GPTChat in Business Doing More or Less than Expected in Construction.

 Interesting example here.  Early experience yes. 

A case of GPTChat doing less than expected? 

 Causes?  Next?   Mostly positive, but the interviewer was completely skeptical.  Surprised theydid not disagree with using wheelbarrows.   These methods will not do physics but will manage the data and its relationships to many kinds of tasks and schedules. 

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Published April 26, 2023 5:00pm EDT

AI set to transform construction industry

Supply chain, building material software company DigiBuild using ChatGPT with spectacular results

By Breck Dumas FOXBusiness

FIRST ON FOX – Artificial intelligence has entered the construction industry, and early adopters say the efficiencies and cost-cutting measures will revolutionize the $10 trillion sector of the global economy for the better.

Supply chain and building material software company DigiBuild has been using OpenAI's ChatGPT to bolster its program for months, and is set to unveil the results at an event in Miami on Wednesday evening.

DigiBuild, a supply chain and building material software company, has been using ChatGPT for months.

But ahead of the announcement, DigiBuild CEO Robert Salvador gave FOX Business an exclusive sneak peek of how the powerful AI tool has improved efficiency and slashed costs for the firm's clients, and he says the technology will be "market changing."

The construction industry is still dogged by the high material costs and supply chain woes brought on by the pandemic, and DigiBuild's software aims to help developers and contractors save money and improve their schedules. The help of AI has provided a remarkable boost to that end.

To the company's knowledge, DigiBuild is the first to introduce ChatGPT into the construction supply chain, and the firm has some inside help. The building software firm is backed by major investors, including Y Combinator – which trained OpenAI CEO Sam Altman – and has an exclusive Slack channel with OpenAI that allows experts to build together.

Construction workers are shown with the Manhattan skyline and Empire State Building behind them in Brooklyn, New York City, on Jan. 24, 2023. (Ed Jones / AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

DigiBuild has been around five years and has automated the job of sifting through suppliers to find materials and working out scheduling. Now, what used to take a team of humans hundreds of labor hours using Excel spreadsheets, notebooks and manual phone calls has been reduced to a matter of seconds with the help of language learning models.

"ChatGPT has taken us to the next level," Salvador said. "Supersonic."

AI DATA LEAK CRISIS: NEW TOOL PREVENTS COMPANY SECRETS FROM BEING FED TO CHATGPT

"Instead of spending multiple hours probably getting a hold of maybe five or six suppliers, ChatGPT can find 100 of them and even automate outreach and begin communications with those 100 suppliers and say, 'Hey, we're DigiBuild. We need to find this type of door, can you provide a quote and send it back here?'" he said. "We can talk to 100 suppliers in one minute versus maybe a handful in a couple hours."

DigiBuild CEO Robert Salvador says ChatGPT has taken the company "supersonic."

The CEO offered a real-world example of a job where material costs were literally slashed by more than half using the new technology.

One of DigiBuild's clients, VCC Construction, needed closet shelving for a project in Virginia, and the builder could only find one quote for $150,000 with limited availability. With the click of a button, DigiBuild was able to find a vendor in the Midwest that provided the shelving and delivered it within weeks for $70,000.

Salvador says to imagine those results for a $500 million job or across the industry. He expects AI technology to become widely adopted.

"Before companies like us, the construction industry was still early in its digital transformation – they were late to the party," he told FOX Business. But now, "It's very much going all in on that, finally."

HP Robotic Layout Tool

 Coul have used this in a number of complex re-design efforts.

HP's SitePrint robotic solution could revolutionize construction layout process

The company claims it will print layouts autonomously without an error.

By Nergis Firtina,  In Interesting Engineering, Created: Sep 16, 2022 9:04 A

HP has introduced us to a small robot that can significantly speed up construction work by autonomously printing guidelines directly from blueprints onto the floor.

The robot SitePrint is a super-fast layout tool that is rugged, roadworthy, and extremely accurate, HP says.

The robot will be available to customers in North America thanks to an Early Access Program, starting September 2022.

"Technology adoption and increased digitization can help construction firms realize productivity gains," said Daniel Martínez, VP and General Manager, HP Large Format Printing. "

"HP has played a key role in bridging digital and physical worlds with print solutions for architects and engineers over the last thirty years. With HP SitePrint, we're making it faster and easier than ever for construction professionals to bring an idea to life on-site while also providing layout accuracy and reducing costs derived from reworks."

The construction industry continues to gain momentum every year. Although job opportunities are provided, the demands can sometimes not be met. Therefore, it would not be difficult to say that this new autonomous robot will come to the rescue.

It's mini yet mighty

The robot was created for autonomous operation, including obstacle avoidance, and can boost site layout productivity. Its text printing capabilities provide more data from the digital model to the construction site, facilitating communication amongst construction experts. It can print lines and complicated objects with pinpoint accuracy and reliable repetition.

"The existing manual layout process can be slow and labor intensive. Despite being done by specialists, there is always the risk of human error, which can result in costly reworks," said Albert Zulps, Director of Emerging Technology at Skanska - a global construction and development company currently utilizing HP SitePrint on two prominent US projects.  ... ' 

Apple Using Boston Robotics Spot

 Been following various uses ot the 'Spot'  robot.   And how it makes its telepresence felt by its new subjects.    Here  new and different application, working with the construction of a building, apparently during the design and construction phase. 

Meet Apple’s telepresence robot

In APPLE HOLIC  By Jonny Evans, Computerworld

A Boston Dynamics robot called Spot is helping Apple and its architects design a new HQ at an iconic location.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced every industry to improvise and innovate to build agility and resilience to get through the crisis. Now, a key Apple partner is using telepresence robots as it leads construction of a Apple’s new headquarters in London. .... 

Apple’s billion-dollar Californian headquarters is somewhat under-used at the moment, but the company continues to invest in new centers worldwide as it continues to experience global growth. Apple in the UK has taken over a large part of the globally recognized Battersea Power Station for its new UK headquarters.   ... " 

AI Scanning Construction Site Spotting when things are Slipping

 I like the integration of relatively cheap cameras looking for key patterns in work progress (and potentially process) to determine missed schedules.  A classic use of AI in pattern recognition.  As suggested, also a key aspect of construction management .  Also could be linked to contractual timing and quality of work agreements.   Both in meeting those agreements, and looking at trends towards missing them.   As the article suggests, lots here.

AI that scans a construction site can spot when things are falling behind in TechnologyReview

Construction sites are vast jigsaws of people and parts that must be pieced together just so at just the right times. As projects get larger, mistakes and delays get more expensive. The consultancy Mckinsey estimates that on-site mismanagement costs the construction industry $1.6 trillion. But typically you might only have five managers overseeing construction of a building with 1500 rooms, says Roy Danon, founder and CEO of British-Israeli start-up Buildots: “There’s no way a human can control that amount of detail.”

Danon thinks that AI can help. Buildots is developing an image recognition system that monitors every detail of an ongoing construction project and flags up delays or errors automatically. It is already being used by two of the biggest building firms in Europe, including UK construction giant Wates in a handful of large residential builds. Construction is essentially a kind of manufacturing, says Danon. If high-tech factories now use AI to manage their processes, why not construction sites?  ....

AI is starting to change various aspects of construction, from design to self-driving diggers. But Buildots is the first to use AI as a kind of overall site inspector. 

The system uses a GoPro camera mounted on top of a hardhat. When managers tour a site once or twice a week, the camera on their head captures video footage of the whole project and uploads it to image recognition software, which compares the status of many thousands of objects on site—such as electrical sockets and bathroom fittings—to a digital replica of the building.  ...."

Digital in Construction

Somewhat surprising given their engineering focus.

Decoding digital transformation in construction

Few engineering and construction companies have captured the full benefit of digital. Five practices can help E&C companies move beyond isolated pilots and unlock digital’s value across their enterprises ..... "

Analytics and Construction

Interesting example, which relates to lots of complex operational decisions to finish a project.  Worth a look to see what is being done here.

In McKinsey: 

How analytics can drive smarter engineering and construction decisions

Three applications illustrate how companies are beginning to embrace data-driven solutions while establishing a foundation for future initiatives. ... '

Autonomous Drones Build Bridge

In the Verge:   Video.  Fascinating example.  Particularly interested in the autonomy of such experiments, which relates to other swarming experiments.  The future of this?  Probably more in sensory/observation than construction, at least for now.