Search

The article discusses new machines CONEXPO-CON/AGG is shaping up as the place equipment manufacturers show how are pushing the limits of equipment design and addressing emerging technologies in construction held in Las Vegas, Nevada, on March 10-14. Topics include the views of Platt Boyd, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Chattanooga, on audience; and the views of Dana Wuesthoff, director for CONEXPO, on COVID-19.

The article reports that the new contract at an impasse, more than 10,000 workers at 14 John Deere construction and agricultural equipment manufacturing facilities went on strike at midnight on Oct. 14. Represented by the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America.

The article focuses on Gilbane Building Co. has decided to make the jump from pilots to full deployment of a jobsite robotics platform it has been developing in a joint venture with robotics startup NeXtera Robotics. Topics include Gilbane is using small rover robots that can document project as-builts on a daily basis, the virtual design and construction teams key intelligence on what's getting done on site, and the robots are likely the first hardware iteration of a larger platform.

The article announces that Autodesk is entering into a partnership with iOFFICE + SpaceIQ, a provider of management software for capital planning and asset management for commercial buildings and properties.

The article provides information on FieldGenius for Construction Inspection workflow software from Leica Geosystems and software maker InfoTech.

The article discusses the use of computer algorithms by the construction technology startup TOGAL.AI to calculate takeoffs from 2D drawings automatically.

The article explores the use of machine learning in the operation of eqhq, an equipment online marketplace startup. The website will connect buyers and sellers, provide an escrow for payments, and help arrange transport and transfer of title. According to chief executive officer (CEO) and founder Mitchell Goldstein, the project has resulted in the elimination of all buying fees.

The CSTORM model is a key component of how ERDC evaluates flooding potential during hurricanes and other intense weather events along coastal regions. Massey says ERDC plans to continue to use its supercomputer resources, but cloud computing's flexibility would be welcomed. Backed by supercomputer muscle, the CSTORM system can generate storm surge models for whole sections of the Atlantic coastline during a hurricane, for example, with highly localized data on the expected performance of Corps-maintained coastal structures. [Extracted from the article]

Signaling a shift in both companies' strategies as they approach an increasingly global equipment market, U.S. manufacturer John Deere and Japan's Hitachi Construction Machinery are dissolving their multi-decade joint venture to manufacture and sell Hitachi construction equipment in the Americas under the Deere brand, the two firms announced Aug. 19. Hitachi-designed equipment in the firms' joint venture - which includes a range of medium and large hydraulic excavators - will continue to be produced by Deere through at least 2022 and will be supported and serviced through its existing network. In a $275-million deal, Moline, Ind.- based Deere will acquire three existing Deere-Hitachi factories in the Americas and secure licensing agreements for intellectual property necessary for continued production of the machines. [Extracted from the article]

Working on the 19-story M2 residential tower in the 5M development in San Francisco, Build Group brought in Buildots early on in the process. Used on projects in the Middle East, Asia and Europe, Build Group is Buildots' first U.S.-based customer. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the office buildings construction made out of 3D printed components of Dubai Future Foundation which was designed by architectural firm Gensler and engineering company Thornton Tomasetti.

The iCor system is able to detect electromagnetically the corrosion rates, corrosion potential and in-situ electrical resistivity in reinforced concrete. Ghods says his company's way of testing concrete for rebar corrosion and other defects is just one of many approaches on the market for non-destructive testing. [Extracted from the article]

When the first COVID-related restrictions came down on U.S. construction sites in the spring of 2020, many contractors were caught flatfooted compiling information on workers and visitors for contact tracing. "Early on, the app was all about COVID symptoms questions, since we were trying to get rid of these paper logs people had to maintain", says Tom Tortolani, head of product at Safe Site Check In. [Extracted from the article]

Archicad added an integration to BIM coordination software Solibri last fall, speeding the BIM quality-control process. The latest revision of the popular BIM design software Archicad includes improved rendering options and expanded asset libraries for designers and architects. Graphisoft, the Budapestbased maker of Archicad, also has tightened the linkages between the software and its BIM viewer, BIMx. [Extracted from the article]

Having performance metrics on structures is such a commonsense, building-health approach", says Thomas Winant, president of STRAAM. Two engineers may have different interpretations of visual data, but STRAAM provides a baseline to measure structural health over time, says Jeary. STRAAM, [structural risk assessment and management,] is a non-destructive testing method where ultra-sensitive accelerometers are mounted to a building or bridge's structural elements. [Extracted from the article]

After the competition, Bechtel teamed up with New Brunswick, N.J.-based robotics firm Reliabotics to develop a working prototype of the tunnel-drilling robot. Technology With a sprawling network of tunnels in need of repairs and upgrades, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority has explored in recent years how it might automate some of its dirtiest and most time-consuming underground work. [Extracted from the article]

Getting mobile robots and A.I. technology to work in the dirty and chaotic environment of heavy civil and infrastructure work is no easy task, but recent advances have brought a new level of automation to these sprawling jobsites. As a roboticist, Crespo is working to adapt cutting-edge automation technologies for the challenges of Acciona's large, selfperformed infrastructure projects. [Extracted from the article]

Aprint nozzle sweeps back and forth around a small plot in Tempe, Ariz., and the walls of a singlefamily home begin to take shape. "Normally, Habitat would have 20 or so volunteers out framing a house, now we have a few volunteers who help us clean the site in the morning", says Samuel Hager, application engineer with PERI USA and project lead for the Tempe 3D-printed home. But PERI already has built several 3D-printed buildings in Germany where static loads are carried entirely by 3D-printed concrete walls. [Extracted from the article]

In a surprising shift for a traditional tool manufacturer, Stanley X, the innovation division of Stanley Black & Decker, has acquired Buildup, a project management platform used by general contractors and trade workers for punchlists, RFIs and inspections. Founded in 2015, Buildup offers a field-focused project management app, which coordinates and tracks the thousands of small tasks to be done on a jobsite. [Extracted from the article]

Katerra, the Menlo Park, Calif.-based startup that sought to bring the myriad aspects of design, manufacturing and construction under one roof, filed for bankruptcy on June 7 and is restructuring its U.S. operations. At that time Katerra COO Paal Kibsgaard took over as CEO from Katerra founder Michael Marks. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses how technology firm Triax Technologies used the worker-safety tracking tag that can locate workers on site for safety incidents and to maintain social distancing due to COVID-19.

AUTONOMOUS EQUIPMENT Accessing subsurface utilities buried beneath a roadway can often be a two or three-day effort involving multiple lane closures and heavy equipment. Looking to minimize that scenario and to accelerate an ongoing overhaul of the U.K.'s second-largest gas distribution network, gas utility SGN has been investing in the development of the autonomous RRES roadworks robot from ULC Technologies. [Extracted from the article]

The article focuses on partial collapse of Hard Rock Hotel which were under construction in New Orleans, Louisiana on October 12, 2019 and accident killed at least two workers and injured more than thirty people. It mentions attention has turned to removing two tower cranes considered dangerously unstable and composite metal decking appeared to break away from the structural steel frame. It also mentions videos of collapse show portions of top floors collapsing, sending debris into streets.

The article offers information on annual conference of the periodical, FutureTech, which was held in San Francisco on June 3-5, 2019, for industry technology professionals to study the future of construction technology and learn how other firms are innovating and solving problems. Topics discussed include role of technique that mines data to make machine-learning-based predictions in worksite safety efforts; importance of cybersecurity; and concern related to the skilled labor shortage.

The article reports that several people were killed when part of a construction crane crashed down from top the Liebherr tower in Seattle, Washington (D.C.). It mentions views of Tim Church, L&I public affairs manager, on tower cranes. It presents views of Eric Dean, President at Ironworkers International, on people injured in the accident. It also mentions views of Terry McGettigan, a Seattle-based tower crane specialist, on wind-speed anemometer.

The article discusses that member of ASHRAE's epidemic task force has launched an initiative to set up independent, peer reviewed testing of indoor air-treatment systems for their efficacy against viruses and for any negative impacts on indoor air quality. It mentions that the campaign has already raised its goal to underwrite the tests.

The article discusses that Collins Engineering is working with the Minnesota Dept. of Transportation on the restoration of the James J. Hill Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis. It mentions that the 19th-century masonry structure is due for repairs, and Collins has been using Microsoft Hololens headsets with software from Bentley Systems to speed inspection work during the design phase.

The article report that the Harsh lessons and encouraging signs after a rough year were the top line at the 2021 BuildTech virtual conference, ENR's annual look at the state of construction technology and management. It mentions that the contractors, engineers and other industry professionals offered their insights on how they kept working through a pandemic and discussed the new solutions they uncovered to age-old problems during a difficult time.

Skanska Sees Benefits of Worker Tracker on Calif. The location data allowed Skanska to track when workers came into close contact for COVID tracing. When COVID-19 regulations came down from the state government in March 2020, Hartelust adopted Triax's wearable Proximity Trace clips to log worker locations on site, in addition to the safety monitoring Spot-r clips. [Extracted from the article]

DATA MANAGEMENT Autodesk has been expanding its offerings in the construction and operation phase of projects in recent years, so its latest move into digital twins should come as no surprise. PHOTO (COLOR): PROJECT LIFE CYCLE Autodesk built Tandem around providing key BIM data needed by owners. [Extracted from the article]

Looking to the future, improving construction data practices and new ways to apply machine learning and other advanced algorithms are hot industry topics with real benefits, according to a panel of rising experts. Heads of two leading industry that have built solid records hiring and promotion key career-boosting strategies for professionals and optimism that will rebound from the pandemic a recent ENR virtual conference. [Extracted from the article]

The article report that the Walker Consultants and Swinerton have launched Perq, a pre-designed, pre-engineered, modular parking structure that can be fully designed out in a matter of weeks. It mentions that Perq is targeted at parking structures with stalls, which according to McCarthy accounts for about 80% of the past projects that Walker has worked on over the years.

The article reports that Komatsu has announced a partnership with electric battery manufacturer Proterra on an all-electric excavator and the collaborate on a proof-of-concept excavator in 2021 an eye on moving to commercial production of electrified small to medium-sized excavators in 2023-2024.

The article offers information on the U.S. construction industry has caused by the COVID-19 pandemic were significant, but not enough to derail what had been an active cement market, according to new economic forecast data from the Portland Cement Association. Topics include the cement consumption in mid-2020, and the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a shift in the working and shopping habits of many Americans.

The article discusses Quartz offering networked, 4K camera systems to be mounted on a jobsite's tower crane and vantage points for high resolution video coverage of a project and has launched Concrete Deck Analysis, performs automated and human-based visual analysis of floor decks.

The article offers information of fieldlens which stopped seeking new users, as the new owners planned to adapt it into an internal tool, and dwindling prospects for WeWork over the last couple of years led the company to announce in September, 2020. It mentions that the Fieldlens mobile app has found a second life, as project management and collaboration software maker RedTeam announced in December, 2020.

The article outlines the features and functions of Kenzen's wearable biometric sensor that is being used by contractor Garney Construction for keeping its workers safe from heat stress.

The article inform Construction's safety culture adapted to include mandatory face masks, social distancing and more glove wearing for workers on site.

The article focuses on the plans of Autodesk to add three new products including Autodesk Build, Autodesk Quantify and Autodesk BIM Collaborate to its construction cloud offerings and launched the digital twin management tool Autodesk Tandem. It mentions that Autodesk Quantify will allow construction estimators to perform quantity take-offs. It also mentions the theme of connectedness can be seen in Autodesk's new partnership with Nvidia.

The article discusses technological developments in the construction industry as of November 2020, particularly the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence in facade inspections. Also cited are the creation by Thornton Tomasetti of its T2D2 computer-vision, machine-learning algorithm to identify building exterior damages in videos or photos captured by drones, and the firm's creation of a spin-off data analytics firm to offer facade inspection service.

The article evaluates the Jaibot, from Hilti, which is a semi-autonomous overhead drilling robot including how the robot will orient itself at the drill site and drill autonomously once paired with an included Hilti PLT 300 robotic total station.

The article evaluates the quadruped robot Spot from robotics firm Boston Dynamics including how it will come with a Trimble SP986 GNSS antenna for positional accuracy and navigation as well a Trimble X7 laser scanner to document a construction site autonomously.

The article discusses that 3D models of building structures and infrastructure are directly linked to sensor and field data from the real world, can be a strain on computing power and network traffic. It mentions that the Bentley Systems used the keynote of its Year in Infrastructure (YII) event to announce a strategic partnership with Microsoft to better integrate the tech giant's Azure cloud system into Bentley's software, expanding its capabilities.

The article report that the Aurigo's Masterworks software is used by many state departments of transportation and municipalities to manage their construction portfolios. It mentions that the 2021 edition now includes a sentiment analysis function that can study the language of project documents to assess a project's overall mood.

The article informs about how growth in demand of inline equipment due to COVID-19 pandemic including how Equipment Trader, a website built around connecting buyers and sellers of construction equipment serves to connect equipment dealers with users seeking machines in their area.

The article offers a review of One-Key Tool Tracker by Milwaukee Tool.

The article offers review of a mobile app Ecobot.

The article focuses on flood design being often reduced to meeting federal and local regulations, but some engineers want bespoke solutions to keep buildings dry.

The article focuses on demands for better site documentation drive investments in reality capture, construction technology startup StructionSite has announced a new partnership with real estate developer and general contractor Ryan Cos.