Past Projects
AI-OPTIMISED PATHWAYS FOR SCHEDULE EXECUTION
March 2019 - February 2021
NPlan Ltd, Kier Infrastructure and Overseas Ltd, £846,753
The proposed project seeks to develop a novel automated 'schedule learning platform' that applies data science and machine learning to thousands of previous project schedules, offering a unique scalable solution for improved certainty and confidence in project planning for future projects. The solution is based on thousands of previous construction projects, allowing the platform to learn across projects what was planned to happen and what actually happened, thus reducing the effect of human bias, subjectivity and inaccuracy. Schedule data is analysed, similar tasks and relationships are automatically grouped, with patterns drawn using Artificial Intelligence, enabling the platform to predict the most likely outcome for every task and provide optimal paths/recommendations to mitigate risks/delays.
Researchers: Ying Hong and Sally Xie
COMPUTER VISION AUTOMATED PRODUCTIVITY MEASUREMENT
October 2013 – August 2017
EPSRC and Laing O’Rourke Ltd, £85,624
The objective of this research was to investigate the performance of a new method that can automatically detect the task cycles of construction activities, measure their duration, and compile reliable statistics based on 100% of the observed data. This can be achieved by applying primarily computer vision and machine learning techniques to process jobsites’ video data. The extracted construction entities’ trajectories will then be used for the detection of possible repeated work cycles by implementing statistical pattern recognition models.
Researcher: Eirini Konstantinou.
RP 11-12 TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION FOR CONSTRUCTION INSPECTORS
May 2011 – May 2013
Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), £130,719
The purpose of this research effort was to provide material for training and certification courses to GDOT construction inspectors as well as a delivery system which helps inspectors learn inspection methods and techniques in an easy to understand, comprehensible fashion. The project also aimed to improve construction inspection practices employed by the GDOT.
Under this research effort, existing literature regarding inspection practices was reviewed to identify best practices for each type of construction inspection. These practices were then used to develop the manual for each construction inspection. The final manual was then used to convert material into training and certification modules for GDOT inspectors.
Researchers: Linda Hui, Stefania Radopoulou and Eric Marks.
IREE: AUTOMATED VISION TRACKING OF PROJECT RELATED ENTITIES
August 2007 – August 2011
NSF Grant #0738417, £24,346
This international collaboration sent 3 US students to the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh), Greece, for 4 months. The students tested the tracking method invented and prototyped in the project above on several types of sites of the Egnatia Odos motorway project, such as cantilevered bridge construction, tunnel face excavation, and interchange construction. These sites were under heavy equipment, personnel and materials traffic. Egnatia Odos is an $8 billion, 670km project that aims to create a central East-West artery to connect Turkey in the east with the Ionian Sea port of Igoumenitsa in the west. The foreign collaborator of this project, Pr. Demos Angelides, is the Chairman of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at AUTh and acted as the host and local advisor for our students.
Researcher: Gauri Jog.
AUTOMATED VISION TRACKING OF PROJECT RELATED ENTITIES
August 2006 – August 2011
NSF Grant #0625643, £195,907
This research aimed to design an automated vision tracking method that reports the 4D location (spatial coordinates and time) of distinctly shaped, project related entities, such as construction equipment, personnel, and materials of standard sizes and shapes. Under this method, two or more self-calibrated, outdoor wireless video cameras are initially placed at a project site and collect video-streams. Using construction materials and shapes visual recognition techniques, each project related entity on the cameras' field of view is identified as an "interesting" pattern to track. Established tracking tools are then used in each subsequent frame of the video stream to track the movement of the identified "interesting" entity while it operates within the cameras' viewing spectrum.
Researcher: Man Woo Park.