”

The concept of digital twins first arose in manufacturing, and they are primarily used in product and process engineering. But the models have also been employed in fields ranging from personalized medicine to climate forecasting, at scales from the molecular to the planetary.

Many researchers have posited that digital twins will be a powerful tool for sustainability efforts. But nobody has taken a rigorous look at the benefits and pitfalls of urban digital twins. The new study takes on that task, paying particular attention to the potential for the modeling approach to help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Digital twins have a variety of potential benefits in this realm, the researchers say. They can help cities allocate resources more efficiently—design more effective water grids, predict traffic congestion to guide transportation planning, simulate consumer behavior to recommend energy-saving measures, and so on.

In addition, “In silico models provide a virtual space where new clean technologies, which promise resource efficiency but may cause unintended harm, can be tested at a speed and scale that may otherwise be inhibited by the precautionary principle,” the researchers write. For example, they could help cities figure out how to incorporate renewable sources of energy into the grid without compromising reliability.

Digital twins could also help scientists and policymakers to collaborate across disciplines, agencies, levels of government, and geographic distances. And they could aid cities in monitoring and reporting progress on the Sustainable Development Goals or other sustainability aims.

Some of the authors of the paper have been involved in the development of a digital twin for Fishermans Bend, an urban renewal project in Melbourne, Australia. The model includes more than 1,400 layers of both historical and real-time data from public and private sources. More than 20 government agencies and municipalities are using the model to analyze how proposed buildings will affect sunlight falling on open space and vegetation, forecast tram traffic patterns, and address other planning questions.

Digital twin models are also being used in cities including Zurich, Singapore, and Shanghai to monitor noise and pollution and facilitate urban planning that takes into account population growth and climate change.

But there are pitfalls to the digital twin approach, too. Because they require so much data, advanced computing power, and technological know-how, digital twins have the potential to exacerbate digital divides, especially between high-income and lower-income countries.

What’s more, even the most complex model may fall short in representing the multifarious nature of a real-life city. The data necessary to underpin a successful digital twin may be unavailable, inaccessible, or incompatible with other sources. And the social-science aspects of digital twins are especially poorly understood.

Finally, models can be optimized for the wrong targets. There are inherent contradictions between different Sustainable Development Goals, and programmers have to take care about how outcomes and parameters are prioritized, the researchers say. For whom and by whom are these decisions made—and who’s left out of the process?

To avoid these pitfalls of digital twins—and reap the potential benefits, the researchers recommend that governments and international institutions get involved in bridging digital divides; leaving digital twin technology to the marketplace virtually guarantees that low-resource countries will be left behind.

They also call on those creating and implementing digital twins of cities to pay attention to social and ethical responsibility. “A central question that derives from these issues is: to what extent are those who may be affected by the decisions based on simulation models included in their design and deployment?” they write.

“Interestingly in such instances, digital twins themselves can raise awareness among planners and policymakers of socioeconomic inequalities, thereby becoming instruments of inclusion,” the researchers add.

Source: Tzachor A. et al. “Potential and limitations of digital twins to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.” Nature Sustainability 2022.

Image: ©ESRI

.

Assessing the abilities of AI in the built environment

Assessing the abilities of AI in the built environment

Mar 8, 2023

Advertisements

Questioning the abilities of AI in the built environment at all stages of its development makes the bulk of their assessment, especially at its inception as demonstrated here. 

Assessing the abilities of AI in the built environment

Written by Jarrod Reedie

Artificial Intelligence, or AI as it is known across the globe, serves currently as a tool that assists in day-to-day operations in many an industry. The advancements of the likes of ChatGPT and DALL·E 2 has resulted in the constant questioning of ‘what comes next’?

The built environment is one such industry that will benefit from the evolution of AI. From basic image creation to company learning modules, its immediate future will see it work alongside architects, as opposed to rendering them redundant.

This line of thinking has been adopted at Rothelowman, who have begun to utilise AI programs to reduce the timeframes of painstaking tasks. Nigel Hobart (pictured below), one of the practice’s Managing Principals, began researching the software five years ago, convinced of its inevitability.

“I think that, honestly, I think that every role in society, I can’t think of one where AI can’t eventually play a significant role,” he says.

“The question is really how long it’s going to take. It’s not going to replace architecture and interior designers in the next 24 months. But can architects and interior designers, with a combination of self-confidence and humility, see these things as opportunities to go to the next level with their own thinking, their own processes and their own mindset around design?”

Hobart believes that the ‘protectionism’ of any working fraternity is a natural reaction to new programs, which will stall the initial adoption of the technology, but describes AI as “a natural evolution of society and transition of economies.”

“You can reduce risk in the quality of your work. You can make people’s jobs less boring by getting repetitive things and making them virtually instantaneous by writing scripting around things. We’ve made lots of progress in the way we document buildings in the middle third where you’re getting into regulatory compliance, buildability and coordination.”

Rothelowman’s team members have been on fact-finding missions across the US to witness the technology being harnessed by architects in other studios. Picture-generating AI software has been occasionally utilised by the practice to assist in instantly creating a physical embodiment of a client’s brief. Hobart likens the improvement and understanding of AI in the built environment to the mentoring of a budding graduate.

rothelowman

“I think in time that it will absolutely change everything, and that’s not intended as a scary thought. I started five years ago on this journey and thought ‘it won’t happen in a hurry and it won’t happen to us and you can’t automate creativity.’ Well, that’s just not true. I was completely wrong,” he concedes.

“If you start with an architectural graduate out of university with talent, that person could accelerate into being useful and productive quite quickly in the early years of their career. If you invest in the talent, then the talent will become very effective and very valuable. And the same thing is happening with AI.

“I think what’s gonna happen in the very short to intermediate term is that designers are gonna start using AI as an assistant, as another part of their toolkit.”

Ultimately, the continued reinvigoration of the technologies is consistently making design executives rethink their use of AI in the workplace. Hobart says it will be a long time before it becomes industry standard, and cites the number of players in the market as why.

“Five years ago, when I started researching automation, I did start to panic a little bit, as it was coming fast and I didn’t think we were ready, but I came to realise that our industry is so disparate and so fragmented. There is no strong influence or individual player in the property industry, so these things take time,” he says.

“AI is an opportunity. If others aren’t gonna adopt these things and you find a way to use these things that save time and money. If you can buy time for your team by creating efficiencies within the creation and delivery process of our service, then that’s where the gains are.

If you’re finding ways of using AI to your advantage without compromising risk, quality or client experience and use it to your advantage to buy time, then you’ll provide a better solution than your competitors. It’s as simple as that.”

For more information on Rothelowman, click here.

Read original

Robots to be oil and gas industry’s growth engine

Robots to be oil and gas industry’s growth engine

Jan 2, 2023

Advertisements
The combination of new technologies of Robots and all in the Middle East’s oil and gas industry’s growth engine is thought to help energy companies to improve efficiency and, most importantly, accelerate growth at a time of pessimism, fear, and the expectation that economic growth and the hydrocarbon markets will decline in the future.
The image above is of IGN

Robots to be oil and gas industry’s growth engine

Robots will be the industry’s growth engine, and the oil and gas sector will greatly benefit from emerging use cases.
By Arya Devi

Advances in modular and customisable robots is expected to result in growing deployment of robotics in the oil and gas industry, says GlobalData.

GlobalData’s thematic report, ‘Robotics in Oil & Gas’, notes that, while robotics has been a part of the oil and gas industry for several decades, growing digitalisation and integration with artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and Internet of Things (IoT), have helped diversify robot use cases within the industry.

Anson Fernandes, Oil and Gas Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “A huge number of robots are now being deployed in oil and gas operations, including terrestrial crawlers, quadrupeds, aerial drones, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).”

Robots have applications across the oil and gas industry in various tasks ranging from surveys, material handling, and construction to inspection, repair, and maintenance. They can be customised for various tasks to ease the work and improve efficiency. During the planning phases of an oil and gas project, robots can be deployed to conduct aerial surveys, or they can be employed to conduct seismic surveys during exploration. Aerial or underwater drones can be adopted depending upon the project location and work requirements.

Fernandes continues: “Robotics is a fast-growing industry. According to GlobalData forecasts, it was worth $52.9 billion in 2021 and will reach $568 billion by 2030, recording a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30%. Robots will be the industry’s growth engine, and the oil and gas sector will greatly benefit from emerging use cases.”

Data analytics and robotics improve insight obtained from surveys and surveillance exercises. This symbiotic relationship between robotics and wider digitalisation technologies is expected to be further evolve through collaborations between technology providers and oil and gas industry players.

Fernandes concludes: “The volume of robotics use cases in the oil and gas industry is expected to grow rapidly, in tow with digitalisation. Industrial robots with analytical support from digital technologies is expected to become the mainstay across the oil and gas industry, especially in the upstream sector, where personnel safety and operational security concerns are heightened.”

.

.

ITP.net

Global e-waste generation to double by 2030

Dec 17, 2022

Advertisements

E-waste, electronic waste, e-scrap and end-of-life electronics are as per Geneva Environmental Network, terms often used to describe used electronics that are nearing the end of their useful life and are discarded, donated or given to a recycler. The UN defines e-waste as any discarded products with a battery or plug and features toxic and hazardous substances such as mercury, that can pose severe risk to human and environmental health. So why Global e-waste generation is to double by 2030, raising health alarms?

 

Global e-waste generation to double by 2030 raising health alarms

International organisations and climate advocates have been raising the red flag around e-waste issue forcing businesses and governments to set e-waste policies, standards and recommendations.

By ITP Staff

Electronic waste or e-waste is a global challenge threatening the health of people and the planet. International organisations and climate advocates have been raising the red flag around this issue forcing businesses and governments to set e-waste policies, standards and recommendations in an effort to improve the situation.

According to the UN, in 2021 each person on the planet will produce on average 7.6 kg of e-waste, meaning that a massive 57.4 million tons will be generated worldwide. As declared by ERI (Electronic Recyclers International), it is expected that worldwide e-waste generation will be at 67 million tons by 2030, which is almost double 2014’s waste.

In the Arab region, the Regional E-waste Monitor for the Arab States 2021 which is the first monitoring effort in the region in relation to e-waste statistics, legislation and e-waste management infrastructure, indicated that e-waste generation in the Arab region increased by 61 per cent from 1.8 Mt (4.9 kg/inh) in 2010 to 2.8 Mt (6.6 kg/inh) in 2019.

In particular, the Middle East and Africa region is facing deep challenges in e-waste management. In fact, the regional e-waste monitor for the Arab states 2021 has stated that “E-waste management in the Arab States region faces a myriad of challenges, prompted by a complete absence of e-waste-specific policies and legislation, which are key to the development of a proper system and an appropriate response.” Many solutions can improve the situation if tackled properly, such as preventing e-waste generation, adopting adequate legislations, raising awareness, improving collection and treatment of e-waste, among others.

As many businesses are already addressing the challenge part of their commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Resource Group, a regional group of companies with diversified businesses covering the Middle East and Africa, is taking serious steps to tackle the e-waste problem starting by raising awareness among its teams to collect and recycle its e-waste.

The Group has recently signed an agreement with Verdetech, for the collection of all solid and e-waste generated by the Group. This initiative falls under Resource Group’s CSR initiatives in line with its objective to support the SDGs.

“The urgency to limit solid waste and particularly e-waste has been on the rise in the world. Therefore, it is important for us to adopt eco-friendly practices at our premises to limit our environmental footprint and specifically contribute to limiting the e-waste in Lebanon and the region”, said Hisham Itani, Chairman and CEO at Resource Group.

He added, “Corporate sustainability is one of our main priorities as we aim to tackle environmental challenges and promote environmental responsibility among our teams and the communities. By partnering with Verdetech, we trust that all our electrical and electronic equipment will be recycled through innovative waste management techniques.”

Stressing on the importance of creating awareness about waste management, Ramzi el Haddad, General Manager said, “Our aim is to support businesses in their efforts towards sustainability and more specifically waste management. In fact, solid and e-waste management is a serious issue that directly affects the environment and our ecosystem. Therefore, as companies play an important role in setting new standards and behaviours, we are putting all our efforts into partnering with businesses to encourage waste prevention and recycling behaviour.”

Read original ITP’s

.

.

 

This site uses functional cookies and external scripts to improve your experience.