News

User-centered development: Evaluating HumanTech technologies for a safer, greener construction

Through our work in the field of human factors, usability training and evaluation, we are creating and delivering educational resources aimed at contributing to improving the health, safety and green skills in construction. Our ultimate goal is to make the sector more attractive — especially for young blue-collar workers, women, and students in technical colleges and universities. In addition, to evaluate the human factors involved in using our HumanTech technologies, from worker assessment to safety, health and ethical issues.

One of our tasks at HumanTech is to identify the users' needs at an early stage and incorporate them into our design process.

In this article, we share our work on assessing workers' technology acceptance, with which we want to provide a sequential and continuous evaluation of our HumanTech wearables system and human-robot interactions (part of the tasks belonging to our Work Package 6).

Why does worker assessment play a key role in HumanTech?

Advanced technology such as exoskeletons, smart glasses and wearable sensors can significantly impact workers’ behaviour. Similarly, using collaborative robots on construction sites is a considerable challenge.

Although technologies are designed to help 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 information overload. And a good working environment must pay special attention to the workers' needs.

With this in mind, our partners at the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS), as Work Package 6 leaders, BAUA and Tecnalia, evaluated different HumanTech technologies, focusing on user requirements, acceptance and usability.

They then presented their findings to construction workers during several workshops/focus groups. In doing so, they used the design thinking approach — the user-centred approach to innovation, which draws on the designer's toolkit to integrate people's needs, technology possibilities and requirements for business success.

Involving users from the start is essential for us to develop human-centred technologies, one of the pillars of our research activities. We do this through a co-creation methodology to ensure we integrate our results to build a greener, more efficient and safer construction industry.

The HumanTech technologies we have evaluated for the workers' assessment

1. Exoskeleton
2. Interactive robots
3. Extended reality (XR) glasses

After collecting our conclusions, we presented them in three workshops/focus groups in Spain and Ireland, organised by different organisations in our HumanTech team.

1st focus group: 16th May 2023

• Organising partner: ACCIONA.
• Location: Alicante (Spain). CEIP (Center of Early Childhood and Primary Education) La Pau.

2nd focus group: 15th June 2023

• Organising partner: ACCIONA.
• Location: San Sebastián (Spain). New Penitentiary Center of San Sebastián.

3rd focus group: 23rd June 2023

• Organising partner: Technological University of the Shannon (TUS).
• Location: Limerick (Ireland). Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board (LCETB)

Who were the participants in our focus groups?

One of the first activities we carried out to organise the focus groups was identifying which functions and people from the construction environment should be involved and what level of influence they should have.

We then identified three relevant stakeholders for HumanTech, which were present in all our focus groups:

• Apprentices
• Workers
• Supervisors (site responsible person, engineer or OSH manager)

For us, it was essential to ensure the participants belonged to these construction target groups.

As we presented in a previous work (the results of which are not yet public), we provided a sociodemographic characterisation of construction workers based on a survey of German employees. Our analysis shows that the majority of the workers are men and are between 50 and 60 years old.

At HumanTech, we aim to broaden our user group's typical profile. Therefore, we looked for participants of all genders and ages.

We recruited them through partners participating in the sessions. Participation was voluntary and took place during regular working/training hours.

The table below describes the sociodemographic measures for all participants of the three workshops.

What were the results?

We asked participants about the task changes, benefits and challenges they expected from using our technologies in the short and long term.

Most of their answers indicate a positive view towards their use and that they expect a reduction of physical strain and improvements in efficiency and handling of repetitive and dangerous tasks.

However, some participants expressed concerns about the suitability of these technologies for certain tasks, as well as issues related to maintenance, reliability and worker perception and acceptance.

Regarding the use of interactive robots, participants expect improvements in health by reducing injuries and physical workload, especially in the long term.

As for exoskeletons, they see benefits in injury prevention and specific applications for certain tasks. Challenges include concerns about comfort and mobility, unstructured environments, safety and physical health, maintenance and reliability, worker perception and acceptance, economic factors, and the need for training.

For XR glasses, participants see benefits in worker training, learning, and skill development, as well as specific applications for prototyping and design and planning phases. Challenges include technical issues, health and safety concerns, and worker perception and acceptance. Overall, participants named challenges more nuanced than benefits, with concerns about suitability for certain tasks, maintenance, reliability, and worker perception and acceptance being common themes.

Workers' expectations and concerns

In conclusion, most workers have a positive view of these technologies, and many expect them to improve their efficiency, reduce physical strain, and protect their health by handling repetitive and dangerous tasks.

However, some are concerned about their suitability for certain activities and issues related to their battery life, maintenance, worker acceptance or using them in unstructured environments and difficult terrains.

In addition, it is important to consider the principles of interaction with these technologies, as experienced and inexperienced users have different expectations towards them.

More experienced workers have higher expectations of the interaction principles of innovative technologies, particularly in terms of suitability for the task and self-descriptiveness. This may be due to previous experience in technology-driven development or implementation processes of a new system, which could have had negative consequences such as frustration or additional mental workload.

Find out more about our project and technologies, and subscribe to our newsletter to keep updated with our progress!

by andrea@australo.org

Jason Rambach: At HumanTech, we are tackling the challenges of EU construction with innovation

At HumanTech, we are creating groundbreaking solutions to build a better future for the EU construction industry. In the second part of our interview with Jason Rambach, HumanTech's Project Coordinator, he shares insights into our journey addressing the sector challenges head-on, with automation and digitalisation as the main driving forces.

Watch Jason's interview here:

https://youtu.be/piHfTxdriJ4

How are we addressing the main challenges facing the EU construction sector?

Jason reflects on how we are tackling some of the most challenging issues currently facing the European construction sector, such as the slow adoption of technology, a shortage of skilled workers, concerns regarding safety and productivity, and an inefficient use of resources.

We are doing so by developing a groundbreaking human-centred construction automation model. In particular, by creating robotic devices geared to protect and support construction workers, making their work easier, safer and more appealing to a new generation of professionals. Also, by advancing in the digitalisation of the whole construction process. For example, using a new breed of Dynamic Semantic Digital Twins (DSDTs) to gather information on every step, providing real-time progress monitoring and preventing costly errors.

What are the most important results we have achieved so far?

In this initial phase of HumanTech, we have focused on developing the technologies that we will later integrate into systems that will be applied on the construction site. Even so, we have already achieved our first promising results.

For example, in terms of our scientific excellence, we have published several papers in leading journals and conferences, as well as participated and won prizes in technical challenges in the field of computer vision. We have also conducted our first round of user evaluations in Ireland and Spain. In it, we have gathered the views of different professionals in the sector on our technologies, which we will take into account to improve and adapt them to their needs.

What are our next steps?

We are now starting a second phase of integration of results that will bring complete systems into view. "We have already seen this in our Scan to BIM pipeline, which will be used for construction monitoring", Jason remarks. "The same goes for robotics, where we have created perception systems that will soon be integrated into a robotic platform, ready to assist workers on construction sites."

We will keep advancing our innovations to continue the journey towards a safer, greener, more digital future for the EU construction ecosystem. Are you coming with us?

Watch the first part of this interview with Jason Rambach to learn more about HumanTech’s focus and our solutions to address construction workers’ safety and well-being, as well as environmental sustainability and efficiency in the building sector.

by andrea@australo.org

Unlocking the future of research: Harsh Manoj Shah, master's student at the Technical University of Munich

Our series 'Unlocking the future of research' third edition features Harsh Manoj Shah, a master's degree student in management, specialising in technology and innovation at the Technical University of Munich. Since June 2022, he has been a working student at Holo-Light GmbH, one of our partner organisations at HumanTech.

Meet Harsh:

I am Harsh Manoj Shah, currently pursuing a master's degree in management, specialising in technology and innovation at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Since June 2022, I have been working as a werkstudent (working student) at Holo-Light GmbH within its Research team.

My academic journey began with a Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering. Subsequently, I embarked on my professional career by joining WS Atkins (now known as AtkinsRéalis), a renowned engineering, design and project management consultancy firm.

Within the Building Design vertical, I served as a Building Services Engineer. In this capacity, I specialised in designing energy-efficient Mechanical, Electrical and Public Health (MEP) systems while adhering to energy compliance standards such as LEED and BREEAM. My work involved delivering sustainable design solutions for green buildings.

Later, I transitioned into the role of a Digital Developer, where I led the development of innovative software solutions tailored to various aspects of the infrastructure industry. These solutions encompassed 3D Modelling, Building Information Modelling (BIM), Infrastructure Digital Twin (iTwin), and Project Management.

As a developer, I undertook research and development projects, including parametric modelling of infrastructure utilities and the transformation of BIM into a semantic graph representation for sustainability and energy analytics, a crucial aspect of iTwin development. These experiences broadened my understanding of emerging technology adoption in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) ecosystem.

With a technical background and experience as a software developer, I harboured a desire to transition into management. In 2021, I decided to pursue a business degree in Munich, Germany. During my academic journey, I seized the opportunity to work with Holo-Light, an emerging XR tech startup.

Currently, I am working on my master's thesis, a collaborative effort involving Holo-Light and the Chair of Entrepreneurship Management at TUM. It is centred around Extended Reality (XR) adoption within industrial firms and its profound impact on value creation and customer experience.

"My thesis is centred around Extended Reality (XR) adoption within industrial firms and its profound impact on value creation and customer experience."

My role at Holo-Light encompasses business development, where my team and I actively seek research project opportunities and explore innovative avenues using frameworks like Horizon Europe. Additionally, I am deeply involved in technical integration and coordination, contributing to the design of tech architecture and interfaces for various research projects.

One of my significant assignments at Holo-Light was to support project management and technology integration for the HumanTech project. Personally, I found the HumanTech project incredibly intriguing, aligning seamlessly with my previous experience in building design.

"One of my significant assignments at Holo-Light was to support project management and technology integration for the HumanTech project."

Thanks to my background, I swiftly grasped the project's scope and objectives. Understanding the application of technologies within the construction industry came naturally to me.

The HumanTech project has played a pivotal role in my thesis research, enabling me to understand the rationale behind XR utilisation, the strategies employed to incorporate Augmented Reality (AR) into the project, the challenges faced during AR implementation, and the potential advantages of AR adoption. These insights will significantly contribute to my research and the development of a process model for XR adoption within industrial firms.

The use cases within the HumanTech project are profoundly relevant and address critical industry gaps. For instance, in the realm of visualisation, technicians had traditionally relied on CAD drawings for review. However, HumanTech showcases how AR can revolutionise the visualisation of BIM models, streamlining comprehension and decision-making processes.

"The use cases within the HumanTech project are profoundly relevant and address critical industry gaps".

The project also explores the utilisation of drones, robots, and body exoskeletons to enhance the efficiency and outcomes of construction industry workers, adding an extra layer of innovation to the mix.

My engagement with a European Union (EU) funded research project like HumanTech has been immensely rewarding. Collaborating with brilliant minds and actively contributing to the success of the HumanTech project has been an enlightening experience.

EU projects such as HumanTech resonate with the spirit of entrepreneurial ventures, where innovative ideas are nurtured, and prototypes are brought to fruition through collaborative efforts across multiple organisations.

Each team member plays a pivotal role in aspects ranging from marketing and exploitation to budgeting, innovation, technology, and development. Being a part of this dynamic process has been incredibly enriching and fulfilling!

Take a look at the second edition of our series with Mahdi Chamseddine, PhD student at RTPU Kaiserslautern.

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

by andrea@australo.org

Unlocking the future of research: Mahdi Chamseddine, PhD student at RTPU Kaiserslautern

Our series 'Unlocking the future of research' is coming to its second release. In this editorial, our colleague Mahdi Chamseddine, a PhD student at RTPU Kaiserslautern working in the Augmented Vision department of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), tells us about his research focus and experience working at HumanTech.

Meet Mahdi:

My research focuses on deep learning for sensor data processing and scene understanding, specifically using radar and lidar sensors. When I learned about the HumanTech project, I was intrigued. It was a new topic for me and my first time participating in a European project.

"My research focuses on deep learning for sensor data processing and scene understanding, specifically using radar and lidar sensors."

In HumanTech, my primary role is centred around the semantic segmentation of point clouds, which was both an opportunity and a challenge for me. Delving into this new topic and navigating the construction field presented its own challenges. I had to familiarize myself with new terminologies and align my work with the unique requirements of the construction domain. While this was a departure from my previous work, my experience in research was an asset as I've often navigated the waters of new topics. This project was no exception — it reaffirmed that research is a continuous learning journey.

A standout moment during my time on the project was achieving 3rd place in the 2023 CV4AEC challenge. This accomplishment was a testament to our team's hard work and its importance.

"Achieving 3rd place in the 2023 CV4AEC challenge was a testament to our team's hard work and its importance."

At first glance, the project seemed like a departure from the core of my PhD research. The nuances of working on deep learning in the context of construction certainly presented a different facet of the field. However, this shift in focus became an unexpected boon. It introduced fresh perspectives and offered interesting angles from which to approach my PhD research. It pushed me to formulate my ideas with more clarity, bridging the gap between seemingly disparate areas and creating a cohesive narrative that intertwined my work on HumanTech with my broader research goals.

The HumanTech project, a collaboration across multiple institutes, expanded my professional network significantly, helped me gain invaluable knowledge, and honed my skills in interdisciplinary collaboration. These experiences and the connections I have made have set the foundation for future opportunities and collaborations in my career.

"The HumanTech project expanded my professional network significantly, helped me gain invaluable knowledge, and honed my skills in interdisciplinary collaboration."

It has been an unexpected journey thus far, and I feel constantly challenged to improve and learn both professionally and personally. It is exciting to take part in shaping the future of construction!

Take a look at the first edition of our series with Chiara Zarna, research scientist at SINTEF.

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

by andrea@australo.org

Tech4EUConstruction cluster launches "Words of Innovation" campaign

What is a digital twin? What is meant by automation and environmental impact in construction? Through our Tech4Construction Cluster's "Words of Innovation" campaign, we will explore and clarify the meaning of these and other keywords and why they are relevant in today's construction sector.

Tech4Construction Cluster: Transforming Construction through Innovation and Collaboration

What will this campaign consist of? Experts from the founding projects of the Tech4Construction cluster — BEEYONDERS, HumanTech and RoBétArmé — will delve into essential and innovative aspects of their work by defining simple keywords. They will briefly explain the technologies and strategies they are developing to address the various challenges facing today's European construction industry.

Stay tuned to gain insights into the work driving the Tech4EUConstruction Cluster's innovative efforts. Join us as we unlock the vocabulary of innovation and pave the way towards a better European construction!

Keep up to date with the campaign on LinkedIn and Twitter at #Tech4EUConstruction + #WordsOfInnovation.

by andrea@australo.org

Jason Rambach: “HumanTech is bringing AI to construction”

How are we addressing the most important challenges in the construction industry today? How will our technologies help accelerate the sector's green and digital transformation? What positive impact will they have on the day-to-day lives of construction workers? How will our educational resources help professionals learn about them? Why is it necessary to conceive technological advances with a human-centred perspective? What will our pilots consist of and how will they feed into our projects’ technical developments?

One year after HumanTech started and having seen our first promising technical results, we wanted to know our partners' views on these and other key aspects to understand our project. So, we interviewed them at our last General Assembly Meeting in Oslo.

Ready to find out more about HumanTech and our extraordinary team?

Jason Rambach, HumanTech Project Coordinator: What is HumanTech?

For this series' first interview, we spoke with our project coordinator, Jason Rambach — a Senior Researcher and Team Leader in Spatial Sensing and Machine Perception at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI).

He told us about our project’s focus, “to improve construction for its workers and society as a whole”, and our multidisciplinary team, consisting of “research institutes, construction companies, and innovative SMEs”.

Also, he explained our solutions — from exoskeletons to collaborative robots and progress monitoring tools —, combining computer vision and 3D semantic segmentation with BIM modelling to address construction workers' safety and well-being as well as environmental sustainability and efficiency in the building sector.

Stay tuned for more! Learn about how we are revolutionising the construction industry by harnessing the power of AI in upcoming interviews with the HumanTech team.

by andrea@australo.org

HumanTech General Assembly Meeting in Oslo

Our HumanTech team met in Oslo, Norway, from 23 to 25 August 2023 for our yearly General Assembly Meeting. Colleagues from all our 21 partner organisations came together to reconnect, share their progress so far and agree on our next steps to advance towards our goal: accelerating the construction industry's digital transformation, making it safer and greener.

Over three days, we had discussions on human-robot collaboration, wearable technology, and construction workers' perception of health and safety innovation. We also shared our main milestones and challenges since we started working together a year ago, reviewed the tasks we are currently focused on and agreed on our next steps to continue contributing to improving the European construction sector.

Our latest highlights

Some of our recent and most outstanding achievements include:

• Scientific excellence recognition: Having been awarded in the CV4AEC workshop's Scan-to-BIM challenge (3D Building Model Reconstruction) at the CVPR 2023 conference.
• Events and conferences: Having organised and participated in numerous events — from our “Human Factors in Construction Robotics” Special Session at the 19th IEEE ARSO International Conference to our participation in the International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction (ISARC) and the AI for Good Global Summit — with large public attendance.
• Stakeholders focus groups: Having realised worker's technology acceptance workshops with representatives of the main stakeholders targeted by our construction technologies in Spain (Alicante and Zubieta) and Ireland (Limerick).
• Collaboration with other EU-funded projects: We joined forces with our sister projects, BEEYONDERS and RoBétArmé, to create the collaborative cluster Tech4EUconstruction to address the key challenges of the European construction sector.

Team collaboration and 1st technical demo session

In addition to updating the status of our tasks in HumanTech’s main areas — from Dynamic Semantic Twin Generation to Wearable Technologies for Construction and Construction Robotics and Human-Robot Collaboration — we held a collaborative workshop, an open session with external partners and a demonstration of our technologies.

In the Human Factors - Training and Usability Assessment collaborative workshop, partners discussed how to contribute to the training modules we will develop — aimed at upskilling and re-skilling construction professionals.

These will focus on two areas:

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

We also had an open session with external partners and saw the first demonstrations of our HumanTech technologies — from real-time brick tracking to an automated scan to BIM pipeline.

After these days of intense teamwork, networking, and progress sharing, we are prepared to go all out for HumanTech's next phase!

Many thanks to our colleagues at SINTEF, who organised this meeting, for being such great hosts.

In this meeting, we took the chance to record interviews with some of our partners. Stay tuned to our channels! We will be sharing them over the next weeks.

by andrea@australo.org

Celebrating the achievements of HumanTech's first year

It's been a year since the start of HumanTech! And we are getting a feeling of great momentum building up in our project. Having invested a good amount of time in clearly defining tasks, dependencies and architectures during this period, we will focus even more on our technical developments in the coming year.

Since HumanTech began, we have already seen some promising first results — from scanning and semantic reconstruction to wearables integration and robotics & perception — while initiating our first round of user evaluations. Meanwhile, the scientific excellence of our consortium is already evident with three publications and technical challenge awards.

We have also been very active in communication, dissemination and community building for artificial intelligence (AI) in construction by organising two technical workshops with impressive attendance and having a very active online presence.

Below, discover our progress in this first part of the project and our plans for the period ahead.

https://youtu.be/KUC21zRo4yE

Overall framework definitions

Our partners at the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) have led the implementation of the HumanTech cooperation, defining our overall vision and creating the first version of the project's system architecture.

After many fruitful team discussions and collaboration with partners involved in the project's technical development and pilots, they have defined a detailed architecture at the modular level — clearly paving a path from technical developments to integrated proof-of-concept implementations for our pilots.

Furthermore, they have been able to define a comprehensive collection of end-user requirements for our HumanTech technologies, which will be the basis for further human-centred technology evaluation activities and, above that, have guiding character for our technology developing partners.

Our team working on the project's overall framework definitions will now closely follow the progress of the rest of the team to make the necessary updates towards the final version of the HumanTech system architecture.

BIMxD formats and standardisation

Our team focused on BIMxD (multidimensional building information modelling) formats and standardisation, led by the University of Padova, has worked on implementing standardised and openBIM methods in designing a BIMxD platform, in terms of technology implementation and processes.

Their main activities during our first project year could be summarised in these:

• Analysis of the existing standards and openBIM implementation in semantic BIM modelling, use of BIM models and robotics in construction activities
• Definition of the exchange requirements of the BIMxD platform
• Design of the BIMxD platform for collaboration
• Implementation of the BCF (BIM Collaboration Format) for the task
• Initial work on open-source BIM software and framework for modelling and updating services of BIMxD representations

Regarding their main results achieved, they have advanced on the implementation of the IDM for the BIMxD platform and executed the first successful workflow in the BIMxD platform using an open-source framework.

Next, they will focus on implementing the BIMxD platform, the BSDD domain for the BMxD platform and required implementation, and the framework and software modules for the opensource BIM tool.

Dynamic semantic digital twin generation

The main activities of our team focused on dynamic semantic digital twin generation, led by Naska.AI, have been:

• The development of hardware and software pipelines for unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) data capture platforms
• The development and testing of prototype RGB-D sensor
• The development of an industrial 360° RGB (red, green, and blue) camera
• The capture of several RGBD (red, green, blue depth) datasets, development of annotation workflow and tools for semantic segmentation
• Initial work on synthetic data generation from BIM models
• The definition of scan-to-BIM pipeline and algorithm development
• The study of the state-of-the-art for the use of spectral sensors for building material classification and identification of suitable sensors

In this regard, we have achieved the following:

• An initial hardware and software pipeline for UGV data capture
• Promising initial results of RGB-D camera prototype
• Multimodal data capture at a test site in Weingarten, Germany
• Promising initial results on semantic segmentation from RGB-D data

Our work during the next phase of the project will be focused on:

• The integration of the RICOH industrial 360° camera on UGV and UAV platforms
• The development of path planning algorithm for autonomous UGV inspection
• The testing of a multispectral sensor for building material classification and its integration on a UGV platform
• Continuing the development of semantic segmentation algorithms using RGB-D data
• Synthetic data generation from BIM models and domain adaptation
• Multimodal data capture with final configurations of UGV and UAV platforms
• The development of a scan-to-BIM pipeline

Wearable technologies for construction

Our partners working on wearable technologies, also led by the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), have been involved in discussions and workshops with other partners to help define a detailed architecture and specify the pilot use cases to which the components they are developing will contribute.

They have detailed specifications on visual body sensor network components and their interfaces, and designed and constructed a novel miniaturised 360° camera that is being integrated into the visual body sensor network.

In parallel, they have built test equipment with IMUs (inertial measurement units) and physical sensors to reproduce the laboratory's pilot use case of the exoskeleton.

Based on a new 360° camera, they are developing a first setup of a visual-inertial tracking system. The concept of this visual body sensor network will be documented in a public report. Also, they will collect sensor data with the exoskeleton to develop an intention recognition algorithm for activating it.

In this next phase, the partners involved in these tasks will also work on localising the wearable camera in the digital twin and the BIMxD visualisation in extended reality (XR) glasses. They have already started to conceive and discuss concepts and have initiated workshops with other partners to define interfaces and benefit from existing BIM standards.

Their next step is to define suitable laboratory spaces, equip them accordingly, and generate BIM models from them as a basis for our research on the target functionalities.

Construction robotics and human-robot collaboration

Our main achievements in our work on construction robotics and human-robot collaboration, led by SINTEF, have been:

• Establishing a common understanding for our pilots
• Defining the robotic tasks for demolition, handling and mastic application
• Doing a site visit to get a hands-on experience with construction processes
• Initial research and development for the teleoperation of a robotic system
• System design for robotic manipulation platform to be used in pilots
• Design and prototyping of robotic grippers for pilots
• Training of vision algorithms for the detection of bricks and humans
• Initial testing and studies with human-robot communication interfaces (e.g., voice or gesture control)

Our first results in this field have been:

• To develop the first draft of robotic construction ontology
• To document and publish vision algorithms for brick/human detection
• To test teaching algorithms for programming robots
• To establish a common data repository for exchanging designs and plans
• To design a robotic task execution framework

Next, a robotic platform will be ready to be tested on construction sites.

Human factors - Training and usability assessment

Our work on human factors and training and usability assessment, led by the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS), has focused on the following:

• Preparing material for the subjective assessment of worker's technology acceptance related to collaborative and interactive robots, exoskeletons and XR technologies
• Organising three focus groups in Spain (2) and Ireland (1) with the main stakeholders of the construction sector (apprentices, workers and supervisors), where we have presented technology features and benefits
• Making questionnaires about the technology acceptance, features required and ways of interaction with technology developments to participants

Currently, we are processing the answers from participants and analysing the data we have gathered. We will soon deliver our results and conclusions.

Continuing with the subjective assessment, we will organise more focus groups in Central Europe. Once our technologies are ready to test, we will proceed with the objective assessment, which we will carry out by evaluating physiological sensor data collected in dedicated training sessions.

Pilots, evaluation and validation

Our work on pilots, evaluation and validation, led by the University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU), has been dedicated to defining the use cases and interfaces to other partners.

In several on and off-site workshops, we have managed to define interesting use cases for human-robot collaborative bricklaying, robotic mastic application, including learning from demonstration, and robotic demolition.

We have held fruitful discussions that have led to good ideas about possible use cases for our digital twin pilots, including health and safety monitoring, construction progress tracking, dynamic semantic digital twin generation and BIMxD update.

Outreach and collaboration

We have focused our work on communication and dissemination, as well as on community building, led by Australo, on:

• Establishing our visual identity and our internal and external communication channels
• Sharing what our project is about, what the technologies we are developing consist of, how they will positively contribute to the construction industry and its workers, and the work and stories of the organisations and professionals involved in HumanTech
• Giving visibility to our main achievements, including publishing our first scientific paper, receiving several technical challenge awards (BOP Challenge, ECCV 2022, EC³, CVPR 2023), and organising two technical workshops
• Collaborating with our sister projects, BEEYONDERS and RoBétArmé, with which we have created the #Tech4EUconstruction cluster, and StandICT.eu

During the project's next phase, we will continue strengthening our online and offline presence, engaging our stakeholders in our progress and raising awareness of our work through more events, publications and communication campaigns.

We look forward to the second year of our project to continue working towards a safer, greener and more efficient construction industry with our outstanding team of diverse skills and an impressive openness to collaboration.

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

by andrea@australo.org

Tech4EUconstruction cluster: revolutionizing the construction sector together

We are excited to announce that at HumanTech, we have joined forces with our sister projects, BEEYONDERS and RoBétArmé, to create the collaborative cluster "Tech4EUconstruction". Together, our three EU-funded projects are boarding on an exciting journey to address key challenges of the European construction sector.

Funded by the European Commission, our three projects aim to develop and demonstrate new technologies to further digitalise and automatise the European building sector, increasing its safety and attractivity for workers. Furthermore, our cluster seeks to stimulate the EU’s sovereignty in the industry, decreasing the need for technological imports.

The members of the Tech4EUconstruction cluster

HumanTech

At HumanTech, we aim to overcome major challenges in the European construction sector by achieving significant advances in cutting-edge technologies. Our objective is to establish a safe, rewarding, and digitally-enabled work environment that caters to highly skilled construction workers' and engineers' requirements while enhancing workforce well-being, productivity, and resource efficiency.

BEEYONDERS

BEEYONDERS’ core ambition is to address the challenges hampering the EU’s competitiveness in the construction sector by producing, commercializing and integrating beyond state-of-the-art solutions into real construction scenarios. The project will extensively use AI, automation, and digitisation to do so.

RoBétArmé

RoBétArmé seeks to revolutionize Construction 4.0 by automating labour-intensive tasks in shotcrete application, targeting improved safety, productivity, and sustainability in the construction industry. To this end, the project will deliver a human-robot collaborative construction system for shotcrete digitalization and automation through advanced perception, cognition, mobility and additive manufacturing skills.

We have created a joint visual identity to facilitate our recognition by our key stakeholders. It represents our shared vision and commitment towards creating breakthrough technologies supporting technological sovereignty in construction.

Stay tuned and follow our hashtag #Tech4EUconstruction for updates on our joint activities as we work together to shape the construction landscape in the EU.

by andrea@australo.org