Introducing Bharath Sankaran, an entrepreneur, computer scientist, roboticist, and CTO (Chief Technology Officer) and Co-founder of Naska.AI, leaders of HumanTech’s work package 3: Dynamic Semantic Digital Twin Generation.
We have spoken with him to learn about his purpose, role in HumanTech and vision for a safer, greener and more efficient construction industry — which will “allow us to ensure a better future for our planet and society.”
“I am passionate about technology and innovation, and my personal and professional goal is to impact the average person by improving their quality of life through sustainable innovation.”
His company, Naska.AI, has developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven construction quality and progress tracking platform with automated data analytics and actionable insights. Their powerful machine learning tools automate the comparison of laser scan data (terrestrial and mobile) with BIM and schedule.
Learn more about him and their purpose:
Q: Bharath, can you tell us about your background, interests and motivations?
A: I am the CTO and Co-founder of Naska.AI. I am a Computer Scientist by training and have a background in computer vision, machine learning, and robotics. I am passionate about technology and innovation, and my goal, personally and professionally, is to impact the average person by improving their quality of life through sustainable innovation.
Q: That’s really inspiring. And, from Naska.AI, what is your purpose, and how are you approaching it?
A: Our purpose as an organization is to inspire people to make better decisions to build the world we want to live in. To accomplish this, we are on a mission to provide construction with high-quality AI-powered automated insights to help mitigate risk and deliver sustainable and profitable projects.
“We are on a mission to provide construction with high-quality AI-powered automated insights that will help mitigate risk to deliver sustainable, profitable projects.”
Q: How interesting — and aligned with the purpose of HumanTech! Tell us, what is your role in the project?
A: We are work-package leaders and partners for technology development. We support the project with our reality capture UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle) for surveying construction sites. We will also partner with other HumanTech team members to develop state-of-the-art algorithms to improve the creation of digital semantic twins for the construction industry.
Q: And what kind of activities are you most looking forward to?
A: The activities we are most excited about include using our UGV to detect construction defects using hyperspectral sensing and developing state-of-the-art algorithms as part of work package 3 to improve the creation of semantic digital twins. For both activities, we will create entirely new algorithms in sensing, semantic segmentation, 3D computer vision and machine learning.
Q: We look forward to seeing the results of your work! What impact do you hope to generate with it, and what milestones do you hope to achieve?
A: Through this project, we aim to make construction a leaner and safer process, thereby reducing the construction industry’s emissions footprint. This will allow us to ensure a better future for our planet and our society.
To this end, we want to introduce new technologies for detecting errors and defects in construction using AI and robotics. In this way, we will reduce waste and make the building process more efficient. We also strive to improve the definition of digital semantic twins (BIM) to include efficiency and quality metrics.
“Through this project, we aim to make construction a leaner and safer process, thereby reducing the construction industry’s emissions footprint.”
Q: This a critical task in which the people’s and planet’s health are at stake. So, is a net zero future possible for construction?
A: Yes, if we can imagine it, we can build it.
The biggest challenge in achieving it is technology adoption, and the key to improving it requires that the technology be easily implementable and integrated into existing construction workflows.
Q: Any final thoughts you would like to share with us?
A: Science is the study of what is, and Engineering is the study of what can be. In engineering, you are only limited by your aspirations. If you aspire for a net zero future, you can build it. Nothing will get in your way other than yourself.
Do you want to learn more about HumanTech and the team behind the project? Know HumanTech’s Project Coordinator Jason Rambach, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.