Blog Post 6: Course Reflection

I did not have much of an idea of what the class would be like, but I am happy with what I got out of it. I enjoyed the fact that there was a wide variety of topics, especially ones that I did not know much about. I knew about Revit and Building Information Modeling, but I had not taken classes that discussed sensors, robots, or AI much at all. It was very useful to broaden my understanding of what goes into intelligent building and where future technology is headed.

I have a lot of experience with AutoCAD, but barely any experience with Revit. The Revit assignment was very helpful in getting me familiar with the program and the step-by-step instructions, as well as the video walkthrough, was very helpful. I would have liked a second part to this assignment that walked us through using Dynamo as well. The sensor database assignment was useful as well, both in creating a database in Access from scratch and from trying to find data on different sensors.

The lectures and videos on 3D printing, robotics, and AI were all very interesting to me. I had already seen some of the technology that was shown because of my personal interest, however, I had not been keeping up with the new developments. Being able to automatically 3D print buildings and other structures will cause drastic changes in our current infrastructure.

I enjoyed the guest lectures, especially Kayleigh’s because I had never heard of visual programming before. I had been thinking about looking for jobs in BIM so it definitely got me curious when she said, “BIM is dead.” However, this sent me down a path from Building Information Modeling to Visual Design and Construction to visual programming and generative design. Generative design was the topic of my project paper and I learned a lot about it.

Overall, this class was very helpful, and I will use what I’ve learned throughout my career. The discussions and blog posts taught me to research new technology and think/talk about what changes will occur. It is important to learn about future technology and stay ahead of it or else you will be left behind. 


Comments:
To Sean Reifer
I am jealous that you did your project on Dynamo. It was something that I wished the Revit assignment went into. I can learn it on my own, but as you mentioned, it is more challenging to work through it on your own. A video walkthrough detailing exactly what you are trying to accomplish is very helpful in learning quickly.

To Nick Maloney
I agree that we learned about a lot of different topics, but did not have enough time to go in depth with each of them. It was definitely useful to get some information from the various topics, but there are some topics that I wish we went into in more depth. I believe the idea of the project was to allow us to pick what topic we wanted to learn more about during the course and do our own research which worked well.

Yicheng Li
I also learnd a lot of new things about 3D printing, sensors, and databases. I agree that the blogs helped us learn about something new and write about them almost every week as well as read other people's findings. My project focused on generative design which could become a problem when it comes to reducing or eliminating certain jobs. However, I believe some jobs will remain and their tasks will be altered and some new jobs will be created due to the changes within each industry.

B4- Project Outline

Topic selected: How Robotics Will Shape the Future of Intelligent Building Design/Construction

Type of project selected: Paper

1.        Introduction

1.        Background

2.        Motivation

2.        Robotics

1.        Benefits and Drawbacks

2.        Current Trends/Uses

3.        Potential for the Future

3.   Intelligent Building Design

1. Purpose 

2. Possible Improvements

      4.   Conclusion

            1. Summary

            2. Personal Feelings Towards the Subject

            3. Proposed Question

      5.   Appendix

            1. Relevant Figures

            2. Works Cited

            3. Miscellaneous Notes

            For this term project, I have elected to write a paper about robotics’ effect on the construction industry with a focus on the current trends and potential for the future of the industry. As we know, the development and integration of robotics into all aspects of fabrication such as stage design for shows, car manufacturing, and more has been on a consistent rise. We have come now to the question of robotics’ relevance to intelligent building design and production. 

In the paper, I will discuss the background relevant to understand the purpose of the paper as well as my own personal motivation to discuss this topic. I will then highlight the benefits of robotic integration as well as any drawbacks, while putting these into the context of modern trends in construction. I will build off of these ideas to describe my view of the future of this industry with regards to robotic integration. I will also describe the nature of intelligent building design to clarify its purpose and areas for improvement. At the end, I will be reiterating my beliefs as well as outlining a couple questions I have for the reader. I also intend to use relevant figures and make note of any findings I make along the way. 

In the past few years, I have really enjoyed the field of robotics and its potential for development in all areas of engineering. Personally, I really enjoy automotive engineering and robotics has taken that field by storm. It was a no-brainer to select robotics as my field of focus for this project, as we have touched on it quite often in class. I want to know how its development will affect the industry as well as the future of technology integration in human tasks and human careers.

            As for sources, I plan to make good use of the provided database of sources in Evernote. “Can Technology Solve Architects' Productivity Challenge?”, “Robots Will Take Jobs From Men”, and “The Construction Robots are Coming” are all good articles that will help develop my ideas for this project. In past terms, I have found that using sources is quite a demanding task, as most professors don’t provide the best resources. Thankfully, the large Evernote database of sources will make the integration of my ideas and others’ work seamless.

Sources Referenced: Baker, Kermit. Can Technology Solve Architects’ Productivity Challenge?AIA Architect. 3 January 2019.

Moley Robotics, Viki Knows, et al. The Construction Robots Are Coming. The B1M. 30 May 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKGGHdl3NyQ

Simonite, Tom. Robots Will Take Jobs from Men, The Young, and Minorities. Wired Business. 24 January 2019. https://www.wired.com/story/robots-will-take-jobs-from-men-young-minorities/

Adam Raifsnider, I really like that you have a strong interest in the field that you will be discussing in your project. It's important to have a vested interest in order to create a successful project. Your introduction is solid and your outline looks promising. I hope you enjoy doing your paper as much as I look forward to hopefully reading it.

Albert Hanan, I'm excited to see what you and Nick can produce. It's extremely helpful you already have a good idea of what you will be making as you have a good starting point going into this project.  Also, your mentioning of exceeding minimum requirements shows your drive and passion toward this field. I find it inspiring that you're going to actively keep progressive notes and work hard on this project. You show a great degree of dedication and passion and I hope your final project reflects that. The topic is great and your proposal is even better. Best of luck!

Ren, the idea of discussing BIM with respect to healthcare building design is quite a great one! Your outline is comprehensive and leaves me with a good idea of how the paper will be structured. Your early incorporation of citations shows you have a good grasp on writing scholarly papers. Your section choices for the outline look solid and it should be great!

Blog 3 - Future of BIM

Since the start of this course, we have been looking at current technologies and advancements applied to buildings. In which we have look to different technologies, that even that they are applied to other fields, some people use these principles and apply them into building technologies. After watching the in-class video from Autodesk University called “The Future of BIM Will Not Be BIM” it is clear the current advancements done in building design, in which BIM makes easier the things like design, share data and simulation. This combined with other aspects such as algorithms are constantly present in the design of new buildings to make it more efficient, precise and to bring new ideas into the table.

After discussing with my group, we have come up with some ideas of the advancements in 10 years, trying to apply what we know and try to come up with future applications of the principles. Among many of our ideas the most predominant were: the use of AI in the future and how it will play a role, the use of CNC machining for the creation of complex shapes, the use of augmented reality on site.

               Talking about the AI role, the team agreed with some of the scope from the in-class video, in which the person speaking said that AI provides a group of best options that match the parameters established. However, AI do not have a feel for aesthetics like an architect yet. As a result, we are still depending of the decision of an architect to choose the best option among the ones provided by the AI. In 10 years, we believe that AI will take in consideration aesthetic parameters and make better decisions in which he will provide less options.

               In the other hand, on site creation of complex shapes consumes a lot of resources and an excessive amount of time. In 10 years, we believe that CNC machining will be easily transported to a site in which complex shapes will be quickly designed. There are currently great projects that can do this type of complex shapes, but the limited mobility and the extensive amount of time make this procedure expensive and uncommon in most construction. We believe that in 10 years this will be more common and affordable.

               Finally, augmented reality has been booming the past could of years. The advancements done in this area has not only helped the entertainment industry, but the manufacturing industry, health industry and even construction has been developing this technology to take advantage of its potential. In 10 years, we believe that the use of Augmented Reality will be part of the construction site by allowing the workers see the whole design in 3D in the site and allow the to understand better where to place each thing and provides them with all the information of each element.

Hanyan Chen

Your idea of using robotics in the construction site in the future is really close to what we thought about CNC machining. However, your point in which robots replace human force is great. This will make the process of construction not only faster but safer and more precise. By eliminating the human error, we could achieve enormous and precise structures. I hope that in 10 years we are that far.

Matt Mullen

It is clear that BIM provide excellent benefits to the owners. I do believe that I 10 years the software will be much easier to use, and owners will have access to the database that BIM provides. This will not only give a better idea on how the owner want to make changes, but it will give him a better understanding of the status of the construction and the plans to the future.

Yidi Li
I can clearly see how BIM has to also evolve as AI develops towards the future. AI being a huge technology in which we are closer to achieve can bring enormous changes to our buildings. I can see BIM providing all the database of the elements in the design and AI using it to come up with the best performance possible of the building. It is clear that software will need to be updated once AI comes to play a big role. I can see it in 10 years, but today we are too inexperienced with AI to be able to implement it.

B1: 3D Printing, Robotics, AI

In the construction industry, 2D technical modeling (elevations, floor plans, etc) is used to demonstrate the layout of real life structures. The transition from the use of 2D CAD to 3D CAD can be instrumental in multiple ways. In small scale, one can make 3D physical models layer by layer in order to give a client a visual representation. On a larger scale, there have been examples of 3D printed buildings made of layers of mortar and are designed through 3D CAD programming. The buildings are cheap, quickly made, and require less waste than a standard construction project. The downside to 3D printing is that there will be a huge cut in jobs for the construction material and labor industries since this will be the cheapest and fastest option for construction.

On a similar note, having robotics implemented into construction could make jobs less dangerous for humans by putting the risk on a robot, which can be repaired, rather than a person. This could mean anything from jobs at high heights to lifting heavy materials. The issue with robotics is that it will also take jobs from the industry, which is already struggling as shown by the amount of failing roads and bridges in the United States. Robotics could range from physical robots doing labor to sensors that help monitor the control systems of the building. By implementing computer based systems rather than human interaction, the amount of error could be reduced significantly since a program will consistently do the same thing. 

On another hand, if you implement an AI system then you are putting the computer in a position to develop and change with day to day results. There are many benefits, but also many down sides to AI systems and the direction the industry is headed. Work is faster, there are less errors, things are done more precisely, and AI has the ability to adapt based on the data presented to reduce errors. But AI is also dangerous because humanity will not be able to keep up with the advances of AI and we could end up in a situation where we rely on AI for everything. There is a difference between using AI to help us improve our own knowledge and techniques, and using it at a convenience because we're trying to find the easiest way out of doing it ourselves. The same applies for other AI operated technologies. The thing that is most concerning is how easy it is to feed wrong information to an AI system and create an unsafe situation. If someone were to hack your self-driving vehicle and take you somewhere or crash your car, there wouldn't be a way that the person in danger could stop that. In terms of construction I find that AI is extremely useful in digital building systems implemented into the building (heat control from a device, sensor triggered security systems, etc), but I do worry about the dependence of man on technology. 

Works Cited

[1] https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/3880/6/strathprints003880.pdf

[2] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43411581

[3] https://www-engineeringvillage-com.ezproxy2.library.drexel.edu/search/doc/abstract.url?&pageType=quickSearch&usageZone=resultslist&usageOrigin=searchresults&searchtype=Quick&SEARCHID=d309a5beM79dbM4505M9143Mce618b1ccea0&DOCINDEX=1&ignore_docid=inspec_M2999691651feb9f11M3dc51017816339&database=8388611&format=quickSearchAbstractFormat&tagscope=&displayPagination=yes

Comments

1. Kyle, I completely agree that people are trying to play God by creating artificial intelligence systems that are far above humanities ability to learn. It's playing with fire to create something that we don't have the ability to completely understand and what it's potential effects are, especially if we create something sentient.

2. Sean, I read a few similar articles to the ones that you wrote about for 3D printing and I find it so interesting how quickly these structures can be created when there are millions of people who don't have homes. At a cost of $30/month, thousands of people in El Salvador can have the opportunity to have a roof over their heads. 

Blog 1 – Robotics, AI, BIM and Future

Blog 1 – Robotics, AI and Future
Week 2
Hanyan Chen
B1
Robotics, AI and Future

Robotics
Robotic Milkers and an Automated Greenhouse: Inside a High-Tech Small Farm
It was a significant year for robotics and autonomous system. Robotics is being hotly debated whether it will make humans' life better and safer or not. This article is talking about a small farm called Rivendale Farms in Bulger using the cutting-edge technology includes milking machine, sensors to monitor the movement, health condition of the animals and sensors to control temperature, humidity and sunlight for crops. It became a laboratory for the robotic technology for smaller farms. The farm’s dairy operation is overseen by one staff now while it will need five workers without the robotics technology. [1] This kind of robotics is applied to improve the efficiency, and reduce the pressure comes from labor shortage, and it is generally changing the small farms and make humans' life better.

AI and Future
This clever AI hid data from its creators to cheat at its appointed task
Is this the year 'weaponized' AI bots do battle?
Unlike robotic technology, AI has always been a controversial topic. I saw there is an article in the beginning of 2018, Is this the year 'weaponized' AI bots do battle?, which asked if AI is our enemy or ally. In this article, AI will allow for early diagnosis in order to save heart and cancer patients. But the question is what will be limit for AI that it will not do things out of control. On the other hand, will humans' safety been ensured while AI-powered system is working. [2] There is another article published at the end of 2018, This clever AI hid data from its creators to cheat at its appointed task, which is talking about the machine learning agent "intended to transform aerial images into street maps and back was found to be cheating by hiding information it would need later in a nearly imperceptible, high-frequency signal" [3]. As the technology is developing, the voice of debating is never stopped for this topic. It is a topic related to ethic, and is always easy to catch people's eyes. AI, as still a debated topic, will have to be researched more in a way that ensures humans life in the future.

Work Cited:
[1]Robotic Milkers and an Automated Greenhouse: Inside a High-Tech Small Farm
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/13/technology/farm-technology-milkers-robots.html
[2]This clever AI hid data from its creators to cheat at its appointed task
https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/31/this-clever-ai-hid-data-from-its-creators-to-cheat-at-its-appointed-task/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29
[3]Is this the year 'weaponized' AI bots do battle?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42559967

Comments:

To Lin
I totally agree that the technology is the biggest influence on the productivity. Technology is always the way to make things more efficient. Not only robots for manufacturing, but also AI technology, which make people's life more convenient. It is also an aspect that increase the efficiency of people's life.

To Samantha, 
Thanks for your post, I am amazed that AI and robotics are being used for art now. Robotics are used to be used for completing dangerous but simplex work. Now it is used for improving efficiency. It is amazing that AI can be such creative for an artwork. It is a mix of science and art.

Blog 1 - Robotics, AI, 3-D printing, Future

Over the past few years there has been a significant increase in the use of AI for everyday tasks. Over the years various industries have made advancements and incorporated these technologies into their work. AI is most commonly known for its use in places such as hospitals and warehouses. These robots and drones are used in place of humans to complete tasks and tend to do so more accurately and efficiently. In more recent years AI is proving to be more versatile than it was originally thought to be, proving to have a creative side as well as a technical side. AI and more specifically robots are now being used for art. This includes sculpting, glassmaking, tattoos and music. Not only are these robots able to mimic artists movements to replicate their artwork, some are able to work on their own and analyze materials in order to create artwork. An example of this is artist Prokop Bartonicek and Benjamin Maus use of a robotic arm in order to analyze and organize river rock. The robot was able to sort the stones by their geological age creating a history base art installation [1]. Another project I found interesting from the article, "10 Mind Blowing Projects of Robots in Creative Industries" was the 3D printed rock installation. The rock print was an example of fully reusable structures. The 3-D printer used loos granular material and wraps it in a textile filament as it is constructed. In this type of construction, the material is not changed and upon deconstruction of the structure the material can be reused [1].

Originally 3-D printing was done using a plastic material. Now there are 3-D printers for many different types of materials including: metal, plastic, glass and clay. MIT recently announced their new 3-D printer, G3DP2, which prints molten glass into 3-D structures. The system not only is able to create decorative pieces, but glass structures that can be used for building [2]. These are just a few examples of advancements that have been made with AI, 3-D printing and robotics in recent years. Its expected that these technologies will continue to advance and become a larger part of our everyday lives.

[1] “10 Mind-Blowing Projects of Robots in Creative Industries.” Designboom | Architecture & Design Magazine, 21 July 2017, www.designboom.com/technology/robots-in-creative-industries-07-23-2017/.

[2] Biggs, John. “MIT Researchers Are Now 3D-Printing Glass.” TechCrunch, TechCrunch, 31 Dec. 2018, techcrunch.com/2018/12/31/mit-researchers-are-now-3d-printing-glass/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%2BTechcrunch%2B%28TechCrunch%29.


Responses:

Jenny, you make a great point about how using AI in construction can reduce risk and improve efficiency. I think another area of construction this technology can help with is when projects run into delays. Often times construction companies will spend money to increase the number of workers, overtime hours and number of shifts. Overtime hours can take a toll on workers and reduce productivity. A solution to this would be to use AI to work the additional shifts and overtime hours. With AI you don't have to worry about them getting tired or have concerns about them working late at night and early in the morning when it's still dark outside. There is definitely still a concern though that over time we will use this technology not only to help with tasks, but we will rely on the robots and drones to do the task entirely and replace people.

Laney, I agree that sensor technology is important for HVAC. I think the Keen Home vents are an interesting use of this technology. In a way this technology advances residential HVAC design by creating zones that are on a schedule. In most homes vents are always open because people don't think to close them when they are done in a room, by automating this aspect of HVAC you improve the efficiency of a residential system.

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Blog Post 1: How Robotics and AI Will Benefit the Construction Industry

Robotics and AI are already being utilized in various industries and are beginning to develop in the construction industry. Many aspects of the industry are going to change dramatically because of construction automation [1]. While some traditional roles will be filled by this automation, safety and efficiency will increase dramatically and new jobs will be created where positions will need to be filled.

Some issues that we currently face are low quality work due to unskilled or unprofessional laborers, safety concerns associated with certain tasks, and deadlines must be met to keep a project on schedule. Construction automation will address each of these issues and more. Robots would be programmed and/or taught how to complete a task and will perfectly execute that task any number of times [2]. They would be able to complete dangerous tasks without the risk of any person being injured or killed on the job. And lastly, construction automation would mean that the job site is active at all hours of the day. Traditionally, three 8-hour shifts would be very costly and overtime would have to be paid on weekends. However, you would only need specific supervisors and technicians to keep an eye on the robots throughout the day which would be cost effective and greatly increase the overall timeline of construction.

3D printing and robots would greatly improve the speed and quality of specific tasks on a job site. Entire structures are already being created out of certain materials and the speed of the printing itself will only increase as time goes on. Also, very repetitive tasks such as masonry work would be more precise and cost-effective [3]. Many of these robots are already being used and developed so that they will be more affordable and more efficient in the future. I believe that these machines will be used on almost every major construction project in the near future.


[1] Robotics Online Marketing Team. "Construction Robots Will Change the Industry Forever." Robotics.org. 17 April 2018. https://www.robotics.org/blog-article.cfm/Construction-Robots-Will-Change-the-Industry-Forever/93

[2] The B1M. “The Construction Robots Are Coming | The B1M.” YouTube. 30 May 2018. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKGGHdl3NyQ

[3] Hamakareem, Madeh Izat. "Construction Automation – Applications and Advantages in Construction." The Constructor. 2018. https://theconstructor.org/construction/construction-automation-applications-advantages/16644/

Response 1: Andy Kuriatnikov
I agree that sensors are key to intelligent building operation. I look forward to when buildings will run themselves and will keep occupants safe and comfortable just by using sensors. I like that you mentioned the internet of things because it really is where we are headed. Reducing energy consumption is also an important factor in future building construction.

Response 2: Aaron Goldberg
We mentioned a few of the same things when it comes to AI and future jobs in the construction industry. The industry will benefit a low but some traditional jobs will be phased out. We will need to adapt to the changes or, even better, get ahead of the changes. I like that you mentioned that the quality of work will be better and the cost of the work will be lower.

Response 3: Hailey Ihlow
I like how to mention that we will advance as technology does. You make a good point that we need to think about what the future of technology will look like so that we can understand the pros and cons of them. We are already seeing the pushback against self-driving cars even though the technology is almost there. It will be interesting to use technology that does not need any form of replaceable or rechargeable battery in the future.

About This Blog

AE-410/510 is a course primarily for Seniors and Graduate Students in Architectural Engineering at Drexel University in Philadelphia, USA.  We consider the uses of Information Technology on the Design, Construction and Operation of buildings, hence the course title: Intelligent Buildings.

This blog is created by students in the course responding to assignments and class exercises.  Use the "Labels" on the right to see the work of individual students OR the topics on which they've written.

The syllabus for the course is available from the "Pages" link.