By Gavin Jenkins, Senior Managing Editor
MUNICH — Digital twins create real-time models of road systems that include physical data and environmental factors. Artificial intelligence (AI) helps analyze that data, predict outcomes, optimize schedules, budgets, and improve safety.
Simply put: Digital twins and AI are transforming the management of road and bridge construction. Cloud-based tools streamline project workflows and communication between teams. Drones create site replicas, and predictive analytics anticipate challenges, which reduces risks and enhances planning.
The data that is gathered from this technology is supposed to set the industry free. But is there too much data? And if the answer is yes, does it hold back road and bridge projects?
Bill Cope, the vice president of corporate accounts at AGTEK, part of Hexagon, hit these topics and more during his Bauma Forum lecture, titled, “Digital Twin and AI Technology Construction,” on Thursday.
Bauma, the world’s leading trade fair for construction machinery, building material machines, mining machines, construction vehicles and construction equipment, features exhibitions, demonstrations and new-product rollouts on a massive scale. But, as the “heartbeat of the industry,” it also drives innovation and discussion about technology.
Held this week in the Innovation Hall at the Neue Messe München exhibition center, the Bauma Forum featured keynote speeches, panel discussions and lectures on climate neutrality, mining challenges, alternative drive concepts, networked construction and sustainable construction. The forum sessions were led by start-up founders, researchers and industry thought leaders.
Each day on road and bridge construction sites, technology collects a great deal of information. Cope argued in his lecture that if the data is not something project managers can act on or use to make decisions, then the data is not good.
After his lecture, Cope said that having too much data is “locking up” the industry and poses a huge problem.
“From the machine manufacturers to the people generating topography and cloud systems, it's all too much data. What do you do with it?” Cope said. “And if it's too much information, it's overwhelming. You can't distill it down to a simplified dashboard and have actual information. That's too much information.”
There might be a human element to this issue. Data must be well-managed. It has to be filtered, contextualized and turned into actionable insights.
But the technology has to be accessible to everyone on the job site, from the intern to the expert.
Cope argued that it’s vital to design technology for general workers because “there aren’t many specialists; they’re all hired up.”
Too much data could lead to an overload, especially if it is not managed properly. Engineers and project managers must know what to focus on. If they are overloaded with data, it can cause delays as people interpret dashboards instead of making progress.
The risk of analysis paralysis is real, and it’s one that wasn’t often seen 30 years ago.
Twice during his lecture, Cope reminded the audience that technology should empower workers. Cope, who began working for AGTEK in 1986, spoke about how far technology has come during his career.
Gone are the days he can remember of guesswork and digging blind. The digital twin sees what the naked eye cannot—mapping the past to build a smarter future.
He also insisted the story of AI in construction isn’t one of job loss, but one of empowerment.
“Good automation isn’t removing somebody,” Cope said during his lecture. AI should “take away the mundane tasks... and let them make decisions.”
Cope thinks full automation will take over the industry eventually.
“Generative AI is a paradigm shift,” he said after his lecture. “Because now it's getting more and more of this information. You're accessing it more quickly, and you can really just go in and ask it to take some simple note taking in meetings, on Teams.”
The reporter nodded at his phone screen, where an application was translating Cope’s words in real time.
“Yeah, right,” Cope said. “I couldn't write down enough highlights, but that thing records every single thing, then puts it into a summarized bill.”
One bright spot, Cope believes, is that a younger generation will be attracted to the industry because of technology.
Held every three years and organized by Messe München, Baum features 200,000 square meters of hall space, 414,000 square meters of outdoor space and more than 3,500 exhibitors from 57 countries.
This is the 34th edition of Bauma.
