Month: May 2023

Meet the HumanTech team: Hideaki Kanayama, revolutionizing the construction industry through innovative technology

Introducing Hideaki Kanayama, an engineer at RICOH, whose team at HumanTech is dedicated to providing unique devices, including an omnidirectional 3D scanning camera and a 360° stereo camera, to fellow partners.

"Making a difference in a sector as large as construction is not easy, but a consortium of partners from different industries, such as Humantech, can make a significant contribution."

For Hideaki, the most rewarding aspect of working in HumanTech lies in contemplating the practical implementation of their devices on real construction sites and exploring ways to integrate them with other partners' technologies to drive continuous improvement.

Learn more in this insightful interview.

Q: Tell us a little about yourself. What is your purpose?

A: As a member of a company that has manufactured many cameras, I was aware of the limitations of the expression of 2D colour images. I want to create a world where people can easily capture and share 3D spaces as if they were using an ordinary digital camera.

I am involved in developing key technologies as an AI engineer, taking advantage of the recent boom in 3D data, such as laser scanners and photogrammetry.

"I want to create a world where people can easily capture and share 3D spaces as if they were using an ordinary digital camera."

Q: And about your organisation, what is your focus on and what have you set out to achieve?

A: The Ricoh Group has been providing products, services, and solutions focusing on office imaging equipment, production printing, and digital cameras worldwide. We are committed to changing how people work and expanding the scope of our value proposition from the traditional general office to workplaces in various industries.

RICOH has a long history of developing spherical cameras since the release of the world's first one, "THETA", in the consumer market. RICOH360 Projects are changing how teams approach construction sites with technology that anybody can instantly document 360° photos to site drawings with a single press of a button. Record every detail for faster pre-construction analysis, documenting and tracking existing construction site conditions. RICOH THETA Z1 360° camera can be paired with OpenSpace, known as tap-and-go 360°construction photo documentation.

We have also developed special industrial spherical cameras for Humantech and augmented reality glasses; e.g. lightweight binocular smart glasses for various workplaces. We have been providing unique devices and services that can serve as on-site eyes from "shooting" to "viewing", and we are bringing about a revolution in "work".

Q: Now, let us know about your role at HumanTech. What do you do? What is the most rewarding thing about it?

A: Our team provides unique devices such as an omnidirectional 3D scanning camera, an industrial wide-field-of-view wearable camera, and a 360° stereo camera to other partners involved with Humantech. I'm responsible for providing reliable 3D data with our 3D scanning camera in order to apply semantic segmentation and build digital twin models. The most rewarding is thinking about how to utilise our devices in the real construction site and how to integrate them with other partners' technologies to improve them.

"Our team provides unique devices such as an omnidirectional 3D scanning camera, an industrial wide-field-of-view wearable camera, and a 360° stereo camera to other partners involved with Humantech."

Q: What is the positive impact you hope to generate through HumanTech?

A: The construction industry faces barriers to digitalisation due to the introduction of new devices and inexperience with new technologies. I particularly believe that the realisation and widespread use of the Dynamic Semantic Digital Twin (DSDT) could be the foundation for the digitalisation and efficiency of the construction industry.

"The realisation and widespread use of the Dynamic Semantic Digital Twin (DSDT) could be the foundation for the digitalisation and efficiency of the construction industry."

Q: And the milestones you hope to achieve?

A: The achievement of our various pilots is our most important milestone. I believe that the integration of each partner's technology and the demonstration focused on real applications will have a not inconsiderable impact on the diffusion of our technology in the construction industry.

Q: Is there a net zero future for construction? What do you think are the biggest challenges to achieving it?

A: There is a long way to achieve it. However, we must reach it. The biggest challenge is promoting new techniques on the real site. Developing attractive products and services that the workers want to use enthusiastically is necessary.

Q: How are the human-centred technologies we are developing contributing to creating a safer and greener construction industry?

A: Human-centered technologies such as wearable devices (e.g. portable spherical cameras, exoskeletons, and smart glasses), as well as intelligent robot technology, are intended to support workers in their tasks. Mitigating the physical strain on workers and monitoring their health reduces the risk of injury and improves their safety. In addition, streamlining workflow and reducing inaccurate and erroneous work can prevent material waste.

Q: How will technology evolve in the construction sector over the next decade? What impact do you think the changes it will bring about will have?

A: In terms of digitalisation, I believe that data collected in the field from various devices can be handled by more sophisticated analysis with AI than before. Innovative AI technologies have emerged, including language understanding models such as Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3), 3D Question Answering (3DQA), which can extract information from 3D information as language, and novel view synthesis that provides more realistic spatial understanding. I believe that these technologies will allow workers to more intuitively understand construction sites and interactively comprehend situations, which leads to solving various on-site issues, including supporting inexperienced workers and improving work efficiency.

"New technologies will allow workers to more intuitively understand construction sites and interactively comprehend situations, which leads to solving various on-site issues, including supporting inexperienced workers and improving work efficiency."

Q: Ambitious projects are developing innovative technology solutions and making a difference in the construction sector. Do you know of any that have inspired you?

A: BIMprove has influenced me the most in the field of digital twins. In it, we were eager to see how we could deliver a great device on its own. However, it made us realise that we had overlooked the attitude that the digital twin generation flow should be viewed as a platform and built upon the collaboration of each partner.

We also have a great team at Humantech and look forward to working together to create a comprehensive construction solution.

Subscribe for our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to learn more about our work at HumanTech and the team behind it, and stay updated on our advances!

by andrea@australo.org

Meet the HumanTech team: Fernando Sigchos Jiménez, moved by his passion for improving construction for a safer and greener future

The European Builders Confederation (EBC) represents the construction small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and crafts at the EU level. We have spoken to Fernando Sigchos Jiménez, its Secretary General, to learn more about his motivation for creating a better construction industry and his aim to make a positive impact in the sector through HumanTech.

"The EBC team looks forward to engaging further with our HumanTech partners and all stakeholders interested in how to deliver a safer and more sustainable construction sector, as this is the way forward for such a pivotal sector for the European Union."

Previously in charge of EU projects and communication, and before that of social affairs, he has spent the last decade representing, defending, and promoting the vision of small companies in the construction sector.

Read our interview with him:

Q: Fernando, what drives you at a personal and professional level?

A: In Europe, there is a growing pressure for environmental and social sustainability, with digitalisation as a key factor in achieving them. These societal challenges motivate me as a person, a European citizen and a specialist in European affairs and construction.

A political scientist by education, with construction, I was caught up in the willingness of a sector to evolve, adapt and face up to its responsibilities to keep contributing to society, the economy and the environmental efforts in the European Union — despite being perceived as male-dominated, facing heavy and dangerous tasks, handling a difficult working environment, or being considered unattractive to young people. To change this image and showcase the sector's evolution motivates me to chip in.

"In Europe, there is a growing pressure for environmental and social sustainability, with digitalisation as a key factor in achieving them. These societal challenges motivate me as a person, a European citizen and a specialist in European affairs and construction."

Q: Construction is indeed a sector that faces great challenges and where much remains to be done to achieve necessary improvements in terms of safety, diversity, sustainability and efficiency. How fortunate we are that your motivation drives the change we want to see and that we are working together to achieve it!

Now, tell us about your organisation, the European Builders Confederation. What is your focus and what have you set out to achieve?

A: EBC is the voice of the most down-to-earth actor in the construction sector. Those who put their hands to work to ensure that European citizens have quality homes, buildings, and infrastructure. EBC represents the national associations of SMEs and craftsmen in the construction sector, which are important active actors for local, regional, national and European economic activity.

Always open to optimising the way they work, construction SMEs are aware of their strategic role in efforts to decarbonise the built environment, to improve the health and safety of their workers or to achieve inclusive digitalisation in the European society, and are therefore interested in initiatives and projects that allow them to do more in these fields.

"Construction SMEs are aware of their strategic role in efforts to decarbonise the built environment, to improve the health and safety of their workers or to achieve inclusive digitalisation."

Q: Now, let us know about EBC’s role at HumanTech. What activities are you working on?

A: By bringing the approach and perspective of construction SMEs and crafts to the consortium, at EBC we aim to bridge the manifest gap between the fast-paced development of innovation and the real uptake of technology by the overwhelming majority of small companies in construction.

Our role in European projects is mainly to provide a reality check. Does the innovation in design or development bring real added value to small construction companies? Is it technically and financially accessible? Is it presented suitably to trigger interest?

We are excited to help the HumanTech team answer these questions by also being involved in the usability assessment of the technologies, promoting awareness and developing new approaches to training for the upskilling of the current and future workforce.

"At EBC, we aim to bridge the manifest gap between the fast-paced development of innovation and the real uptake of technology by the overwhelming majority of small companies in construction."

Q: Your role is essential to ensure that the technologies we are developing best suit the needs of the sector’s companies and their workers. What is the positive impact you hope to generate through our project?

A: The health and safety of construction workers is paramount. So is attracting new talent to meet the sector’s environmental, social, and economic demands and ambitions. Taking the time to see how the sector's digitalisation can address both needs is very important.

We consider HumanTech proactively addresses these issues. Its final findings will be taken as a reasoned consideration of how to maintain a human-centred approach in a sector that is set to evolve digitally and environmentally. In this sense, the nascent technologies put forward in the context of HumanTech could lead to a significantly improved work environment at construction sites once mainstreamed and upscaled.

"The nascent technologies put forward in the context of HumanTech could lead to a significantly improved work environment at construction sites once mainstreamed and upscaled."

Q: We hope so! And can’t wait to see more of our advances towards creating a safer, greener, more efficient industry — attractive to a younger generation of skilled workers.

What about the milestones you hope to achieve?

A: Endeavouring towards bridging that gap between innovation and SMEs in the construction sector, EBC's involvement in HumanTech will mainly consist of providing critical feedback on the usability of technology, defining an SME-friendly training programme and appropriate communication.

As the technical developments of HumanTech become more mature, EBC will play a significant role in the objectives of training, marketing, and sharing information on this innovation with construction SMEs, all actors in the construction value chain and policymakers.

Q: We are really looking forward to it! Beyond HumanTech, what do you think are the keys to achieving greater sustainability in the sector?

A: In the context of the EU’s flagship strategy for climate neutrality, the European Green Deal, all sectors have a role to play towards achieving this goal by mid-century. Construction is no exception, and this constitutes a major challenge and a very ambitious target objective for the entire ecosystem. More effort is needed to achieve a climate-neutral building stock. However, this is a collective, collaborative exercise along the entire construction value chain, without which a real transition or paradigm shift will not be achieved.

Given their omnipresence in the sector, one of the keys will be to embark on SMEs in this green and digital transition. SMEs need time to adapt but are fully aware and already engaged in a path towards more sustainable use of resources out of ecological awareness, social responsibility, and economic necessity.

"More effort is needed to achieve a climate-neutral building stock. However, this is a collective, collaborative exercise along the entire construction value chain."

Q: And how do you think the human-centred technologies we are developing will contribute to creating a safer and greener construction industry?

A: The increasing digitalisation of professional activities in construction shows that there is a real potential for improvement, especially in complex but important areas like health and safety, energy performance or optimal use of resources.

By keeping people at the centre of innovation, we enhance the knowledge of SMEs and their entrepreneurs and workers, thus having a better chance of providing them with tools, methods or ideas that can make their work easier in many ways. Artisans, craftsmen, and SMEs place human capital at the heart of their activity, making them great partners for integrating accessible human-centred technologies in the construction process.

Q: How do you think technology will evolve in the construction sector? What impact will it have in the coming years?

A: The sector is still one of the least digitised sectors, so the potential for improvement is there. In EBC, we consider the sector's digitalisation as an enabler, not a goal. For us, the human component remains fundamental in current and future construction, whatever its form.

Technology is likely to play an increasingly important role in relieving repetitive and heavy tasks, improving communication between professionals on site, and better anticipating and monitoring the life cycle of a building. We need to continue investigating how to develop tools that bring real added value to the daily activities of the sector's professionals and work towards bridging the gap between innovation and its uptake and application on the ground.

"We need to continue investigating how to develop tools that bring real added value to the daily activities of the sector's professionals and work towards bridging the gap between innovation and its uptake and application on the ground."

Q: Ambitious projects are developing innovative technology solutions and making a difference in the construction sector. Do you know of any that have inspired you?

A: I sense a growing political interest in buildings, with better availability of funds for projects impacting the construction sector.

During my time as EBC's Projects and Communications Manager, one project that particularly stood out for me was BIM4Ren. If its ambition to develop BIM tools to contribute to the energy renovation of buildings was already interesting, the commitment to make these tools easy to use and accessible in terms of training and financing for construction SMEs particularly impressed me. Often, the lack of consideration for the daily activity of small companies in construction, which struggle to cope with the impact of geopolitical and economic crises, which face a demand with limited human and financial means, which suffer from stereotypes and a lack of attractiveness, makes many initiatives disconnected from the reality to which they claim to contribute.

Apart from Fernando, his colleagues Elena Maria Petrich, Projects and Communication Officer, Jordi Calatayud, EU Projects Officer, and Spyros Mathioudakis, Policy Officer, are also part of our HumanTech team. Learn more about their work.

Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to learn more about our work at HumanTech and the team behind it, and stay updated on our advances!

by andrea@australo.org

Building the future: The benefits HumanTech technologies bring to construction workers

We are developing human-centred technology solutions that will facilitate the work of construction professionals — creating a safer, greener, more efficient and rewarding working environment. From robots with vision and intelligence to exoskeletons for workers' protection and support, we are building the construction industry's future, vital to European and global economic development. Find out how our HumanTech technologies will positively impact construction workers day to day.

The construction sector is an essential part of the European economy. It includes various activities related to designing, constructing, and maintaining buildings, infrastructure, and other structures.

According to data from the European Union's (EU) Commission Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, it accounted for 9% of the EU’s GDP and "employed around 18.7 million people, representing 7.3% of total employment. The industry includes large construction companies and many small and medium-sized enterprises."

The construction sector is a crucial economic growth and employment driver in many EU member states. In addition, it contributes to the development of infrastructure, including transportation, energy, and telecommunications networks, which are critical for the functioning of modern economies.

However, the industry faces challenges, including reducing its environmental impact, improving safety standards, and addressing skills shortages. The EU has implemented several policies and initiatives to support the development of a sustainable and competitive construction sector, such as the European Green Deal and the Horizon Europe research and innovation program.

In this blog post, the first of our #HumanTechBenefits series, we analyse the benefits our HumanTech technologies will bring to construction workers.

Solutions provided by HumanTech

At HumanTech, we are dedicated to developing innovative, human-centred technologies that go beyond the current state of the art. With them, we strive to contribute to the digitalisation of the construction industry, making it safer, more productive and attractive to a new generation of highly skilled professionals, and accelerate the sector's green transition.

Our solutions will have a major positive impact on construction and bring great improvements for its workers.

Collaborative and interactive robotics

As a vital part of automated production lines, physical barriers typically isolate robotic systems, and workers are not allowed to be around. However, a new concept of collaborative robots (cobots) is safer for workers to be around during operation. They often have integrated mechanisms for safe stops when a collision is detected before severe damage is done to a worker or property.

Multiple tasks — monotonous, dangerous or little productive (e.g. transportation of materials from one place to another) — can be done with interactive robots.

What are the benefits of the HumanTech cobots?

This technology allows workers and robots to execute tasks together. It is also highly accepted by the industry and its workers and has great flexibility in dynamic environments. However, cobots still require significant advanced training to operate, and robot programming time can be a bottleneck for efficiency.

The development of intuitive communication channels (such as speech or gestures) between robots and workers can significantly contribute to the efficient deployment of cobots in construction sites.

Robotic technology can contribute to

• the execution of supporting tasks (e.g., brick hand-over), allowing workers to concentrate on core-competence ones,
• carrying out physically demanding tasks (e.g., moving heavy loads),
• and fulfilling time-consuming, repetitive tasks (e.g., material handling).

Collaborative and interactive robotics allows workers to

• safely work close to robots,
• use ordinary language and intuitive gestures to give robots simple commands (no advanced robotic training is required),
• and understand the robot's behaviour and be comfortable working with them.

Exoskeleton technologies

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are a leading cause of injury among construction workers (its rate in construction is 16% higher than in all industries combined). In their occurrence, several risk factors are involved related to the task and the organisation of work: manual handling of loads, forced static or dynamic postures, repetitive movements, etc. For example, constructing a brick wall is a repetitive procedure in which part of the work is carried out in awkward postures when done over shoulder height (the shoulders and elbows are the main affected body areas).

Exoskeletons are wearable machines powered by electricity or human motion, used to amplify or transform workers' movements to improve their efficiency and productivity, and increase their safety. In recent years, they have been proposed to solve all the problems associated with WMSDs.

Lightweight, integrated body sensors in exoskeleton solutions can help construction workers in:

• Carrying heavy material or lifting intelligently while warning them about straining or having harmful poses during tasks
• Avoiding muscle-skeletal disorders due to repetitive movements

What are the benefits of the HumanTech exoskeleton?

The exoskeleton would assist wearers in their tasks by:

• Reducing the muscular activity of the assisted areas
• Preventing from adopting risk postures without impeding other movements involved in the tasks. In fact, the exoskeleton anticipates and adapts to the user's needs in each task, and it gets out of the way when it is not needed.

eXtended Reality technologies

Extended reality (XR) is an umbrella term for various immersive technologies. These currently include Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR), which are defined by the level of interaction between the virtual and real world they offer.

According to XR Today, XR blends the real and virtual landscapes "with digital overlays that interact in real-time with real-life objects. This, combined with cutting-edge hand and eye tracking, combine real-time 3D (RT3D) content with a person’s field of view (FoV)."

In recent years, this technology has seen a huge growth in adoption in more and more sectors, from medicine to training, marketing and entertainment. Moreover, it offers the opportunity to revolutionise construction by enabling better decision-making, efficient use of resources and cost savings, fostering collaboration between different teams working on a project and improving overall safety and performance in the workplace.

What are the benefits of the HumanTech XR technologies?

In HumanTech, we will use XR technology for visualisation, interaction with 3D models, and training workers in safe and remote environments.

It will allow construction workers to benefit from

• Live visualisation of BIM data over actual buildings
• Guidance and safety alerts to avoid errors
• Effective decision making

Through our innovative solutions, we aim to empower construction workers and engineers, enhance their skills and productivity, and drive the industry towards a safer, more sustainable future.

Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to keep up with our developments and how they will benefit construction workers!

by andrea@australo.org

Meet the HumanTech team: Patrick and Sebastian, questioning construction’s status quo

Curious to know what the team at Implenia, Switzerland’s leading construction and real estate service provider, does at HumanTech? We have spoken with Patrick Roth, Project Manager of New Business Models & Innovation, and Sebastian Mattes, BIM & Reality Capturing Specialist, two members of Implenia’s extended innovation community.

They tell us about their roles and objectives at HumanTech, their mission at Implenia, the positive impact they hope to generate through the project, and the next milestones they hope to achieve. They also reflect on the importance of innovation and sustainability in construction and how our technologies contribute to creating a safer and greener construction industry.

"As part of the extended innovation community at Implenia, Sebastian and I are two of many active employees who constantly try to question the status quo of how the industry plans and builds", Patrick Roth.

Dive into our exciting conversation to learn more!

Q: Tell us about yourselves. What is your professional focus nowadays?

Patrick: As part of the extended innovation community at Implenia, Sebastian and I are two of many active employees who constantly try to question the status quo of how the industry plans and builds. Here we are not only looking into new products and technology, but also developing new services and business models. While Sebastian has a strong focus on all the opportunities that come with the digitalisation of our processes and the opportunities that arise there, I focus on new services and business models in the public infrastructure sector as well as how we manage all of our various innovation topics within the division Civil Engineering.

Q: And about Implenia, what is your mission, and what goals do you hope to achieve? 

Patrick: Our mission is to develop real estate sustainably with and for people, and to construct buildings and infrastructure to meet their needs for modern living, working and travelling. Implenia recently completed its successful transformation and now focuses on integrated construction and real estate services in Switzerland and Germany and offers tunnelling and related infrastructure projects in other markets. With innovation as one of our four strategic priorities, Implenia implements innovative solutions that bring sustainable added value to our clients, and develops and deploys services, products and methods to ensure that construction has a sustainable and economically viable future. Furthermore, with sustainability as one of our five core values, we are creating a future worth living for everyone. Our achievements and efforts in sustainability can be read in Implenia's latest Sustainability Report from April 2023.

"With innovation as one of our four strategic priorities, Implenia implements innovative solutions that bring sustainable added value to our clients, and develops and deploys services, products and methods to ensure that construction has a sustainable and economically viable future", Patrick Roth.

Q: Highly ambitious but urgently needed targets to accelerate the sustainable transformation of the industry — making it better for people and planet. 

In particular, what are your roles and objectives at HumanTech?

Patrick: We represent the end user's point of view. As Switzerland's leading construction and real estate service provider, we bring a great deal of experience in the development, planning and execution of large and complex projects to HumanTech. In addition, we support defining the use cases and requirements for the solutions that will be developed, and we will be in charge of the extensive tests of two of the five use cases in the real environment on the construction site.

Our goal is to ensure that everything developed under the HumanTech project directly benefits our workers’ health and safety and the construction industry in general, and is not just developed from a research point of view.

"Our goal is to ensure that everything developed under the HumanTech project directly benefits our workers’ health and safety and the construction industry in general", Patrick Roth.

Q: A vital aspect of our project, which guides our own mission! And what positive impact do you hope to generate through HumanTech?

Sebastian: We hope to be able to build a bridge between our scientific partners and the construction sites, point out some current challenges on site, and provide a more efficient way of using data (e.g. point clouds, 360-degree images). Also, make our partners understand how construction sites work.

Capturing data may be challenging, but working with it and using its potential is usually more complicated. Our approach is to use existing data or data created with common devices more efficiently. For example, when using 360° cameras for documentation, we would like to use AI for counting material.

The human-robot collaboration is a really promising approach. There, we detect two general use cases: first, to protect human workers from heavy loads or unhealthy working positions, and second, robots can jump in as 'experts' for a specific task (for example, autonomous bridge inspection).

Overall, we see potential in the HumanTech technologies to bring new opportunities in the three main industry trends: digitalisation, sustainability and industrialisation.

"We see potential in the HumanTech technologies to bring new opportunities in the three main industry trends: digitalisation, sustainability and industrialisation", Sebastian Mattes.

Q: We are excited to see how these impactful results materialise and hope to be able to share our progress with the broader public soon! What is the next milestone you hope to achieve?

Patrick: We are getting closer to finalising the use case scenarios, which will be a milestone as the technology providers can start developing solutions. We look forward to seeing the first test run of the developed technology at one of our construction sites.

Q: Regarding the need to build a greener construction industry, do you think it can become net zero? If so, what opportunities and challenges do you see?

Patrick: In view of the climate crisis, the construction and real estate industry, as any other industry, must move towards net zero as quickly as possible. In the future, special attention must be paid to embodied carbon caused by materials and processes. The challenge will be reconciling technical innovations in low-carbon materials with building standards and simultaneously providing a long-term business case.

Q: ​​And about the human-centred technologies we are developing, how do they contribute to creating a safer and greener construction industry?

Patrick: There are several aspects. Wearable technologies, for example, can monitor workers' health and safety in real-time, alerting them to potential hazards and providing vital information to supervisors. This helps reduce the risk of accidents and injuries and ensures that workers work in a safe and healthy environment. The same holds for automated and robotic solutions, which can be used to perform repetitive or dangerous tasks, enabling workers to focus on more complex and significant ones.

On the other hand, using BIM and new digital solutions enables construction companies to design and plan projects more efficiently, reduces the need for rework, and ensures that projects are completed within budget and on time. This benefits workers and reduces waste and environmental impact.

"Our technologies will ensure construction workers work in a safe and healthy environment while enabling them to focus on more complex and significant tasks, reducing waste and environmental impact", Patrick Roth.

Q: How will technology evolve in the construction sector over the next decade? What impact do you think the associated changes will have?

Patrick: Technology will evolve rapidly in the construction sector over the following years. The increasing data availability resulting from digital planning and engineering will pave new ways for automation, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality. This will lead to entirely new solutions that will help our field workers do their jobs healthier and safer, more accurately and in less time.

Q: Ambitious projects are developing innovative technology solutions and making a difference in the construction sector. Are there any that have inspired you?

Patrick: Implenia is constantly working with innovative startups and partners to accelerate the development of innovative technologies in the construction and real estate sectors. The Implenia Innovation Hub has developed an extensive ecosystem of startups/scaleups, research institutes & universities, industry partners, and other market participants with which we continuously ideate and do pilots to validate new solutions that help shape a more efficient, sustainable and industrialised construction world.

"Implenia is constantly working with innovative startups and partners to accelerate the development of innovative technologies in the construction and real estate sectors", Patrick Roth.

Q: Any final words to end on?

Patrick: We always highlight the importance of understanding the actual needs of the end users and testing new solutions in the real environment. It’s not enough to develop new technology or business models in a laboratory environment. Innovators need to get to the action, talk to the experts and ideally experience the needs hands-on. And then, as our Head Division Specialties, Anita Eckardt, always says: Fail fast… As soon as you have a first solution, an MVP, test it in the real environment, and improve, pivot, or cancel your solution as quickly as possible.

Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to learn more about our work at HumanTech and the team behind it, and stay updated on our advances!

by andrea@australo.org

Meet the HumanTech team: Soungho CHAE, innovating in construction working methods

Meet Dr Soungho CHAE, Chief Research Engineer at Kajima Technical Research Institute Singapore (KaTRIS), an expert in building construction management with ICT (Information Communication Technology) and RT (Robotics Technology) from Japan's Kajima Corporation.

"The Kajima Corporation contributed to developing the industry and the economy through construction projects since its foundation in 1840. Today, the Kajima Group consists of 92 domestic companies and 142 overseas companies."

As part of the HumanTech project, Kajima will support a trial test of remote demolish robot control, seeking to revolutionize traditional working methods.

Q: Tell us a little about yourself. What are you focused on?

A: My research area is building construction management with ICT and RT. Especially, I have research performance in evaluating the effectiveness of advanced technologies such as image processing, sensing, measuring and visualization and applying it to construction sites.

Q: And about your organisation, Kajima Corporation, what have you set out to achieve?

A: The Kajima Corporation has been contributing to the development of industry and the economy through construction projects under the slogan of the “Enterprising Spirit” since its foundation in 1840. Today, the Kajima Group consists of 92 domestic companies and 142 overseas companies.

Kajima Technical Research Institute (KaTRI) has been supporting the technology base of the entire Kajima Group. Since KaTRI was established in 1949, all its researchers have collaborated to develop Japan’s first structures and infrastructures, such as skyscrapers, long bridges and deep tunnels looking ahead to the future. We are proud of the achievements of our predecessors.

In September 2013, we established Kajima Technical Research Institute Singapore (KaTRIS) in Singapore. At KaTRIS, we have researchers working across a wide range of topics which engage not only in R&D work but also in marketing and strategic planning.

Q: Now, let us know about your role at HumanTech. 

A: Kajima will support a trial test of remote demolish robot control in Japan. I hope It should be a game changer in the construction industry by proofing the potential of changing traditional working methods, which need to gather the workforce on site.

Q: What is the positive impact you hope to generate through HumanTech? 

A: I hope to collaborate with our EU team to deploy the applications we are developing at HumanTech and to keep working for the construction industry in the future globally. Japan's trial test will be done by April 2025.

Q: Is there a net zero future for construction?

A: I think achieving net zero in construction is more difficult than in other manufacturing industries, as the built environment is assembled by many kinds of components produced by different stakeholders. Modular and off-site construction is key to achieving this goal.

Q: How will technology evolve in the construction sector over the next decade? What impact do you think the changes it will bring about will have?

A: In the next decade, construction processes will be simplified and modularized by digitalisation and robotisation, and the core of the construction jobs will be transferred to computational systems.

Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to learn more about our work at HumanTech and the team behind it, and stay updated on our advances!

by andrea@australo.org

Meet the HumanTech team: Markus Miezal, passionate about technology and its positive impact

Meet Markus Miezal, CEO and Co-Founder of Sci-track, a passionate advocate of technology and its potential to improve lives. From a young age, Markus knew he wanted to be in research and development. His driving force is inventing technologies that benefit humanity and drive progress.

"I love technology. Since I was a kid, I knew I wanted to be in research and development and create all those magical devices of our everyday lives."

At Sci-track, they focus on developing self-configurable, easy-to-use, accurate and affordable inertial motion capture solutions. Their goal is to provide a state-of-the-art motion interface that simplifies motion tracking and analysis for various applications, from patient rehabilitation monitoring to the ergonomic analysis of factory workers.

As part of HumanTech, Marcus and his team are responsible for tracking workers on construction sites. By capturing and analysing data, they aim to understand workers' intentions and improve their safety and efficiency.

Learn more in our interview with him.

Q: Tell us a little about yourself. What drives you? What is your purpose, professionally and personally?

A: I love technology. Since I was a kid, I knew I wanted to be in research and development and create all those magical devices of our everyday lives. My goal was to invent things that benefit humanity and help those who can't help themselves. In reality, the steps I make are much tinier than expected. Our motion tracking technology can help patients in rehabilitation to monitor their progress and ensure healthy postures, or we perform ergonomic analysis on factory workers to improve their posture during different tasks. On a greater scale, my technology makes motion (human or animal) available for machines to learn from without needing a big motion lab. People often see inertial tracking as a bridge technology for AI.

Personally, I want to provide for my family. I try to ignite curiosity in my kids and strongly hope they can afford and develop their own idea of altruism.

"Our motion tracking technology can help patients in rehabilitation to monitor their progress and ensure healthy postures, or we perform ergonomic analysis on factory workers to improve their posture during different tasks."

Q: And about your organisation, Sci-track, what is your focus on and what have you set out to achieve?

A: We are developing self-configuring inertial motion-capturing solutions that are set to be easy for anyone without exhaustive preparation, calibration or setup. Our solution is supposed to be plug & play without prior technical knowledge. In the same way it is easy, it is also supposed to be accurate enough for clinical operations. We are also not bound to hardware and can already work with many hardware suppliers. Our goal is to provide the leading motion interface for the next decades.

"We are developing self-configuring inertial motion-capturing solutions that are set to be easy for anyone without exhaustive preparation, calibration or setup."

Q: Now, let us know about your role at HumanTech. What do you do and what is the most rewarding thing about it?

A: Our main task is to track the workers on the construction site. The data will be used to determine their intention. One of our tasks involves integrating a spherical camera with our tracking, which adds localisation capabilities and aims to improve self-calibration.

We are excited to see how users react to the system. User acceptance is a major obstacle in any application of this technology. Positive feedback would be really rewarding.

Q: What two activities are you working on in the project that you are most excited about?

A: Our main task involves providing an integrated system of inertial sensors and camera. On the way there, we will develop extensions to our algorithm, allowing us to incorporate intrinsic and extrinsic 3D information. This is not bound to visual sensors only. Any sensor that provides this kind of information can be integrated then.

Another exciting activity will be integrating with the exoskeleton of Tecnalia and the pilots since this highlights the value of our data, and we will learn a lot from that.

"Our main task involves providing an integrated system of inertial sensors and camera. On the way there, we will develop extensions to our algorithm, allowing us to incorporate intrinsic and extrinsic 3D information."

Q: What positive impact do you hope to generate through this project?

A: One goal is to become present in people's minds. My experience is that in many fields, there are existing solutions to known problems, but they are just unknown. For example, inertial sensors have a bad reputation in the industry because they contain magnetometers (basically a 3D compass), which are easily disturbed by other magnetic fields, e.g., current flowing through wires or bare metal. In many cases, however, the problem is solved, which seems quite unknown.

Q: Very ambitious projects are being developed to transform the industry and make it safer and more sustainable. Do you know of any that have inspired you? 

A: My first European project was COGNITO, an FP7 project aimed at capturing complex workflows. Back then, we had a primitive version of inertial motion capturing, but we could provide joint angles. At some point, I sat together in a taxi with a motion scientist from the University of Compiègne, and he came up with the idea to use our data for real-time ergonomic analysis. The resulting paper and the feedback were amazing, and still today, this is one of our main applications. It helps workers to maintain a healthy posture while working and improve their quality of life beyond work and when they retire. This was a key moment that demonstrated the possibilities of interdisciplinary work and showed how something very technical could have a positive and lasting effect on people’s lives.

Q: Any final words to end on?

A: Please play heroic epic music to improve the experience while reading this!

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by andrea@australo.org