Photo courtesy of DPR Construction The laybot system uses robotic-total-station technology to speed up drywall layouts before installation. The project team has set a goal for the robot to draw 1,000 linear ft per hour. Related Links: DPR's Laybot Demo (YouTube) Subs, Engineers Clamor for Collaboration at FutureTech ENR FutureTech Conference Turns Heads With Process Innovation A unique industry collaboration has produced a new robot that could increase the speed and accuracy of layouts with the help of virtual design and construction technology.Called Project Lion, the technology is the brainchild of Redwood City, Calif.-based DPR Construction and Westminster, Colo.-based Trimble.
In an increasingly digital world, AEC firms are challenged to eliminate costly and time-consuming paper-based processes. Requirements for “wet” signatures and seals interruptelectronic workflows and compel even the most digitally integrated teams and processes to fallback to paper, delaying project delivery and limiting the industry’s potential efficiency.The end-to-end adoption of a digital signatures and seals–based process can eliminate that digital interruption and significantly improve industry productivity.In current practice, AEC documents morph from digital format to print over the course of projects. Documents are created electronically, but are then printed for review or approval, wet signed, scanned back to electronic form,
Related Links: Autodesk's Brian Mathews Introduces ReCap (video) Autodesk's Suites 2014 Announcement (YouTube) Autodesk is launching a new suite of products designed to bring point-cloud scanning data into building information models with greater precision and clarity. Chief among them is a new product called ReCap, which is designed to incorporate 3D point-cloud technology into BIM with greater ease.The San Rafael, Calif.-based company says ReCap works with traditional design-based desktop software as well as cloud-based applications to create intelligent 3D models from laser scans and captured photos. "If you don't have a laser scanner, you can use your [camera] phone," said
A new photo management feature turns jobsite photos into jobsite data that is searchable in a content management system. Related Links: Viewpoint's Construction Imaging Viewpoint Reels in 4Projects While smart phones with great cameras make site documentation a cinch, it can be a challenge to manage thousands of construction photos. A new photo management feature in an enterprise content-management software update addresses the problem by turning photos into mineable data assets.The management feature allows users to tag and categorize photos by site number, employee number and user-defined tag names."Companies turn to consumer tools, like [Google's] Picasa, for photo management, but
Image Courtesy of Bentley Systems Bentley System's iPad app can capture images and file code-compliant transportation infrastructure asset reports on the go. Related Links: ASCE Infrastructure Report Card InspectTech Collector App More than two hundred million vehicles cross deficient bridges in America's 102 largest metropolitan areas every day, says the American Society of Civil Engineers' most recent report card on the nation's infrastructure. Although the ASCE gave bridges a C+ overall—better than the other infrastructure categories rated—there is still much bridge work to be done. Using data gathered from state departments of transportation across the nation, ASCE's report calls for
As managers grapple to ensure their companies use the best technology in the right ways, sometimes what really matters are the simple human aspects—interactions between technicians, designers and managers—to make sure that we all draw maximum productivity from one another.As the IT manager at the architectural and engineering firm of Paulus Sokolowski and Sartor, I have learned that there are three key areas where IT leaders and business managers must focus to ensure technology works well in the organization: -Building Trust—The technology team must build a good working relationship with their end users: engineers, designers and project managers. -Collaboration—IT and CADD leaders
Related Links: Infographic: How Biometric Security was Deployed at London's Olympic Park Tracking Gear on the Jobsite, Big and Small Big Brother? Workers React to Monitoring Georgia Tech RAPIDS Lab Imagine a world in which construction workers' daily routine includes gaining access to their jobsites only after a machine scans the unique biological makeup of their irises or the geometry of their hands. In conjunction with the biometric scan, a security-pass lanyard is used. Each security pass carries a worker's information, including all the worker's credentials, OSHA certifications, ethnicity, gender—and even their home zip code. Multiply that scenario by 9,000
Related Links: How Technology is Automating Security Scanning technology can increase safety and productivity, but worker tracking systems still raise hackles over privacy issues on the job.Many workers are used to checking into the proximity entry system of a New York City high-rise building, says Leo Labbate, general foreman at Hunter Roberts Construction. "I'm sure there is whispering here and there [about the system], but the brunt of it is over," he says.Not everyone agrees. "I consider it to be invasive," says a marine mechanic at a government installation who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation. "Lines
Photo Courtesy of SK Solutions The SK Navigator was employed by the Saudi Binladen Group to coordinate tower and crawler-crane movements on the King Abdullah Financial District site in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2011. Related Links: How Technology is Automating Security SK Solutions CribMaster Wireless monitoring of tools and equipment has been a reality for over a decade. Adapted from the manufacturing world, sensor technology—such as RFID tags—keep an eye on the jobsite, from hand tools to tower cranes."Last year, we introduced PROTOid, a line of sockets and wrenches with embedded RFID tags in the tool itself," says Susan Hebrank,
Construction engineering and management is different from other scientific and management disciplines. We take advantage of proven technologies and try to turn them into cost-effective solutions in the construction field. We must devise ways of solving problems with clarity and ease, while always thinking of the practical reality of how things should be done.I’m now on the edge of proving out such a product that stands as an example of what we can expect to see in the industry in coming years. It is an automated surveying robot that provides the position of a tunnel boring machine in real time.