AR guidance for assembly, dismantling and reuse of structures
Project Idea Metadata
Project Idea Description
What problem would you like to solve?
The construction industry faces significant challenges related to the efficient deconstruction and repurposing of materials. Traditional methods lack optimization and documentation, leading to inefficiencies and increased environmental impact. Moreover, the absence of standardized protocols hinders the seamless integration of sustainable practices into construction processes. There is a pressing need for innovative solutions that streamline the dismantling process, enhance material reuse, and provide comprehensive documentation throughout the lifecycle of building components.
Who will benefit from your solution and how?
Companies throughout the construction and manufacturing industry will benefit from our solution by reducing material use and transportation costs. New structures will be assessed if there is the potential to reuse material that is already available in the near surroundings. If there is material available this will be incorporated into the structures to be built. All the building elements currently built into structures are stored in our databases and during the destructuring process these materials can go into a pool of available materials.
At the core of our solution lies the incon.ai AR platform, designed to revolutionize construction practices. The AR platform for mobile devices serves as a powerful tool for managing, planning, and documenting assembly processes. Our team is planning to pioneer the guidance through dismantling and reassembly processes and to streamline these to enhance productivity. The incon.ai AR platform simplifies complex tasks by providing intuitive AR guidance, ensuring precise execution at every step. Existing 3D models are uploaded to the webapp and with the push of one button converted into sequenced instructions that guide users through the building process using precise AR overlays. These instructions can then be accessed on the mobile app. By harnessing existing 3D models, our solution delivers critical specifications such as dimensions, material composition, and their location through AR overlays on top of real-world structures.
For the CBI Booster, we want to showcase the maturity of the technology for assembly tasks and explore the potential of the incon.ai AR platform for dismantling and reassembly by showcasing it for a temporary concrete structure. This temporary test structure, a canoe, will be computationally designed, assembled, dismantled, and reassembled into a table and chairs for long-term use by members of this project team using solely AR instructions. The canoe will also be presented at a student concrete canoe competition [1], a long-standing international competition for civil engineering students, where the ETH student team has the ambition to design the concrete canoe structure for reuse to minimize waste from such a competition. In particular, they aim to transform the canoe into something that can serve a long-term practical application, such as a table and chairs that can be placed on campus and used after the competition. Insights gained regarding the assembly, dismantling, and reassembly of this test object will pave the way for pilot projects in an industry context.
[1] https://www.asce.org/communities/student-members/conferences/asce-concrete-canoe-competition
The beneficiaries of our AR-assisted disassembly and reassembly application can extend across various sectors of the construction industry. From timber prefabrication to social housing projects, our solution has demonstrated significant productivity gains and cost savings. By digitally coordinating processes and providing AR support throughout the lifecycle, we've achieved remarkable results, including a 15% increase in productivity and a 20% reduction in building plan generation costs. Additionally, our solution minimizes rework by up to 50% thanks to continuous quality checks and highly accurate AR overlays.
Looking ahead, we recognize the vast potential of AR technology in construction projects beyond our current focus. As more projects adopt Building Information Modeling (BIM), the scope for AR support expands exponentially. Our solution is adaptable and scalable, offering benefits across various construction scenarios, including temporary structures used in events and fairs. By unlocking synergies within BIM data and promoting product reuse, we aim to foster a sustainable approach to construction.
In conclusion, incon.ai's AR platform represents a paradigm shift in construction practices, empowering companies to optimize processes, reduce costs, and embrace sustainable solutions. With our commitment to innovation and collaboration, we're poised to revolutionize the construction industry and drive positive change on a global scale. Our team also sees other possible benefits like unlocking the potential of synergies of information already available in the BIMs (dimensions, material type, quality, localization, etc.) and product reuse passes in the style of the Madaster material pass. This also holds great potential for facilitating efficient inventory management and reducing errors every step of the way.
Who are the existing persons/companies in your team and what is their role?
We are a passionate team of ETH Zurich researchers and the team of ETH Zurich Spin-off incon.ai, driven by the promise of innovative solutions, dedicated to empowering construction companies to create more efficient and sustainable constructions using AR technology. Our team has a co-leader from each organization, a support team, and advisors, all committed to realizing this mission.
Team lead
Fadri Furrer, CEO incon.ai
Danielle Griego, Executive Director Center for Augmented Computational Design in Architecture, Engineering and Construction, ETH Zurich
Support and development
Manuel Stich, CTO incon.ai
Flavio Regenass, incon.ai
Leona Fischer, incon.ai
Advisors
Prof. Dr. Robert J. Flatt, ETH Zurich Deputy head of the Institute for Building Materials
Prof. Dr. Giullaume Habert, ETH Zurich Chair of Sustainable Construction
ETH Zurich Chair for Circular Engineering for Architecture, represented by Prof. Dr. Catherine De Wolf
How does your challenge have a positive impact on the planet (e.g., material reduction, CO2 emission reduction)?
On average, 30% of resources on every construction project are solely used for fixing errors. The incon.ai AR system achieves, on average, more than 50% reduction in rework, accelerates production in prefabrication settings by 15%, and trims construction planners' workload by 20% by eliminating the need for 2D plan creation. In addition, the AR system holds tremendous potential in the Global South, where it can train unskilled construction workers to build safely and sustainably, contributing to economic development and improved infrastructure across these regions.
Estimates regarding the reuse of temporary structures at trade fairs give the following energy savings and CO2 reductions.
We estimate the average production energy for one kilogram of material for a booth at a trade fair: 50 kWh per kilogram (a rough average considering a mix of materials). If we assume that a booth consists of 200kg of material on average (this is a low estimate), the total production energy for the booth is around: 200 kg * 50 kWh/kg = 10MWh. When we assume that we can save this amount of energy for 10’000 booths per year, which again is a low estimate, we can save 100GWh per year.
For the estimation of the CO2 emissions through the production and transport of such booths, we followed the calculations based on [2]. It indicates that the production and shipping of 1667 Laufen-equivalent (according to the source, the materials and their transport for one booth resulted in more than 60t CO2 emissions) booths would already result in more than 100kt CO2 emissions.
[2] https://www.laufen.com/booth-carbon-footprint
Has your idea been tested before?
At incon.ai, we've developed cutting-edge Machine Learning and Computer Vision algorithms for the alignment of AR overlays and have deployed our automated generation of sequenced step-by-step instructions for the assembly of construction projects. Our pioneering incon.ai Augmented Reality (AR) platform is gaining traction within the Swiss timber prefabrication sector, marking a promising entry to the market in early 2024 with the first companies that transitioned their production lines to using our AR guidance. The AR-guided assembly has been tested and refined over several years in a research context and more than two years in an industry setting. What has not yet been tested is the potential of an AR-guided disassembly and reassembly process, which is the goal of our joint submission for the CBI Booster.
The incon.ai team has developed a robust portfolio of collaborators and customers in the construction sector. The primary focus has been on Swiss construction companies, resulting in projects with renowned players in the DACH region, including Cadwork, Blumer Lehmann AG, ERNE AG Holzbau, Renggli, Losinger Marazzi, Abt Holzbau AG, Implenia, and other successful pilots with companies outside of timber construction, for example, the Shimizu Corporation in Japan or the Lithuanian construction company Inhus.
What are you planning on working on throughout the booster (e.g., developing the business model, building an initial prototype, material for prototyping, etc.)? What will you deliver at the end of the booster?
In the framework of the CBI Booster, it is our goal to assess and test the usability and possible extension of AR-guided assembly to AR-guided disassembly processes. In addition to the environmental benefits of AR-guided assembly, the groundwork for AR-supported reuse is laid which holds tremendous potential for reuse practices.
At the end of the CBI Booster, our goal is to have an extension of our AR platform for disassembly and reuse processes to be tested on a bigger scale and in an industrial environment. On top of that it is the joint goal to gain deeper insight into potential markets and develop go-to-market strategies for commercialization.
What are you expecting from the booster (e.g., looking for specific partners, expert support, etc.)?
The incon.ai AR platform is already operational within the construction industry for assembly tasks. We seek funding to extend and validate the functionality of our AR platform across the entire building life cycle – encompassing assembly, dismantling, and reassembly stages. To demonstrate this capability, we will construct, deconstruct, and reassemble a test object. The knowledge acquired from this test object will lay the foundation for pilot projects within an industry context. To achieve this, we require partners, whom we intend to connect with through the CBI Booster among others.
How will you attract the 3rd party funding (10% of the total funding amount)?
We will secure 10% (CHF 2000.-) of third-party funding through a foundation and/or sponsorship. If we were to receive CBI Booster funding, we will contact foundations such as the Hilti Foundation, with whom incon.ai is currently involved in a project in the Philippines. In case we fail to get additional funding from foundations we are certain that we can secure the funding through incon.ai’s established industry partners and VCs.
The construction industry faces challenges in deconstructing and repurposing materials, necessitating innovative solutions. We propose to use AR to guide users through the whole building life-cycle. We will showcase the circular use of materials in a demo assembly, disassembly, and then reuse the materials in a new structure. To highlight the potential of the solution we estimate the reduction of CO2 emissions and energy savings for booths at trade fairs, which are beyond 100kt CO2 and 100GWh per year.