Terneuzen- On the 14th of March 2003, the Westerschelde Tunnel was opened after a construction phase of five and a half years. The tunnel was constructed using modern technologies which were partially supported by software and other automated equipment. It?s uncommon to use highly automated technologies in construction projects because the unique character ...
When speaking about The Future Site we presume that in future a site will be different from the present building site. We take it for granted that almost every thing in our modern world is subject to permanent change. But to develop a vision on how that future site will look like ...
Open Building advocates the direct relation between industrial manufacturing and the user / inhabitant. To make the industry-consumer relationship possible, base-buildings must offer space available for user controlled fit-out. To date, a fairly large number of experimental projects have been executed on a global scale. They demonstrate the potential of the approach. A ...
In construction production field, since various type of disturbance factor is existed, it is difficult to manage related information by using conventional model. In this paper, a new concept of ?Parts and Packets unified architecture? is proposed. Data or information related to a product are carried by product itself and can be handled ...
The EU FutureHome project is focusing in the development of new modular building construction with several important features: high quality, variety of designs, mass production, reasonable cost, and etc. To reach this objective three main points can be study: a) integration approach during all the stages of the building design (from architectural design ...
This paper discusses the advanced concept of Industrial, Flexible and Demountable (IFD) building. The IFD concept aims to balance the interests of all construction industry stakeholders. The use of industrial building methods for offices, schools and factories has gained broad popularity in the practice. However, the building clients conventional view does not give ...
Research at the University of Southern California addresses a new construction automation approach using a layered fabrication process called Contour Crafting (CC). The process aims at automated construction of whole structures as well as sub-components. Using this process, a single house or a colony of houses, each with possibly a different design, may ...
The programme "Demonstration projects Industrial, Flexible and Demountable Building" (known by its Dutch abbreviation IFD) is a joint initiative of the SEV with the Ministries of Economic Affairs (EZ), and of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM). The ministries are eager to promote the application of IFD building principles by industry and ...
In the late ?80s and early ?90s, people at HBG Woningbouw came up with the idea of changing the way the construction of housing projects was organised in order to respond to the market demand for cheaper rented and owner-occupied accommodation.
Real-time control of on-site construction is a growing field still in its infancy. A model for automated control was developed, implemented and validated in the field, to verify if Project Performance Indicators (PPI) can be automatically measured and controlled. The concept behind this development is that indirect data ? locations measured automatically at ...
In 1997 a development project was started aiming on mechanisation of the process of paving floors with ceramic tiles. Together with a number of companies from The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium and with additional funding from the European Commission the project was carried out by A+ innovations in cooperation with the Eindhoven University ...
Equipping engineering machines and trajectory vehicles with automatic and remote control systems is necessary in case there is any environmental hazard for an operator i.e. environment conditions, an impact from fire field etc. It is particularly crucial when there is no possibility for any person to be in a machine or in its ...
Articulated wheel tool-carriers manufactured up to 20-25 tons of total weights are wide available on the construction equipment market and have a lot of unique advantages not accessible on Ackerman steering or truck-mounted equipment such as : - for weight up to 20 t high cross-country mobility ? comparable to heavy military tracked ...
A wide range of construction machines are used in the course of road building. Automation offers a number of benefits and improvements to the control of the work processes. A total of 16 different work procedures involving 13 construction machines were evaluated using the measurement criteria developed for this purpose. Total points scored ...
The work discussed in this paper concerns automation of excavation or automation of loading particulate media by an excavating machine. Based on the analysis of the process, knowledge of the force of cutting/digging is required for feedback purposes. The lack of a reliable and well established model for the force in question dictates ...
We report a system for remote control and automatic management of a fleet of earth-moving and construction machines with assisted guidance in earthworks and road construction. The system can be divided into three segments: control segment, positioning segment, data transmission segment. The positioning segment is based on WAAS or classical DGPS techniques. The ...
high efficiency of mounting robotized complexes is achievable by means of adaptive control algorithms that provide motion planning and forming of control actions, taking into account conditions of manipulator, object and environment. Incomplete and unclear body of data on the object and operating space does not allow to obtain the desired control using traditional ...
Special rowing up grab buckets are used in construction for performing clearing, loading and unloading functions; when mining thin layers of soil and basic materials. The efficiency of grab buckets with large opening of the jaws can be sufficiently increased by providing straight linear progressive movement of the jaws when the angle ...
For autonomous scooping operation by wheel loader, a method for adequate arrangement of bucket trajectory will be proposed. In scooping operation of wheel loader by human operator, bucket motion includes several cycles of arm lift and bucket tilt alternately. Consequently, the tip of bucket moves on alternate short path of horizontal and vertical ...
Currently, the speed at which constructing materials can be transferred from a transport ship to an offshore construction site is limited by sea conditions. Rough sea conditions cause the payload to sway making load transfer difficult and time-consuming. The objective of this research is to develop a real-time, command compensating control for reducing ...
Most existing Maze-Solving algorithms assume a constant priority for the robot's movement. Thus, each moment, the robot will determine next movement only by the assumed constant priority. As turning would take a lot of time the fastest path and the easiest to go through is the one that has less turns. Because ...
As part of the Future Home project, research was conducted to look into ways of improving the security and develop methods and reliable systems to detect possible failures and to avoid any harm to the machinery and installations and, above all, to the workers in the construction site. The work described in this ...
Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) have been identified as one of the most promising technologies and will continue to revolutionize the industry as well as the industrial and consumer products by combining silicon-based microelectronics with micro-machining technology. All the spheres of industrial application including robots conception and development will be impacted by this new technology. ...
Most tele-operation to manipulate an object consists of gripping and manipulation and two or more 6-DOF haptic devices in master side are usually used. In this article, a new simply designed 7-DOF haptic device, PATHOS II is proposed for 1-DOF gripping and 6-DOF manipulation. The merits of a parallel type ...
Current methods for construction site modeling employ large, expensive laser range scanners that produce dense range point clouds of a scene from different perspectives. While useful for many purposes, this approach is not feasible for real-time applications, which would enable automated obstacle avoidance and semiautomated equipment control, and could improve both safety and ...
Self-Propelled manipulation system which is a mobile robot uses for its movement a chassis, a device on aerostatics supports. The catch of the manipulation system takes its positions at the point of support on the indoors floor and clutches with it. By means of its drives the manipulation system moves chassis into ...
For safe and efficient execution using the microtunneling method, it is necessary to understand both buried objects and ground information. The authors adopted an electromagnetic wave sensing system, devised an antenna that can be installed in a microtunneling driving machine with a diameter of approximately ø350 mm, and incorporated an original analysis algorithm ...
This paper presents a construction robot that is a hybrid type robot using pneumatic actuator. The hybrid type robot can be used in a window glass mounting, panel fixing, engine installing by gripper changing and so on. We proposed a mechanism of hybrid type robot for construction works, derived a kinematic modeling and ...
DOSAT H04 is an integral automatic control system for the production and sales management of premixed concrete in cyclical operation gravimetric plants. This system is a tool that guarantees to obtain an stable quality in the production of premixed concrete, and also to control the material resources and invoicing issues of ...
The NIST Construction Metrology and Automation Group, in cooperation with the NIST Intelligent Systems Division, is researching robotic structural steel placement through an ongoing program entitled “Performance of Innovative Technologies for Automated Steel Construction.” This program, initiated in response to an American Institute of Steel Construction request for a 25 % reduction in ...
The Dutch government encourages innovative construction by subsidizing cohesive industrial, flexible and demountable building (IFD) pilot projects. Industrial building concerns the process-related aspects of production, robotization, mechanization, automation, prefabrication, communication, etc. Flexible building involves products that are made in accordance with customer’s wishes and the possibility to make adjustments when the ...
This paper describes a research project of the Dutch foundation for building research, aimed at identifying and describing the key technologies for robotics and automated production systems in the building & construction industry. The project focusses on the dutch building & construction industry (housing & utility buildings excluding civil engineering ...
Information about products for the construction industry is increasingly often provided to designers in digital ways that enable them to apply the information directly in the design process. Digital product catalogues are provided using various media and formats and several initiatives are taken by the industry and by CAD developers to integrate this ...
This paper presents an overview of a computer-based site layout model and focuses primarily on the project setup phase. The developed model has four modules: user interface, database, project module, and layout module. Setting up the project in the proposed model is carried out by the project module, utilizing open architecture concept. The ...
To support automation and robotisation for construction, there are many requirements. A very basic one is the availability of the information about the building or structure to be constructed. The information may include the design of all the specialties in the building. The format of the geometry of the building elements should be ...
Aiming at the rule-based recognition system for architectural structure drawings, this paper presents a sample-based method that will automatically extract the geometric features of architectural objects and convert the features into recognition rules. When users designate the first sample of one type of objects, this method automatically analyzes and extracts the features useful ...
When we change a configuration by displacing or removing one object in it, desired adjustment of related objects usually follows established relational conventions. If, for instance, we displace a wall in which a window is found, we will expect the window to remain in the wall. At the same time we expect ...
This paper describes the first results of an R&D project “Intelligent Bridge” carried out in Finland. The aim of the project is to develop new methods for 3-D design of concrete bridges and further connect and bring the design models to the source information of site measurements. A new design concept ...
Numeric road construction processes and their parts are today developed worldwide. This paper describes research in Finland, which is conducted with companies using national technology funding in a research and development project entitled ”Intelligent Road Construction Site”. In its entirety, four public research projects and two product development projects are today ongoing. One ...
This paper describes the first results of R&D project "Intelligent Street" carried out in Finland. The aim of the project is to develop new measuring and design methods and tools for street design and construction. Usability and accuracy of laser scanning technology was tested in field-tests done in Itäreimarintie street pilot in Helsinki ...
The increased use of prefabricated components, the complexity of new building shapes, and the speeding up of production in construction, demand an efficient and precise dimensional control. Meanwhile Information and Communication Technology (ICT) increasingly supports construction, among others, CAD systems and Total Stations, are being used for the purpose of dimensional control. In ...
In the present modern construction industry there is a growing acceptance for automation. Not only while the human need for it is growing or whatsoever, but also while the living environment in general is increasingly involved with automation-processes and equipment. See e.g. ICT-developments like mobile phones, internet, computers, household-appliances, etc. These daily ‘tools’ ...
The best sustainable urban development strategy of another country cannot just be copied. Strategies can only be adapted into a real economic, social, political, legislation/regulation and provision situation of the existing state. There is no such thing as a single sustainable urban development strategy to suit all societies and that could be applied ...
A characteristic of the building sector is that different actors (responsible for design, production, construction, use) are separated by markets. Those markets hide a lot of information. As an example the production costs of prefabricated concrete elements are considered. One market strategy of a production unit of those components can be to search ...
In a construction project, although the completion day of the project is clearly decided, construction schedule is often changed by the weather or the actual progress situation of the project. Therefore, when a difference arises between present state and the master schedule, it is necessary to adjust the construction schedule ...
The paper presents a video-sensitive virtual interface used in technological process controlling. The control panels are substituted by this graphical system, with all advantages that can be focused from there. In robotic control are involved many controlling instruments and whole this set can be implemented with some virtual controls such as below description. ...
This study endeavors to focus on developing an evaluation method for comparative analysis of process performance before and after reengineering. Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is a relatively recent concept that has stemmed from management and computer science roots. Process performance evaluations are crucial to managers in identifying the benefit of new process after ...
Over the last 40 years ever more sophisticated computer hardware and commensurate developments in software have enabled much design to be computerised. More recently systems integration has allowed software to automatically pass data from package to package. This has effectively automated elements of the design process. As with all developments there have ...
Industrialization is the aggregation of a large market to divide into infinitesimal fractions the investment in a technology capable of simplifying the production of complex goods and therefore reducing the costs. Simplification is the goal. Whenever the first four degrees of Industrialization, Prefabrication / Mechanization / Automation / Robotics, transfer the tasks from ...
This paper proposes a method of pose (position and orientation) fitting of construction components in a construction site for automated handling based on the relation between components (parts) and their information (packets). Robots can acquire the required information of the component via the environmentattached storages, such as RFID devices. When an ID reader ...
Most past attempts to deal with the unique challenges facing mobile construction robots have involved tasks such as position finding, local mapping, and automatic calibration. It was found that the combination of numerous small errors, such as incorrect positioning of the robot’s carriage or inaccuracy in interpreting the environment, with minor ...
The primary objective of this research is to realize an adaptable online architectural virtual reality (VR) model whose color attributes can be changed dynamically according to the identified emotional state of the user. We believe that the current approach to developing electronic based design environments is fundamentally defective with regard to support for ...
This paper presents a new construction method based of modular buildings. In this new method, the buildings are to be assembled from their modules using automatic means such as robots or/and automated cranes. A Computer Integrated Construction (CIC) architecture has been proposed to achieve the modular construction covering all aspects from the design ...
Construction work needs in many cases human sense and decision, and consist in combination of every task and machine. In this aspect it must be effective that an operator can proceed a project while she/he is managing and operating tasks and several machines at a site with just-in-time accurate decision by means ...
This study explores the application patterns of an auto-stereoscopic display (ASD) in architecture. An ASD set-up is exemplified to serve computer supported collaborative works (CSCW) and construction needs. The system is applied to both geometry- and image-based VR contents. A DTi 18.1” ASD is used for content illustration of still images and videos.
Project planning is an essential task of project management that is taught in most undergraduate and postgraduate programmes within universities. However unlike in engineering or other technological areas, students in the management of engineering projects will probably not have the opportunity during their study to test and employ the concepts they have learned ...
Developing three dimensional models of infrastructure and construction in progress can be useful for designing modifications, for tracking work completed, and for facilitating advanced equipment control and safety functions. An emerging 3D modeling method involves scanning scenes with laser ranging devices. The resulting dense or sparse point clouds are converted to primitive geometric ...
The application of 3D and 4D CAD software is considered to be able to offer possibilities for more consistent project documentation and visualisation, which should eventually enable fail cost reduction. 4D software is seen as a tool for project organisers and project team members to better communicate and analyse schedule information.. In this ...
Feasibility studies must cover different disciplines such as need-based feasibility, technological feasibility and economical feasibility. In the present work a comprehensive feasibility analysis model for the use of robots in performing construction tasks is presented. This model is mainly focussed on the need analysis in order to present criteria for decision making. The ...
The selection process for a suitable programming environment for construction robotic systems should satisfy a range of requirements identified from both a users and systems point of view. In the present work two different object-oriented programming environments are chosen for comparison, namely MATLAB as an example of text-based programming and LabVIEW as iconic-based ...
Real-time monitoring during soil compaction can be made possible by utilizing the vibration signature of a vibratory roller compactor. The compactor and soil constitute a coupled dynamic system, albeit complex and nonlinear. As the soil density increases and its mechanical properties change, the dynamic response of the compactor will change. Developing a thorough ...
This paper describes a model which has been developed for the purpose of assessing major risks associated with various pile foundation types and their resulting financial consequences. The work is based on a review of possible geotechnical sources of risks encountered during the placing of pile foundations. Both literature and experts are used ...
The foundations of buildings in urban environments are very often piled ones. During earth moving works the sides of digging area have to be supported by sheet pile walls to maintain constant earth pressure conditions against existing foundations. The piles and sheet piles are very often driven by vibratory methods, in which case ...
A number of piles should be driven into the ground by a hammering process in order to make the ground under the structure safe and strong when construction companies build a high structure such as building and bridges. It is essential to determine whether piles are penetrated into the ground enough to ...
This paper describes the experiences relating to transmission of digital video information from an on-board video camera of inspection wall climbing robots. The decoder is modified in the proposed transmission scheme. The main difference with the conventional scheme is an interaction of the reference frame with the post-processing. If video coding and post-processing ...
A robotic system is designed for the express purpose of facilitating timely maintenance of the external walls of high-rise buildings, including inspection and cleaning. This paper addresses the application of a selected method of non-destructive inspection (NDI) to assess the quality of bonding of the tile-wall in such buildings. The basis for checking ...
Over the last several decades, many concrete tunnels have been constructed on roads, highways, and railways. For safety in concrete tunnels, periodic inspections have been conducted using nondestructive testing technologies and techniques. However, non-destructive test cannot replace the visual inspection due to their slow and complicated procedures. For this reason, they have been ...
In diagnosing air-conditioning pipe deterioration, it is especially important to inspect screwed parts because their original thickness is thinner than that of straight parts and it is comparatively easy for leakage to occur if there is local internal corrosion. Usually, a radiographic test is used, but this method requires a licensed person ...
With funding from the NorthEast Gas Association (NGA), the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) and NASA, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) has developed Explorer, a long range, un-tethered, modular inspection robot for the visual inspection of 6” and 8” natural gas distribution system pipelines. The robot can be launched into the pipeline under live ...
Construction managers need to access the real construction site to manage the construction project. They have recently handled various types of digital information such as drawings, specification, checklists and daily reports. They usually use sheets of paper and/or field notes. As a result, a gap in time and space between the outdoor construction ...
Today’s information exchange in managing projects are to a great extent supported by information technology. Especially mobile computing potencials can significantly improve the information exchange in construction. This paper addresses some important mobile computing potencials which can help tackle project collaboration and information dissemination problems. Special attention is given to the organizational and mobility ...
To improve the availability of reliable information on an arbitrary location in or outside a construction project and to exchange information faster, more efficient and in an interactive way HBG developed the UPIA-device. With this handheld device location based information can be generated on site and can be used interactive by reliable and ...
Electronic construction information portals have become popular in recent years but most portals are intended for business transaction processing. This paper describes a web-based construction information portal (e-Portal) intended for use by construction engineers. A functional framework for the portal is presented along with a 4-Tier architecture including the Presentation Layer, Application Layer, ...
Over the past decades, construction firms have been using several off-the-shelf telecommunications services to provide the communication means necessary to their mobile personnel on the jobsite. Despite this the traditional telecommunication systems are nowadays offering a wider range of services to the construction industry, but they are still considered expensive and inflexible. This ...
This paper presents the design of an XML-based document flow management system, called XDFM (XML-based Document Flow Management), for increasing efficiency in processing documents in construction projects. X-DFM provides four services via Web Services: the document flow services, content management services, authorization services, and message services. The document flow services are designed based on ...
The 1990s have seen a technological shift in the construction sector from IT driven solutions to IT enabling ones. Not only IT companies but also construction companies are continually investing, evaluating and focusing on new technologies to create collaborative spaces among different participants geographically dispersed and to share information among partners in the design ...
Construction projects are composed of a large number of contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers that comprise the project supply chain. Construction supply chain management as a field of study concerns itself with improving the coordination of these firms to improve project performance along various metrics such as speed, cost, reliability, quality, etc. In order ...
In AEC each participant of a construction project (designer, the constructor, etc) takes part in many other projects and each of these groups of participants are probably working in collaborative spaces. What happens then, when for instance the designer must hold as many collaborative spaces as projects he carries on? In the construction ...
New technology often drives organisational changes. The influence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on modern business is enormous. ICT not only supports improvements in the primary process but, for example, also enables better planning and much improved logistics. Here communication technology is equally or even more important than information processing itself. In the ...
In construction, failure of design professionals to consider how a builder will implement the design can result in scheduling problems, cost escalation, delays and disputes during the construction process. The integration of construction knowledge and experience during planning and design is termed here as ‘constructability’. Though many design professionals in the Netherlands may ...
Risk management in construction encompasses four main phases; risk identification, quantification, mitigation and control. Risk identification has been recognized as the most crucial phase of a successful risk management program. This paper briefly describes a model, designed to automate the risk identification process. The model facilitates the development of an electronic checklist of ...
Construction management education, like most education and indeed, most things, is changing rapidly. There is a move towards student centred learning which is intended to allow students to gain knowledge at their own pace and develop transferable skills during the course of their education. In Construction Project control is an essential task of ...
Planning in the construction industry, as is well known plays an important part in the successful outcome of a project. How a task has to be dealt with and with which tools is part of the engineers work load and it is in their responsibility to assure that this planned work is ...
In this paper an approach for the throughput evaluation of the construction manufacturing systems is presented. The throughput is evaluated with a heap-based algorithm for the Petri nets model of the construction systems. The Petri nets model is a stochastic one, and the firing rate of the transitions are calculated with Markov chains ...
More than 200 capital facility projects from across the U.S. have been assessed on the issue of technology usage at the work function level and overall project cost and schedule success. Work functions (WFs) that may leverage project cost and schedule performance were identified. The analyses suggested that degrees of technology ...
This paper will propose to investigate results obtained from automated measuring process control of temperature in cement fabrication with the simulation modeling by probability distribution functions and conducted at yield goodness of fit results. The simulation’s results enable the comparison with the data obtained by automated real-time project process data which ...
The conceptual estimate plays an essential role in project feasibility study. In practice, it is performed based on estimators’ experiences. However, due to the inaccuracy of cost estimate, budgeting and cost control are planned inefficiently. In order to increase the estimate accuracy, this study employed the Evolutionary Fuzzy Neural Inference Model (EFNIM) to ...
The profit of Construction Industry has been tremendously reduced for recent years in Taiwan. In order to survive in this difficult environment, “Management” becomes the key issue to achieve company’s target. We need a powerful tool that can help us to handle complicate process such as estimation, bidding, purchasing and site-management in the ...
Information technology (IT) that is achieving astounding progress has been applied to rationalize construction project management and is expanding the potential for the automation and use of robots in construction work. But the development of IT based systems has often resulted in cases where it is difficult for multiple systems to share electronic ...
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 ...
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is the latest high-end solution information technology has lent to business application. Enterprise resource planning systems are highly complex information systems. The implementation of these systems is a difficult and high cost proposition that places tremendous demands on corporate time and resources. Many ERP implementations have been classified as ...
As a result of the rapid advance of information technology (IT) and development of CALS/EC in recent years, the MLIT (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport) and other organizations that order public works projects now deliver the results of survey and design work and completed work drawings as electronic data and can now ...
Reliable and timely information describing up-to-date performance is a prerequisite for effective management of construction. Existing methods for on-site data collection are labor-intensive, subjective, and the data are frequently available only after activities have been completed. Monitoring of the main lifting equipment on construction sites can provide real-time, low-cost and objective data for ...
Practically, the effective management of subcontracting selection within a construction project has been regarded as one of the critical factors for achieving project success. This study takes advantage of IT initiatives of e-commerce to combine with the use of electronic information exchange standards Java XML (extensible markup language) to propose a “push-strategic” and ...
In order to improve the efficiency of construction management, a new methodology-Beauty is presented to develop translatability for construction BPR (Business Process Reengineering) and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) by using ARIS (Architecture of integrated Information Systems) and UML (Unified Modeling Language) tool. The Beauty method includes four phases that inclusive of business process ...
Building projects which are build in the Dutch Industrial, Flexible and Sustainable (IFD) Building programme usually focus on the design of the project and the application of prefabricated parts. Though this is indeed an important factor in IFD-projects, the paper supports the idea that successful IFD projects rely on three aspects: An industrialised ...
Over the years, the art of block laying has been an important factor in building construction. Different cultures and construction experts have developed various styles, giving values to block laying. The major problem in block laying has been traced to the poor productivity of the masons. This has really hindered the construction time ...
The development of the Kapla® window frame means a breakthrough in the timber window frame market in the Netherlands. This development is a typical example of a combined process and product innovation, a joint project with the relevant branch organizations. The success of the Kapla® window frame proved that the methodology developed works ...