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As the spring construction season begins, staying on top of new technology trends is important for builders looking to maximize production and reduce costs. Here are five recent announcements from software makers and other technology providers about new offerings or updates to existing products designed to make construction smoother for contractors:
Leica Geosystems
Permission granted by John Deere
Company specialized in positioning and sensors Leica, part of Stockholm-based digital reality company Hexagon, has partnered with heavy equipment manufacturer John Deere. Leica’s technology will now sit inside Deere’s SmartGrade 3D grade control system, a combination that the two companies say will enable builders to improve efficiency and reduce material costs and the number of passes required to grade a workplace The latter benefit should also translate into safety gains, according to the companies, by reducing traffic on construction sites.
“Together, we will bring new levels of precision, productivity and accelerate the implementation of safe and sustainable workflows in the construction industry,” Troy Dahlin, Leica’s vice president of heavy construction in the US and Canada, said in the statement. Leica technology will be available on select John Deere equipment later this year.
Matterport
Creator of digital twins Matterportwhich scans structures to create as-built renderings of projects that can be viewed remotely, announced several enhanced capabilities for its products this winter.
Use of new company proprietary intelligence features spatial data, computer vision, and deep learning to automatically calculate the square footage, including wall dimensions and ceiling heights, of a scanned space. Matterport said this is a huge time saver, as contractors can spend up to 10 hours manually measuring and labeling elements within a 3D model.
The company’s Compass and Minimap plugins also give contractors an opportunity to work on a project by allowing viewers to navigate large spaces. The tools provide an immersive POV interpretation of a space, complete with a small map inserted in the top corner, while also indicating which direction is north relative to the user’s viewpoint. This is especially useful for construction and development teams, according to the release, to understand elements such as daylight, wind and other factors that can affect a space.
belt
Courtesy of Cintoo
One of the challenges of navigating a 3D point cloud constructed from numerous 3D data points is that many users become dizzy while participating in virtual tours.
Miami-based Cintoo says it has solved this problem with its new “teleport camera,” which allows users to walk through scan data by creating an unlimited number of virtual panoramic viewpoints that complement the scanned data with laser captured for panoramas. The result is similar to using a video game, meaning non-expert users such as owners and clients can watch projects take shape without experiencing vertigo.
“We believe that reliable, but expensive, laser scanning data should be used by many, many more people than expert surveyors or VDC engineers,” Cintoo CEO Dominique Pouliquen said in the press release . “Cintoo has now gamified the use of laser scanning for all users to maneuver to any position and point of view within reality data without prior 3D experience.”
IDS GeoRadar
Permission granted by IDS GeoRadar
Pisa-based radar solutions provider IDS GeoRadar, a Hexagon company, presented its latest concrete scanning solutions earlier this year. The new tools allow construction crews to efficiently scan concrete structures, detect elements deeper below the surface and make informed decisions about where to safely cut or drill, according to the release.
Weighing less than half a kilo, the C-thrue XS is a portable ground-penetrating radar scanner for concrete inspection designed for use in hard-to-reach areas. Its dual polarization capability allows the scanner to send and receive signals in both horizontal and vertical orientations, ensuring more accurate and detailed results, the company said.
NDT Reveal, an integrated software solution for analyzing and managing subsurface data, allows users to manage GPR data analysis and reporting in one place, helping to optimize workflows for large and complex projects, said the company Users can also upload collateral information, such as photos, site sketches, and CAD drawings, and make them accessible to all team members.
safe AI
Permission granted by SafeAI
SafeAI, autonomous heavy equipment equipment based in Santa Clara, California and the Japanese construction company Obayashi Corp. they recently introduced a zero-emission autonomous transport truck. The Caterpillar 725 is the first transport truck equipped with autonomous and electrification technology, according to the release, paving the way for companies to reuse existing assets while improving operations and enabling them to achieve their sustainability goals.
This combination of automation and electrification offers several advantages that are otherwise difficult to achieve as independent technologies, according to the release. For example, autonomy alone can increase environmental performance in workplaces by up to 13%and by swapping diesel for electricity, operators can reduce net life-cycle emissions by more than 60%, according to the company.
“In addition to demonstrating the synergy between autonomous and electric technologies, we are also excited about the modernization aspect of this project,” said Sugiura Shinya, general manager of Obayashi’s Business Innovation Division. “An adaptation approach allows contractors to proactively upgrade their vehicles to advance carbon-neutral strategies.”
