Kamel S. Saidi

The Value of Handheld Computers in Construction

Construction is an information intensive industry in which the accuracy and timeliness of information is paramount. Construction projects can experience extensive delays or rework due to information that is unavailable, inaccurate or simply outdated. Handheld computers (HHC) have the potential to solve some of these problems by providing field workers with accurate, reliable and timely information at the location where it is needed. Thus, HHC’s can increase the amount of direct work on a project indirectly by directly decreasing the time spent on support work (such as accessing drawings and sending RFI’s) and by reducing idle time. Applying a HHC evaluation method to 6 hypothetical construction field activities (punchlisting, materials tracking, MSDS access, drawing access, RFI’s, and quantity surveying) showed that HHC’s could potentially save time and improve accuracy at the task and activity levels of a construction project. However, barriers related to the HHC’s technological limitations and to the nature of the construction industry must be overcome in order to reap the full benefits of HHC’s.

Report of the NIST Workshop on Data Exchange Standards at the Construction Job Site

The Building and Fire Research Laboratory of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in cooperation with the Fully Integrated and Automated Technology (FIATECH) consortium, sponsored a workshop on data exchange standards at the construction job site in May 2003. The purpose of the workshop was to investigate the problem of exchanging sensor data at the construction job site. Some of the desired outcomes were to identify requirements for and barriers to sensor data exchange in construction, to identify and plan the steps required to establish raw sensor data-exchange standards, and to identify future research directions. A description of the workshop structure, agenda, and preliminary results are presented.

Robotics in Construction

This chapter introduces various construction automation concepts that have been developed over the past few decades and presents examples of construction robots that are in current use (as of 2006) and/or in various stages of research and development. Section 57.1 presents an overview of the construction industry, which includes descriptions of the industry, the types of construction, and the typical construction project. The industry overview also discusses the concept of automation versus robotics in construction and breaks down the concept of robotics in construction into several levels of autonomy as well as other categories. Section 57.2 discusses some of the offsite applications of robotics in construction (such as for prefabrication), while Sect. 57.3 discusses the use of robots that perform a single task at the construction site. Section 57.4 introduces the concept of an integrated robotized construction site in which multiple robots/machines collaborate to build an entire structure. Section 57.5 discusses unsolved technical problems in construction robotics, which include interoperability, connection systems, tolerances, and power and communications. Finally, Sect. 57.6 discusses future directions in construction robotics and Sect. 57.7 gives some conclusions and suggests resources for further reading.

NIST research in autonomous construction

The National Institute of Standards and Technology Construction Metrology and Automation Group is conducting ongoing research to provide standards, methodologies, and performance metrics that will assist the development of advanced systems to automate construction tasks. Initial research in this project, entitled “Performance of Innovative Technologies for Automated Construction,” has focused on autonomous large-scale pick-and-place operations using the assembly of structural steel as a test operation. An Automated Construction Testbed (ACT) is under development to research advanced concepts in crane automation, site metrology, laser-based 3D imaging, construction object identification and tracking, sensor-based data exchange, site status visualization, and design data integration for autonomous system planning. This paper provides an overview of this research effort.

Status of the NIST 3D imaging system performance evaluation facility

This paper presents the status of an indoor artifact-based Performance Evaluation Facility at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for 3D imaging systems, a terminology pre-standard, and a summary of the ranging protocol pre-standard. The indoor facility will be used to develop test protocols and performance metrics for the evaluation of terrestrial 3D imaging systems. The NIST facility was initiated in response to a workshop which was held at NIST in 2003 to determine future efforts needed to standardize 3D imaging system testing and reporting and to assess the need for a neutral performance evaluation facility. Three additional workshops have since been held at NIST with the most recent on March 2-3, 2006. These workshops provided further guidance in defining priorities and in identifying the types of measurements that are of most interest to the terrestrial scanning community. The two pre-standards were developed based on feedback from the workshops.

Fitting Spheres to Range Data From 3-D Imaging Systems

Two error functions used for nonlinear least squares (LS) fitting of spheres to range data from 3-D imaging systems are discussed: the orthogonal error function and the directional error function. Both functions allow unrestricted gradient-based minimization and were tested on more than 40 data sets collected under different experimental conditions (e.g., different sphere diameters, instruments, data density, and data noise). It was found that the orthogonal error function results in two local minima and that the outcome of the optimization depends on the choice of starting point. The centroid of the data points is commonly used as the starting point for the nonlinear LS solution, but the choice of starting point is sensitive to data segmentation and, for some sparse and noisy data sets, can lead to a spurious minimum that does not correspond to the center of a real sphere. The directional error function has only one minimum; therefore, it is not sensitive to the starting point and is more suitable for applications that require fully automated sphere fitting.

ASTM E57 3D imaging systems committee: an update

In 2006, ASTM committee E57 was established to develop standards for the performance evaluation of 3D imaging systems. The committees initial focus is on standards for 3D imaging systems typically used for applications including, but not limited to, construction and maintenance, surveying, mapping and terrain characterization, manufacturing (e.g., aerospace, shipbuilding), transportation, mining, mobility, historic preservation, and forensics. ASTM E57 consists of four subcommittees: Terminology, Test Methods, Best Practices, and Data Interoperability. This paper reports the accomplishments of the ASTM E57 3D Imaging Systems committee in 2007.

Feasibility of real-time graphical simulation for active monitoring of visibility-constrained construction processes

The lack of clear visibility and spatial awareness frequently results in construction accidents such as workers being struck by heavy equipment; and collisions between equipment and workers or between two pieces of equipment. In addition, certain processes such as excavation and drilling inherently pose constraints on equipment operators’ abilities to clearly perceive and analyze their working environment. In this paper, the authors investigate the types of spatial interactions on construction sites and the need for graphical real-time monitoring. A computing framework is presented for monitoring interactions between mobile construction equipment and static job-site entities, workers, and other equipment. The framework is based on the use of sensor-based tracking, georeferenced models, and a resulting concurrent, evolving 3D graphical database. The developed framework enables a real-time 3D visualization scheme that provides equipment operators with graphical job-site views that are not possible through conventional on-site cameras. The two key parameters affecting a proximity monitoring framework’s effectiveness are measurement error and latency. Measurement error refers to the error in proximity computation—with respect to ground truth or theoretically expected values. Latency is a difference in the time between when an event occurs in the real world and when a proximity monitoring framework provides output to warning systems that end users depend upon. Results from validation experiments conducted to analyze the achievable measurement error and latency of the monitoring framework using indoor GPS tracking as a ground truth system are also presented and discussed.

Technology readiness levels for randomized bin picking

A proposal for the utilization of Technology Readiness Levels to the application of unstructured bin picking is discussed. A special session was held during the 2012 Performance Metrics for Intelligent Systems workshop to discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with the bin picking problem, and to identify the potentials for applying an industry-wide standardized assessment and reporting framework such as Technology Readiness Levels to bin picking. Representative experts from government, academia, and industry were assembled to form a special panel to share their insights into the challenge.

Report of the NIST Workshop on Automated Steel Construction

The Building and Fire Research Laboratory of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in cooperation with the American Institute of Steel Construction, sponsored a workshop on automated steel construction. The purpose of the workshop was to investigate the development of new technologies to facilitate automating the steel construction process. Desired outcomes included a clear definition of issues and constraints, the identification of candidate breakthrough technologies, and the development of a research roadmap. A description of the workshop structure, agenda, and preliminary results are presented.