andrea@australo.org

Discover the HumanTech work: Human factors – Training, usability and assessment

Welcome to the second episode of the 'DISCOVER THE HUMANTECH WORK' blogs, a series where we dive into the HumanTech work packages (WPs) with our WP Leaders!

Let’s discover WP6, Human Factors – Training, Usability and Assessment, presented by Gloria Callinan, Project Support Officer at the Technological University of the Shannon, Development Unit Thurles.

This WP is composed of four tasks led by a team of incredible experts:

• T6.1 Micro-learning units development and coordination – led by TUS
• T6.2 Subjective and objective assessment of worker's technology acceptance – led by TECNALIA
• T6.3 Workflow capturing and extended reality (XR) training – led by DFKI and
• T6.4 Wearables safety, gender and ethics considerations – led by BAUA

Let’s dive into the work behind this WP, its impact, its liaisons with the other WPs and what is next.

The importance of WP6 – what has been done in this WP.

The construction sector is among the least digitalised and thus offers significant potential to improve the efficiency of construction processes and building operations and enhance health and safety on construction sites. The digital transformation in the construction sector will require workforce upskilling and reskilling.

Training and assessments will focus on the following thematic areas:

• Technologies supporting workers' safety and well-being in future digital construction
• Human-robot collaboration in construction automation

Work Package 6 is the meeting of technology and human factors in construction through the HumanTech project. In response to this challenge, WP6 has carried out two main activities supported by all WP 6 task leaders and WP project partners.

1. Creation of new training materials for use by training centres to be delivered to craft trades and apprentices and to higher education institutes to upskill construction professionals. Chambers and registered bodies can also access the freely available materials for continuous professional development. 3 modules have already been developed on HumanTech training material: HumanTech and Digitalisation (module 1), Green Technology in Construction (Module 2), and BIM Fundamentals Module 3, and are available on Zenodo.

Another 9 modules are under development with support from the HumanTech pilots covering 360-degree Cameras and mounting on Robotics and Drones, Robotics in Construction, UAV and UGV and construction, Digital twins, Exosketons, Building Smart Data Dictionaries and others.

2. Subjective and objective assessment of worker's technology acceptance. The use of advanced technology such as exoskeletons, smart glasses and wearable sensors can have a huge impact on the behaviour of the worker. Similarly, the use of robots on construction sites with human interaction is a major challenge. Although technologies are designed to support workers, they can have the opposite effect in the work environment, especially when different technologies are combined. Workers may feel monitored, restricted in their movements or stressed by an information overload. In the context of a good work environment, special consideration should be given to the needs of workers.

Led by partners Tecnalia and BAUA, workers and apprentices participated in a focus group moderated by a HumanTech partner in Spain and Ireland. Technologies were presented and outlined in a face-to-face environment, and surveys were then completed on workers’ perspectives.

One online workshop was held with French female construction workers moderated by the European Builders Confederation. Workshop participants were assured that data from these objective measures were anonymised and would be used only to evaluate the technological solutions, not any given worker’s performance.

Participants were recruited by Acciona at Alicante and Zubieta, in Spain, among the stakeholders working on the construction site (workers and supervisors). A total of 22 participants took part in this first physical workshop, organised in Acciona premises. Another 27 participants took part in the second physical workshop, organised in the Acciona offices at another construction site. The Irish workshop took place in Limerick, Ireland, and was delivered by TUS to apprentice electricians and carpenters at the Raheen Training Centre campus of the Limerick Clare Education and Training Board. It was attended by 26 construction apprentice participants and 4 tutors.

The broad results indicate higher reluctance towards interactive robots than exoskeletons and XR glasses, mainly due to perceived low manoeuvrability, physical rigidity and sedateness. The results are available in report format D6.3 – HT Worker Assessment Report.

In HumanTech, we are not working in a silo – let’s discover how this WP is linked to the others.

WP6 is highly dependent on progress in other work packages, the evolution of technology such as exoskeletons, smart glasses, and wearable sensors, and the progress of the pilots, the work of which will be used for the final assessment due in 2025. Subjective assessment of the human factor-related aspects was performed using scientifically validated questionnaires for lab and field research. Objective evaluation is due later in the project and is an objective perspective of user acceptance that will be assessed by means of measurement of users psychophysiological signals such as EEG (electroencephalogram), GSR (Galvanic Skin Response) and BVP (Blood Volume Pulse). For example, WP1 user requirements and architectural definitions are relevant and fundamental for human factors in both training and assessment. The BIMxD platform of WP2, hyperspectral material scanning of WP3, body sensor network of WP4, demolition task planning in WP5 and mobile platform, along with the pilot of WP7, are all relevant and significant to WP6. Finally, a communications foundation from WP8 is vital for the dissemination of the WP6 training materials.

The feedback from workers and apprentices will help inform the work of the technology partners, and the provision of training from the HumanTech project will mean greater exploitation and sustainability of the HumanTech approach.

The impact and the benefits of WP6.

Two aspects of our work are likely to have the most impact.

1. The delivery of 12 bespoke micro-learning units, which are the culmination of HumanTech's work and unique to HumanTech results, will upskill a range of construction sector actors across VET, higher education, and Continuous Professional Development. The target is upskilling 200 trainees and 20 tutors.
2. Worker assessment will have a significant impact on workers' attitudes toward technology. Open questions for each technology included, for instance, the participant’s belief on how their working task will change under the use of the technology, expected benefits and problems (each in the short- and long-term), as well as the most important resources needed for a successful implementation. Participants stated that they see positive effects on the reduction of physical strain, musculoskeletal injuries, and disorders. For XR glasses, participants named the specific benefits of worker training, learning, and skill development. Furthermore, they see benefits in the specific application of XR glasses for prototyping as well as in the design and planning phase, also through visualisation of future on-site activities.

WHAT IS NEXT

The two main (although there are many more) activities planned for WP6 are the completion of the remaining 9 micro-learning units as modules to be delivered by training centres and higher education institutes. 200 participants will benefit as pilots from the HumanTech training, and 20 educators will be upskilled in delivery. In addition, the final assessment using technology developed in HumanTech will be tested on workers again in Spain and apprentices in Ireland.

Planning for the next assessments includes:

• Organisation of additional workshops in other countries to go deeper into the subjective analysis (and thus complement what has been done in T6.2).
• Performance of an objective assessment by evaluating physiological sensor data collected in dedicated training sessions. To do so, the technological developments of HumanTech wearables and interactive and collaborative robot systems developed in WP4 and WP5 will have to be mature enough to be tested in pilots in WP7.

Take a look at our progress on WP4, wearable technologies for construction, led by Bruno Walter Mirbach, Senior Researcher at the Department of Augmented Vision at DFKI, and stay tuned to our news, social media (LinkedIn and Twitter), and to stay up to date!

by andrea@australo.org

HumanTech's 3rd Executive Board Meeting in Genova

We held our third Executive Board Meeting on 20 and 21 March, hosted by STAM in Genova. During two days, we reviewed our progress over the last period, conducted workshops and demonstrations of our pilots and technologies, and established our next steps to continue advancing towards our goals.

The meeting kicked off with a warm welcome and an introduction by our coordinator, Jason Rambach (DFKI), providing updates on the project's status. Work Package presentations followed, covering various aspects such as BIMxD Formats and Standardization, Dynamic Semantic Twin Generation, Wearable Technologies for Construction, and Construction Robotics and Human-Robot Collaboration.

We conducted pilot workshops, focusing on Dynamic Semantic Digital Twin and Bridge Inspection and Monitoring, among others. The first day concluded with discussions on Outreach, Exploitation, and Collaboration and capped off with a fascinating XR BIM visualization demo by Holo-Light.

The second day began with a presentation on Human Factors: training and Usability Assessment. Pilot sessions continued, featuring Human-Robot Collaboration and Wearables, Remote-Controlled Demolition, and Robotic Mastic Application. Jason Rambach concluded the day with closing remarks, wrapping up two days of productive discussions and workshops.

Overall, the meeting served as a valuable platform for collaboration, knowledge sharing, and strategic planning, driving us closer to our collective goals. We're grateful for the dedication and contributions of all participants, and we look forward to continuing our journey towards innovation and excellence in the construction industry.

Many thanks to our partners STAM, Francesca Canale and Stefano Ellero, for organising it!

by andrea@australo.org

Discover the HumanTech work: Wearable technologies for construction

Welcome to the 'DISCOVER THE HUMANTECH WORK' blogs, a series where we dive into the HumanTech work packages (WPs) with our WP Leaders!

Let’s start this series with WP4, wearable technologies for construction, led by Bruno Walter Mirbach, Senior Researcher at the Department of Augmented Vision at DFKI.

This WP is composed of four tasks:

• T4.1: Inertial sensors - wearable camera integration, led by sci-Track
• T4.2: Intention prediction and exoskeleton integration, led by Tecnalia
• T4.3: Wearable camera digital twin localisation, led by DFKI and
• T4.4: XR-glass integration and BIMxD visualisation framework, led by HoloLight

In this blog, Bruno presents the work carried out in the first half of the project, the benefits and the impact of the work done, its liaison with the other WPs and what is next!

WHAT WP4 ACHIEVED

Work package 4 focuses in the development of wearable technologies for construction. These technologies will support workers in physical and stressful situations to enhance their efficiency, safety, and satisfaction. Moreover, extended reality (XR) glasses and deep-learning methods applied to body cameras shall ease the use and effectiveness of digitalisation methods in construction.

A key achievement in the first half of the project has been the development of a visual-inertial body sensor network (BSN). Combining a network of Inertial Measurement Units (IMU) with camera-based visual tracking allows for robust pose tracking of the worker. We will use this as input to an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that detects workers' intentions and automatically activates an exoskeleton when needed.

The integration of the IMU network with the camera system has been achieved by the HumanTech partner Sci-Track, with support from RICOH, who has developed an entirely new prototype of a dual-fisheye 360° camera to integrate the visual BSN. In parallel, Tecnalia has built a test bench with IMU and physiological sensors to determine the actions in which workers need support and develop an intention recognition algorithm for exoskeleton activation.

HoloLight has integrated the visualisation of a BIM model in the HoloLens into its software framework. Both HoloLight and DFKI, in collaboration with sci-track, are moreover working on a camera-based localisation of a worker with respect to a BIM model. We can use these functionalities for an augmented reality (AR) visualisation of progress monitoring or issue investigation through a BIM model.

In HumanTech, we are not working in a silo – let’s discover how this WP is linked to the others, the impact and the benefits of this WP.

We will demonstrate the exoskeleton with automatic activation function in a use case of Pilot 2: human-robot collaboration and wearables. Therefore, from the start of the project, there has been a close collaboration with the pilot owner and other involved partners — in particular, from WP5: construction robotics and human-robot collaboration — to define use cases for the exoskeleton.

WP4 is also very closely linked to WP2 and WP3. WP2 provides the BIMxD backend, the communication and processing platform from which the BSN and the XR glasses receive content from the BIM model generated within WP3. We can either visualise this content in the XR glasses or use it to determine the camera's pose with respect to the BIM model. Therefore, we have organised multiple workshops between WP4, WP2, and WP3 to define extensions of BIM standards as well as interfaces and services of the BIMxD backend.

WP3 partners have strongly supported WP4 partners in scanning lab space for generating BIM models. On the other hand, the development of a camera localisation and the augmented visualisation of BIM content allows to visualise the benefits of the methods developed in WP3 (dynamic semantic digital twin generation), thus providing added value.

Moreover, RICOH's development of the novel 360° camera brought an unforeseen benefit to the project. Initially designed for integration into the BSN, the camera turned out to be an ideal environment perception sensor for the robotic platform we developed in WP5, into which we will now integrate it.

The exoskeleton with an automatic activation function is one of the project's key exploitable results because it overcomes the downside of existing exoskeletons, which is the need for manual activation or the fact that it impedes natural motion. With the exoskeleton's so-called transparency, the range of applications will increase, as will the acceptance of exoskeletons in construction.

Computer vision and deep-learning methods, such as the automatic localisation of a camera with respect to a BIM model and the XR visualisation, can strongly support the demonstration and exploitation of the methods developed in WP3.

WHAT IS NEXT

The clearly indicated final step for the development exoskeleton with automatic activation function is the hardware- and software integration of the visual BSN with the exoskeleton, the optimization of the pose tracking and intention recognition algorithms and the system validation. The final system with be demonstrated within a use case of Pilot 2.

An ongoing task is the research on methods to localize accurately the pose of a camera with respect to a BIM model and to implement the communication between the body sensors and the BIMxD backend.

In the coming weeks, we will continue to share our progress on our different work packages — stay tuned to our news, social media (LinkedIn and Twitter), and to stay up to date!

by andrea@australo.org

Tech4EUconstruction cluster at the European Robotics Forum 2024

Our second workshop at the European Robotics Forum was a great success! It allowed us to share our knowledge on the benefits of AI and robotics in achieving automation in construction — based on our research and development activities — with more than 100 professionals in the AI and robotics area.

We organised a workshop on “AI and Robotics in Construction” in collaboration with our sister projects, the EU-funded BEEYONDERS and RoBétArmé, for the second year in a row, which attracted a huge audience.

Our project coordinator, Jason Rambach (DFKI), introduced HumanTech, highlighting the groundbreaking technologies we are developing to revolutionise the construction sector.

Antonio Alonso Cepeda (ACCIONA) and Dimitris Giakoumis (CERTH-ITI) also introduced our sister projects, with which we created the Tech4EUconstruction cluster.

Watch the interview we did with them, in which they reflect on the successful outcome of our workshop, the importance of the cluster for our projects and the opportunity it offers us to collaborate and advance AI and robotics in construction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBN9XnfpyUg&list=PLLFSbOsrWIuaKCMQwGqsuvQ3zEEhhalnV

During the workshop, Gabor Sziebig (SINTEF), Renaud Detry (KU Leuven) and Maria Teresa Lázaro (ITAINNOVA) addressed key aspects of AI and robotics necessary for introducing robotic automation in construction sites, focusing on robot vision, navigation, control and HRI.

Patricia Helen Rosen (BAuA) shared insights from the first end-user evaluation we developed in HumanTech.

Our colleagues Gabor Sziebig and Sascha Wischniewski (BAuA), together with Herman Bruyninckx (KU Leuven), Jose Carlos Jimenez (TECNALIA) and Alberto Landini (STAM), held an insightful panel on challenges and lessons learned within our projects.

To conclude, we had an interactive feedback round with the attendees.

Thanks to all who joined us!

Want to keep updated with the latest news from HumanTech and our Tech4EUConstruction cluster? Subscribe to our newsletter.

by andrea@australo.org

Andrea Serrano Campo on creating a more diverse, inclusive and equitable STEM field

Our colleague Andrea Serrano Campo, innovation engineer at ACCIONA, participated in our first-ever Hackathon, which we recently celebrated at ACCIONA's facilities in Madrid, Spain. On the occasion of International Women's Day 2024, we spoke with her about her vision for a more diverse, inclusive and equitable STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) field, where women remain significantly underrepresented.

Andrea is an MS civil engineer. She was born in Santander (Spain) and lived in the US and Italy during her student years. A few years ago, she moved to Madrid, where she worked as a consultant in the transportation sector for more than six years.

She now works in the construction sector as an innovation engineer at our partner organisation ACCIONA, a Spanish company with a presence on five continents and over 65 countries, focused on developing and managing sustainable infrastructures and renewable energy solutions. In particular, she works in the Construction Technology Centre's Technology and Innovation Division, supporting different engineering projects.

When asked what has brought her to where she is now, Andrea reflects on her fascination with science, technology and research since childhood. "Perhaps the fact that my father was an engineer only fueled that curiosity further. My family has always supported my academic and personal growth, allowing me to pursue my interests and become the professional I am today," she says.

For International Women's Day 2024, we took the chance to ask her about her vision for a more diverse, inclusive and equitable STEM field, where women make up just 29.2% of all workers. She also shared how she thinks HumanTech could help address the construction industry's skills shortage and gender gap (only 8% of building industry workers are women), leading to a more balanced workforce.

This is what she told us:

Q: Hi Andrea! Can you share your experiences with female role models who have positively influenced your career journey?

A: Throughout history, there have been numerous pioneering women in civil engineering and computer science whose work has laid the foundation for advancements in these fields. Women like Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper, and Margaret Hamilton made groundbreaking contributions to computing and software engineering, shaping the way we understand and interact with technology today.

In the field of civil engineering, without a doubt, I would highlight Emily Roebling (1843-1903). She was the first woman to be the chief engineer on-site, and what a project it was — none other than the Brooklyn Bridge!

Their achievements have inspired countless individuals, regardless of gender, to pursue careers in STEM. Their dedication, innovation, and perseverance serve as a source of motivation for aspiring engineers and technologists, highlighting the importance of diversity and inclusion in driving progress and innovation in the field of technology.

Q: What advice would you offer to fellow women aspiring to pursue a career in your sector, civil engineering?

A: If a woman asks me for my advice now, this is what I would tell her:

• Have confidence in your abilities and believe that you belong in the field. Your gender does not define your capabilities.
• Stay curious and committed to lifelong learning. Keep up with advancements in technology, regulations, and industry trends by taking courses, attending workshops, and pursuing certifications relevant to civil engineering.
• Recognise that challenges and setbacks are a natural part of any career journey. Stay resilient, learn from failures, and use them as opportunities for growth and development.
• As you progress in your career, serve as a role model and mentor for other women aspiring to enter the area. Share your experiences, offer guidance, and support efforts to increase diversity and representation in the industry.

"Have confidence in your abilities, stay curious and committed to lifelong learning, recognise challenges as a natural part of your career and become a role model for other women aspiring to enter the STEM area."

Q: That is such an inspiring advice! In your opinion, what measures could be taken to promote greater diversity and inclusion in STEM? What changes do you think would contribute to creating a more equitable environment for women?

A: To create a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable STEM field for women, targeted efforts must be made to tackle the specific challenges and barriers they face.

For example, encourage and support girls' interest in STEM subjects from a young age, address prejudice and stereotypes that discourage women from pursuing careers in this area, develop mentorship and networking programs that connect female students and professionals with experienced mentors and peers, or promote female representation in leadership roles.

Q: Reflecting on your personal experiences, are there any aspects of your journey you would have liked to see handled differently to make it more inclusive?

A: That´s a good question… Because although, theoretically, everything has evolved over the years, there are still pending issues and milestones to achieve.

Something I wish had been different in my case is the availability of programs encouraging young people, especially girls, to foster their interest in engineering from an early age. These could include workshops, science and technology camps, and visits to engineering companies and institutions to showcase engineering as a viable and exciting career option.

Also, it would be helpful to enhance the visibility of women and minorities in engineering roles by acknowledging their contributions through awards, publications, and conferences and establishing them as role models for future generations.

Q: At HumanTech, we are focused on advancing digitalisation within the construction sector. How do you think this evolution can make the built environment more inclusive and diverse?

A: The advancement of digitalisation in construction can significantly contribute to making it more inclusive for women. Digitalisation allows greater access to educational resources, online courses, webinars, and virtual workshops, making it easier for women to acquire knowledge and skills in construction-related fields without traditional physical or temporal barriers. It can also improve workplace safety through technologies such as virtual reality for safety training and real-time monitoring of working conditions, making the sector more attractive and accessible.

"The advancement of digitalisation in construction, which HumanTech focuses on, can significantly contribute to making it more inclusive for women."

Andrea's role at HumanTech

At HumanTech, the team Andrea works with is involved in various tasks, such as:

• Integrating wearables into a single intelligent system that can support construction workers on demand, transparently and without obstruction.
• Setting up the basis for deploying human-robot collaboration (HRC) technologies in construction scenarios, from demolition to new build, providing support to operators, ensuring safety, and overall improving working conditions.
• Creating and delivering new educational resources to train and improve health and safety and specialised green skills to make the sector more attractive, especially for young blue-collar workers, females, technical colleges, and universities.

Meet Andrea's colleague, Anurag Bansal, innovation manager at ACCIONA’s Construction Technology Center, who leads the work on two of our five pilots to validate our different HumanTech technologies.

Want to know more stories from our HumanTech team? Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to keep up to date!

by andrea@australo.org

HumanTech Mid-Term Review Meeting: Consolidating our innovations to drive digitalisation in construction

At HumanTech, we have reached a new milestone: successfully celebrating our Mid-Term Review Meeting! From 22 to 24 January 2024, representatives from the 21 partner organisations that comprise our team gathered in Zurich, Switzerland, to comprehensively review our progress since we started working in June 2022 and agree on our next steps. A process that has helped us align our priorities to further our mission — to achieve breakthroughs in cutting-edge technologies, contributing to a safer, more efficient and digitised European construction industry.

“We successfully completed the HumanTech project Mid-Term Review Meeting with presentations and demos that are highly convincing of the project's scientific excellence and contribution to bringing AI to the construction industry” — Jason Rambach, HumanTech Project Coordinator.

To warm up and take advantage of the fact that we were in a perfect place to learn, we made an insightful visit to a construction site at our partner’s IMPLENIA headquarters.

The meeting started with an introduction by our Project Officer at the European Commission and our Expert Project Reviewer.

Next, Jason Rambach, our Project Coordinator (from DFKI), presented an overview of our objectives and the current state of our work, providing a solid foundation for the day’s discussions.

In-depth analysis of our technical developments

Leaders of the different areas of HumanTech made detailed presentations on the technical work we are developing, highlighting our most notable advances.

• Our progress on ‘BIMxD Formats and Standardization’ was presented by Rachele Bernardello (University of Padova).
• Ruprecht Altenburger (ZHAW) delved into ‘Dynamic Semantic Twin Generation’.
• Bruno Mirbach (DFKI) brought insights into ‘Wearable Technologies for Construction’.
• Gabor Sziebig (SINTEF) showcased our advancements in ‘Construction Robotics and Human-Robot Collaboration’.
• Gloria Callinan (TUS) shared details on ‘Human Factors - Training and Usability Assessment’, a key aspect of the project.
• Fabian Kaufmann (RPTU) highlighted the ongoing work on ‘Pilots, Evaluation, and Validation’, providing insights into the practical implementation of our technologies.
• Giulia Pastor (AUSTRALO) explored the ‘Outreach, Exploitation, and Collaboration’ efforts we have undertaken.

Throughout the presentations, we received constructive feedback and recommendations from our Project Officer and Reviewer, which will help us to further boost our success.

Demo session and feedback

The meeting concluded with an impressive live session of our innovative and interdisciplinary demos, showcasing our:

• scan-to-BIM pipeline (ZHAW, DFKI, RPTU)​,
• wearable localisation (Sci-track – DFKI),
• object pose estimation for grasping bricks (DFKI),
• and Human-Robot-Collaboration interfaces (SINTEF).

“On these reviews, the demos have always been my highlight. Especially on a project the size of HumanTech, it is really inspiring how partners from different disciplines collaborate on these prototypes and present an integrated proof-of-concept for complex problems”, says our colleague Markus Miezal, Co-Founder of Sci-track. He had the opportunity to demonstrate an initial version of a visual-inertial body tracking sensor of a worker within a Building Information Model (BIM) — an integrated prototype that includes a 360-degree camera from our partner, RICOH.

This meeting was packed with valuable discussions and learnings that will fuel our project’s crucial next phase as we continue to shape the future of construction.

Special thanks to our HumanTech team, who did a fantastic job, and to IMPLENIA and our colleagues Patrick Roth and Sebastian Mattes for being such good hosts!

Stay tuned for more updates on our exciting journey.

by andrea@australo.org

Welcoming new EU projects to the Tech4EUconstruction Cluster

At the Tech4EUconstruction cluster, we are proud to announce that four innovative European-funded projects have joined our mission of revolutionising construction technology: REINCARNATE, BIM2TWIN, RECONMATIC, and InCUBE. Each brings unique strengths and will enrich our collaborative efforts towards accelerating the digitisation of the EU construction industry and boosting its sovereignty.

This marks a significant step towards collaborative innovation. By pooling expertise and resources, we aim to address industry challenges, drive technological advancements, and shape the future of construction towards a sustainable and digital era.

Get to know the new projects

REINCARNATE

The REINCARNATE project mission is to revolutionise sustainable practices in construction. Focused on circular economy principles, it aims to breathe new life into materials, promoting recycling, reuse, and reduced environmental impact. It is developing a platform to provide information on the life cycle and reuse potential of construction materials and methods to predict and extend product lifetime and will demonstrate ten innovations based on this data.

BIM2TWIN

With a focus on Building Information Modeling (BIM), BIM2TWIN seeks to create interconnected digital twins of construction projects, promising heightened efficiency and accuracy throughout the construction lifecycle.

The project’s primary aim is to provide the construction sector with a breakthrough platform for construction management. This innovative tool is based on the Digital Building Twin (DBT) concept enriched by several functionalities in relation to real-time data collection and end-user applications. Relying on lean principles and adopting a comprehensive, holistic approach, BIM2TWIN’s ambition is to reduce operational waste, shorten schedules, reduce costs, enhance quality and safety and reduce carbon footprint. The DBT platform that BIM2TWIN is developing will provide situational awareness across the entire construction process, supporting a closed loop Plan-Do-Check-Act construction mode.

RECONMATIC

With a vision to streamline and enhance construction processes through automation, RECONMATIC proposes a set of innovative tools and techniques for managing construction and demolition waste (CDW) throughout the whole life cycle of buildings and infrastructures, addressing European targets for waste and energy consumption reduction in construction.

InCUBE

InCUBE envisions to unlock the EU renovation wave through cutting-edge standardised and integrated processes based on industrialisation, innovative renewable energy technologies, digitalisation, and new market entrants. All while accounting for social inclusion, gender mainstreaming and upskilling of the current and potential workforce. The solutions emerging from InCUBE will be validated in 3 large-scale demo sites: Zaragoza (Spain), Trento (Italy) and Groningen (Netherlands).

As we continue our collective journey, we invite you to stay tuned for updates on the progress of these groundbreaking projects. Together, we are committed to boosting a new era of construction where technology, sustainability, and innovation converge for a safer, greener, and more efficient industry.

Visit the Tech4EUconstruction cluster website for more details about these projects, and follow the #Tech4EUconstruction hashtag on social media to stay in the know about our updates!

by andrea@australo.org

Unlocking the future of research: Joana Goerg, Master's student at RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau and intern at SINTEF

Joana Goerg is the protagonist of the fifth edition of our series "Unlocking the future of research". She is currently involved with two of our partners — a great example of collaboration within our HumanTech Team! On the one hand, she's studying for a master's degree at the RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau University, with a strong reputation in research and teaching. On the other hand, she's doing an internship at SINTEF Manufacturing, one of Europe's largest independent research organisations, where she's working at HumanTech.

Learn about her passion for research and engineering, her work with robots and automation, and the ideas she is contributing to at HumanTech.

"I am fascinated by working in such an international company with such
modern approaches. I hope I can continue to think ahead and implement new ideas!"

Even as a child, I was interested in research, and my fascination with bridges led me to study civil engineering. After completing my bachelor's degree in Mosbach (Germany), I am currently studying for a master's degree in deepening structural engineering.

My university in southwest Germany is the Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU), where I got the fantastic opportunity to do an internship at SINTEF Manufacturing and work on the HumanTech project.

Before starting the internship, besides the amazing Norway, where SINTEF is based, I was very interested in the company's way of working, which has helped me to progress.

At SINTEF, I have been able to use my knowledge of construction technology to
work with robots. In the HumanTech project, I contributed with a good
idea of how bricklayers work, which enabled us to organise a live demonstration
in a practical way and better adapt robots to the operations on the construction site.

I also spend a lot of time analysing point clouds, which need to be compared with each other and with a previously
created Building Information Model (BIM) to enable automated construction site progress recording. I am
doing initial tests in the lab to see how detailed changes to an object can be
detected. In addition to the walls and columns, it should also be
possible to detect colour differences, for example, due to a finished coat
of paint.

My work aims to discover how detailed differences can be recognised and reliably detected. Later in the project, the detection of point cloud differences may be tested on real construction sites. Until now, I have taken 3D images myself, but a mobile robot will later do it automatically. The segmentation of the point clouds also needs to be further automated.

I am fascinated by working in such an international company with such
modern approaches. I hope I can continue to think ahead and implement new ideas!

Want to discover more stories of the PhDs, junior researchers, master students and interns working with us? Read the fourth edition of our #FutureofResearch series with Irati Rasines, a PhD student at the University of the Basque Country and our partner Tecnalia, a leading private research and technology organisation in Spain.

Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to learn more about our advances.

by andrea@australo.org