Page 11 - W M Donald Newsletter - Edition Eleven

What is your – and Trimble’s – vision of the construction site of the future?
In 2015, Trimble bought a Scandinavian software company called Vianova (now Trimble Solutions). They have developed a BIM software system called Quadri. Quadri provides a common data environment which enables real-time collaboration of multiple users on a central model. I think this collaborative approach will, over time, become the norm rather than the exception.
Augmented reality is already moving into the cabs of construction equipment. Operators will be able to see a 3-D view of the design they are working on in real-world context as it is overlaid via a camera feed. This in future will minimise utility service clashes while improving the operator’s understanding of design intent.
As this is the BIG Interview, I thought it would be interesting to end on a BIG Idea. Three years ago at an exhibition in Las Vegas, Trimble unveiled a prototype autonomous compactor and bulldozer. The control software in the compactor, for example, would automatically determine the optimal route to achieve the required compaction on a car park the size of a football pitch based on defined parameters (geofence, speed, pass count etc). I don’t think it is too far a stretch of the imagination to see the same approach working in, for example, excavators.
Any debate around autonomous vehicles on construction sites raises a broad range of questions covering issues as diverse as technology, safety, economics, philosophy, and the future of work. I think as a first step we may see semi-autonomous vehicles being ‘remotely’ controlled by an operator sitting in a cabin on site, or even from an office.
Whatever your outlook, it’s an exciting time to be in construction.
I’m sure readers of the newsletter will be rather envious of the weather in Brisbane!
I have to say the weather in Brisbane is superb. I think the average high temperature is around 26˚C and rarely drops below 17˚C. But, let’s be honest, it has nothing on the brisk breeze you get in Thurso!
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