GAZING INTO THE CRYSTAL BALL OF CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY

Construction technology is moving at an increasingly rapid pace. MITCHELL KELLER asks where the industry will be by 2030

A CONSTRUCTION WORKER USES TRIMBLE CONNECT SOFTWARE WHILE OVERLOOKING A SITE

IMAGES: TRIMBLE

Where do you see yourself in five years? For some, this is a dreaded question. Whether coming from a potential employer or a bemused significant other, it’s the type of inquiry that can cause anxiety; how can anyone really know what their lives will look like in a half decade?

A RENDER MADE BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE REPRESENTING AUTONOMOUS FUNCTION AND DATA COLLECTION ON A WORK SITE

IMAGE: ADOBE STOCK

But when applied to the construction technology industry, the question becomes less panic-inducing and more tantalising. In part, it’s because looking back at five years of construction tech evolution shows significant development. Electric machines and components, alternative fuel developments, acceptance of data-capturing and analysis, and artificial intelligence (AI) have all shaped the built environment in major ways since 2019.

Growth in these arenas will continue but – looking ahead at 2030 – the industry is also eagerly anticipating advancement in improved connectivity on worksites, 4D design and planning, and automation.

GETTING CONNECTED

Arguably one of the more misunderstood advancements in construction technology is connected worksite software and data analysis. Misunderstood, in that, the value of the delivered data has not yet been broadly realised by builders and contractors. But a reckoning is coming says Scott Crozier, vice president of civil construction field systems at US-based construction technology company Trimble.

“We haven’t really delivered the industry the real value that you can get out of having a truly connected construction site,” Crozier tells International Construction; the “we” refers generally to major tech players in the segment.

He adds that current connected-construction software is still delivering on its promises. It can save money by helping streamline processes, reduces management’s need to be on-site and creates data points that log productivity. However, there’s a ‘now what?’ aspect to connected construction implements. “Customers are saying, ‘You’ve given me this data, [but] what do I use it for?’” explains Crozier, who employs an American football analogy to further explain the conundrum.

“I’m from New Zealand… so I understand some elements of American Football, [but connected software] is a little bit like… knowing how many yards your running back has or how many passes the quarterback has thrown – but not knowing the score of the game.”

TRIMBLE VICE PRESIDENT OF CIVIL CONSTRUCTION FIELD SYSTEMS, SCOTT CROZIER

AN AI GENERATIVE RENDER OF WHAT CONNECTED CONSTRUCTION AND BIM SOFTWARE COULD LOOK LIKE.

IMAGE: ADOBE STOCK

It’s his way of saying: you could know everything about your construction site down to the minutiae, but if the information doesn’t combine to deliver the expected result, the details are practically worthless.

“You have to know the score of the game, first,” explains Crozier. Through the company’s software solution Trimble Connect, Crozier believes the firm is delivering both the game’s final score and all the nitty, gritty details. Ultimately, he sees construction sites five years out doing more than just collecting data but then using it to an advantage. He suggests the next step for this technology is a practical application into other emerging sectors.

“I see in the next few years this concept of what I would call an interactive digital twin, and it’s beyond a digital twin, but an interactive digital replica of the state the world is in,” explains Crozier.

“You can then use that interactive digital twin to compare what was meant to be built today to what was built. You can get your progress to plan, you can check… quality assurance, make sure things were built, not just in time, but also to spec. And all of this would be captured digitally.”

The more data a firm can collect over time (and reuse in application), the better its processes will be in the future as AI and machine learning improve. Crozier envisages connected software eventually becoming a hybrid autonomous tool that can vastly reduce preconstruction preparation time and aid bidding valuations. The problem? The system runs on historical data, and we don’t have enough, collectively, for there to be a one-size-fits-all solution. But individual companies successfully using connected software will have ample data to rely on, and this year Procore, a US-based construction technology firm, released major updates to its flagship mapping software, showing Crozier’s vision of the future is currently in development.

Coupled with Procore’s AI-powered ‘Copilot’, the firm sees additional opportunities to expand on a connected construction site. Tooey Courtemanche, founder and CEO of Procore, says, “The true advantage of connecting all construction stakeholders on a global platform lies in the power of connected data.”

PROCORE MAPS USES ANNOTATED DATA TO STREAMLINE INFORMATION FOR CONSTRUCTION WORK

IMAGE: PROCORE

WORKING IN THE FOURTH DIMENSION

Ultimately, the connected construction site of the future is the base-level upon which data lakes and machine learning will be built. With comprehension and understanding vital, even an infinite amount of information is limited if a contractor can’t conceptualise or utilise it. 3D designing, building information modelling (BIM) software, and the aforementioned digital twin are becoming more standard globally in construction, and could be the next major disruptive technology. Sweden-based Hexagon, in its Digital Twin Industry Report, found that 96% of executives said they recognise the value digital twins can bring to their organisations.

Part of that confidence is due to advances; the reliability and improved functionality of construction technology’s ‘fourth dimension’. If BIM and digital twins represent the 3D built world, the human interaction with these models and information is part of the 4D realm. It may be a virtual or augmented reality headset that allows a contractor to visualise the build, or it could be an annotated 3D model shared across hundreds of stakeholders. Applying AI to these ideas is showing progress.

“Leaders are realising that AI is not just a feature but the key to maximising the potential of digital twins,” says Burkhard Boeckem, chief technology officer, Hexagon.

A PHOTO MADE BY GENERATIVE AI SHOWING A WORKER ENGAGING WITH A 3D MODEL

IMAGE: ADOBE STOCK

“From processing massive data sets to driving smarter decision making, AI has become a core component of digital twin strategies. Organisations embracing AI will reap the rewards in efficiency, innovation and growth.”

But cost and novelty are clearly still scaring some off in the industry, as Hexagon found only 16% of the executives plan to substantially increase their investment in digital twin technology in the next two years.

This segment could rapidly accelerate. Only one out of five respondents to Hexagon’s survey who are without a digital twin believe that a digital twin could help with collaboration; in reality, 44% of people with a digital twin are experiencing collaboration benefits – a 25% difference between expectations and reality.

GETTING BETTER DETAIL FASTER

Alana Dubowik, an associate engineering geologist for Australia-based engineering firm WSP, tells International Construction that modelling and digital twin technology can develop even further in the short-term. Dubowik and her team used subsurface modelling software on a massive motorway project in Melbourne, Australia.

She visualises a future where data-capture or reality-capture can happen instantaneously; AI leveraged to create a hyper-realistic model with little or no human intervention.

“If it was almost an instant transition of data from capturing in the field on a tablet and going straight through into a model,” she explains further, noting that modern photogrammetry and image capturing is close but not quite at this level of efficiency.

Advances in camera and sensor technology have also reached an affordability and reliability crossroads wherein even the smallest of builders can afford some kind of advanced imaging or modelling programmes.

Graham Grant, CEO of Canada-based Seequent (a subsidiary of US company Bentley Systems), a subsurface, geoscience and modelling software enterprise, says further imaging expediency could be on the horizon. His firm’s reality capture tech and modelling software can already identify different types and densities of soil and rock. Coupled with hyper-fast geospatial captures, Grant thinks a gamechanger for mining and earthworks, in particular, is on the horizon.

“I think the thing I’m most excited about, which I can say is coming… is miniaturisation,” he tells International Construction. “If all that data was there, and it was a millimetre scale, what could that do to your assessment of that site? We are on the edge of doing that.”

But Sequeent is not a machine maker and, in the present, drill bits are too small to deliver the needed sensing and relay, at least as it pertains to subsurface modelling. “The technology hasn’t miniaturised. But the moment it does, it changes everything,” he confirms.

AUTOMATION IS THE HOLY GRAIL

Connected construction and digital twin modelling are powerful tools on their own, but their most valuable role may be how they help transition the industry into automation. While increasing global adoption of modular and prefabrication processes will soon make some automative construction ideas reality, a big concern in the world of construction machinery remains: just how much can be safely automated?

WSP ASSOCIATE ENGINEERING GEOLOGIST ALANA DUBOWIK, FOREGROUND, PRESENTS AT BENTLEY SYSTEMS’ GOING DIGITAL AWARDS COMPETITION ALONGSIDE JAMES MARTIN, LEAD GEOTECHNICAL MANAGER AT SPARK

IMAGE: BENTLEY SYSTEMS

US-based construction OEM Bobcat Company (a subsidiary of Doosan Bobcat) sees semi-autonomous object sensing and avoidance in construction machinery as the first step toward full automation, but the company’s vice president of global innovation, Joel Honeyman, says total autonomy is a “long way” from becoming standard – it it ever is.

THE BOBCAT ROGUE X2 CONCEPT AUTONOMOUS AND CAB-LESS LOADER

IMAGE: BOBCAT

Noting construction sites are varied, Honeyman says the path forward to autonomy should be deliberate. “These [autonomous] solutions have to be built for [dynamic worksites],” he tells International Construction. “That’s the challenge. It’s a technical challenge.”

He noted a series of concept loaders from Bobcat called RogueX and the Rogue X2, which are cab-less electric machines the company is using to explore construction’s autonomous future. But Honeyman cautioned that such a product is unlikely to become commercially available anytime soon.

“This is a long way away,” he says. “But we’re removing the operator, removing the operator station, we totally changed the design of the vehicle… and as we get five and ten years out, you’re going to start seeing purpose-built vehicles for this type of technology.”

For now, Honeyman says contractors should expect to see OEMs ‘tinker’ on smaller machines before graduating successful concepts onto existing and reliable fleets.

“That’s why we want to start with smaller sample sizes,” he confirms. “Maybe a specialty vehicle, in this case an all-electric loader, to allow us to put this technology into the marketplace. Then we can refine it, scale it up.”

ADVANCED CONSTRUCTION ROBOTICS CEO DANIELLE PROCTOR

Q&A WITH ADVANCED CONSTRUCTION ROBOTICS CEO DANIELLE PROCTOR

Advanced Construction Robotics CEO Danielle Proctor on the company’s release of its new TyBot 3.0 programme, an update to its flagship product TyBot, the rebar tying robot for bridge and road works.

WHAT’S NEW WITH ACR AND ITS ROBOT T YBOT?

We have a current fleet of nine TyBots that have been available on a robot as-a-service basis. Over this last year, we’ve created a pretty extensive training program and moved our clients to self-managed and self-supervised robotics. So, the same fleet’s been out there, but now the customers are running them themselves.

DOES THIS INCLUDE AN UPGRADE IN SOFTWARE?

We’ve completely overhauled the software. We’ve moved into something called global patterning where TyBot now is essentially scanning and planning its areas of work within regions. There’s still no pre-mapping, no BIM input, no programming, but within its regions we are now seeing a 99.5% success rate.

HOW DOES THIS TRANSLATE TO EXECUTION?

Quality has improved significantly, and we’ve also released the ability to [tie to] an ‘nth’ percentage. Previously, we were just doing either every other [tie], which is 50%, or every, which is 100%, and we now have the ability to do every third, so 33%, and we can customise that to whatever nth percentage you’d like.

T YBOT MOVES HORIZONTALLY, BUT ARE THERE FUTURE PLANS FOR VERTICAL APPLICATIONS?

Yes, we’re definitely looking at it. It is an engineering feat, but it’s definitely on our radar. We want to continue to get products out to market quickly, get feedback and improve our success, and then we will continue to be developing additional solutions. Vertical is on the list, it’s just a harder – no pun intended – lift.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Of course, some segments will be more successful than others in automating processes. Mining, for example, has seen significant progress, particularly in articulated dump trucks (ADT) and haulers, which typically have programmable fixed routes that lend to machine learning.

Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) brought to market an autonomous hybrid compactor (the CX01) and revealed its TA15 (also called Tara) electric haul truck was production ready.

“Ideal for use in confined areas, the Volvo TA15 is a fully automated electric dumper. With Tara, you can downsize and replace larger, diesel-powered vehicles with a fleet of Volvo TA15s to cut emissions, increase efficiency and optimize machine utilisation,” says Volvo CE. “The entire Tara solution is developed inhouse. This includes the virtual driver which is based on industry-leading hardware and software. Our in-house developed driver was designed specifically for use in the quarrying and mining industries.”

A VOLVO CE LOADER DROPS MATERIAL INTO A CAB-LESS, AUTOMATED HAULER, THE TA15

IMAGE: VOLVO CE

Putting the cloth carefully back over the construction crystal ball, the only certainty still seems to be that there is not one single innovation that will entirely shape the remainder of this decade in construction. Instead, it will be multiple accelerating pieces of technology, coming together cohesively, that will change the industry forever. Whether that happens in five years can’t be predicted, yet, but the smart money is on construction looking a lot different (and for the better) in the year 2030. CT