Enhancing the safety and efficiency of heavy machinery

A new system can partially or wholly automate some mining and construction operations – saving money and energy

Spotted: The global construction industry is huge – worth upwards of $7.3 trillion (around €7.5 trillion). It is also relatively inefficient and facing headwinds from increasing regulatory and contractual complexity, supply chain disruptions and an ongoing shortage of skilled labour. According to McKinsey, 98 per cent of megaprojects suffer cost overruns of more than 30 per cent. To tackle this, tech start-up INTSITE is using AI and deep learning to partially automate the heavy machinery at the heart of large-scale construction and mining operations, bringing renewed efficiency to the industry.

For the construction industry, INTSITE produces the ForeSite Tower Crane and assistance system. It consists of a high-resolution camera installed on the crane trolley and a monitor for the operator. INTSITE’s proprietary algorithms analyse the camera data to advise the crane operator on the most efficient and safest navigation trajectories for the crane. A separate AutoSite system can use the information to autonomously guide the crane, rather than issue safety alerts and guidance recommendations to a human operator.

INTSITE’s system also provides safety alerts using visual and audible notifications. It also allows the site management team to monitor the crane’s activity, enabling real-time decision-making, both on-site and remotely. INTSITE has also developed a ForeSite system for use with mining excavators. Computer vision and deep learning provide the excavator with machine awareness of its real-time positioning and surroundings. This improves both safety and efficiency, and requires the installation of just a single camera.

The company describes how its platforms can improve efficiency, pointing out that, “By increasing machine productivity and supplying the site management team with the right data from the site with the machine bird’s eye view in real-time, INTSITE can speed up the construction process, enhance monitoring and planning, and offer true data-driven decision making.”

The high energy and CO2 costs of construction have led to a flurry of recent innovations seeking to make the sector more sustainable. Some of those recently covered here at Springwise include a solvent that is lowering the energy used in cement production, and a zero-carbon modular home builder.

Written By: Lisa Magloff