Author: Constructech Editors
What will it look like? Will it blend in? In the architect’s world, renderings show the proposed site after construction. Some are so detailed they are photographic in realization of the future. Now companies are developing AR (augmented reality) applications to do that job in real photorealism. inCitu is a New York City-based company that shows interested parties future physical developments via AR. The company enables public-facing AR visualizations of proposed and upcoming development projects and counts cities, real estate developers, technology companies, and other stakeholders as their future customers. Facing climate change, severe housing shortage, public health threats, mass…
Residential real estate agencies have been using virtual tours of their properties for a while now and finding that they are popular with buyers who can visit homes at their leisure. Commercial agencies, however, are catching up with an estimated 75% of commercial real estate professionals already use virtual tours — and 90% of them will do so within the next two years. Those numbers come from a research report from Resonai, a computer vision and augmented reality company. The rapid adoption of virtual tours within the real estate industry is being driven by the technology’s impact on the bottom…
Apparently, every good computer-based technology has a bad guy waiting to hack it. The infrastructure hacks of a few years ago, where ransomware was used to cripple Colonial Pipeline and JBS Foods, are samples of what can come. There are vulnerabilities in most IoT installations, commercial and consumer oriented, that are waiting for someone to find them. Worse, many government and commercial installations are dependent on “old tech” such as ICS (industrial control systems) that were developed two or three technology generations ago. Take EVs (electric vehicles) for example. In 2008, Tesla released its first models, targeting sales of 100…
Positioning is a critical part of making vehicles autonomous and accurately locating construction points. The most common positioning systems today use GPS (global positioning system) or, in Europe, Galileo satellites. Although popular, these systems have limitations, primarily their radio signal strength variability and the difficulty of getting a usable signal inside structures or even outside in heavily constructed urban areas like New York City. Government agencies and citizens alike depend on the navigational and positioning properties of GPS for location-based applications, on a variety of instruments down to the cell phone in your pocket. Unfortunately, that dependency can be easily…
Safety and compliance to regulations on the jobsite is a growing consideration for many companies as they enter new segments of the construction field or bid on jobs in different locations. The contractor’s employees, subcontractors, and even suppliers on the site are of concern when safety issues arise. And then there are the regulators looking over the jobsite and the contractor’s shoulder, keeping tabs on safety and compliance measures. Luckily, technology is available to help. HammerTech, a company that provides CRS (compliance, risk, and safety) software, has over 1 million workers enrolled in the HammerTech platform. Each day, over 100,000…
A robot is a machine, plain and simple. Unlike a machine tool, a CNC (computerized numerical control) machine for example, that sits on a foundation and works at its job, robots have motion functions, movement of extensions such as arms or tracks that allow it to go to the work, not just wait for the work to come to it. Range of motion might be very limited—think of the insertion robot that places chips on a motherboard—or wide. In that latter category are the animated robots that can literally run throughout the warehouse or jobsite, performing duties that require strength…
Growth is a good thing, most people will agree, just ask PowerShades. PowerShades, a provider of manual and automated window shades for residential, commercial, and hospitality applications, is dealing with at least two of them. In August 2022, the company moved from three separate buildings into a single, new headquarters. The new facility more than doubles the size of the company’s previous combined footprint, and is home to all PowerShades operations, production, manufacturing, warehousing, customer service, and sales. The new facility more than quadruples PowerShades’ production area which will house an array of new machinery including welders, high-end soft cutting…
The dog’s tail follows it around, rarely leading it. Technology advancements often must wait for success because the infrastructure necessary for it to bloom doesn’t exist. Inventors find ways to move the needle even when there is no way to run the tech outside of the lab. In each case, something goes first, the rest follows. This has been the case with renewable energy and electric vehicles, both deemed necessary for the immediate future and steadily growing in availability. Electric vehicles or EVs are increasing their range per charge but long-distance travel in a plug-in is still an adventure. Where…
The market for homes has been saturated with “pre-owned” units for as long as anyone can remember. The turnover in older builds has, indeed, been the market for single-family homes in the U.S. New structures are usually a small percent of the units available at any given time but that percentage is volatile and in the third quarter of 2022 it was up more than expected. According to Redfin, a technology-powered real estate company, 29% of U.S. single-family homes for sale in the third quarter were new construction—the highest share of any third quarter on record. That’s up from 25%…
Savings is the primary factor that drives consumers to purchase energy-management solutions. Higher energy costs drive higher dissatisfaction, as evidenced by the number agreeing that their bills are too high, even among higher-income households. Bills are particularly higher for larger families and so is their dissatisfaction. 67% of broadband households paying $110+ per month say their costs are too high. 46% of families of 5 or more pay more than $160 a month for electricity. 50% of broadband households earning $100,000+ say their electricity costs are too high. Energy companies are sharing data more frequently and more than half of…