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News

Here you can find the latest information and news from the S.M.A.R.T. Construction Research Group

Digital Twin project presented at Global Rail 2024

We presented our Digital Twin project at the Global Rail 2024 Transport Infrastructure Exhibition & Conference. This solution combines LiDAR detection for occupancy tracking with IoT sensors to monitor temperature, humidity, air quality, acoustics, and visual comfort. Using a Unity-3D immersive environment and AI-driven predictions, it offers real-time insights to support better decision-making for Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) and air quality forecasting, contributing to more efficient energy use and sustainability.

The technology is well-suited for railway stations, helping the UAE's new railway system become more energy-efficient and sustainable while improving passenger comfort. By utilizing real-time data from occupancy and environmental sensors, operators can better manage energy consumption and indoor conditions. We appreciate the Global Rail organizers for hosting the event and having us as part of their Innovation Hub area.

Presentation on Cyber Risk Analysis in Construction 4.0 at ICCCBE 2024

At the 20th International Conference on Computing in Civil and Building Engineering (ICCCBE) in Montreal, Canada, we presented our study on cyber risk analysis frameworks designed for the construction industry. Our research, titled “Integrating Machine Learning for Cyber Risk Analysis in Construction 4.0,” focused on the increasing vulnerabilities due to digital advancements in the sector. We discussed how common cyber threats like data breaches and ransomware highlight the need for stronger cybersecurity to protect data and ensure project integrity. The study centered on developing machine learning frameworks to automate and improve the identification and estimation of cyber risks in construction. Using neural networks and generative AI, our models offer tools to help construction professionals enhance their cybersecurity efforts without needing extensive technical expertise. These innovations contribute to better risk mitigation strategies, leading to more secure construction practices. Feedback from ICCCBE participants was positive, recognizing the importance of such cybersecurity frameworks in today's construction industry.

Mubadala-NYUAD Research Project Advances Autonomous Solutions

As part of the "Mubadala - NYUAD Collaborative Student Research Project Award," Juan Castaño, Uday Menon, and Mohamed Benaich worked on a project titled "AI and Robotics for Autonomous Data Acquisition in Construction Projects". The main objective was to enhance data collection efficiency in construction environments through the integration of AI and robotics. A prototype system was developed that combines advanced robotics, AI algorithms, and sensor technologies to autonomously navigate construction sites, collect real-time data, and generate 3D visualizations of the environment. The project successfully implemented SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) and multi-sensor fusion techniques, allowing the robot to autonomously move, gather, and visualize data, thereby improving decision-making processes in construction. In collaboration with industry partner ALEC, the system was tested by students at the ongoing construction of the Natural History Museum (NHM) in the Saadiyat Cultural District to assess its feasibility and challenges outside the controlled lab environment.

2023 NYUAD Exceptional Service Award

Professor Borja Garcia de Soto received the 2023 NYUAD Exceptional Service Award during the award ceremony that took place on 8 December. Congratulations also to Andras Gyorgy, Mohamad Eid, Mohammed Daqaq, Sajna Lal, Jorge Montalvo and Wahib Salim in the Division of Engineering at New York University Abu Dhabi for their awards.

Professor Borja Garcia de Soto joins Construction Robotics

Professor Borja Garcia de Soto joins the Editorial Board of Construction Robotics (by Springer) as Associate Editor. The Journal on Construction Robotics focuses on the emerging field of robotic applications in construction and demolition, a domain with limited robotic automation due to challenges like large object sizes, dynamic environments, and limited robotics exposure among civilengineers and architects. Recent efforts have been made to address these issues, and the journal contributes to this growing momentum in construction robotics. The journal covers the entire spectrum of robotic automation in construction, including prefabrication of large-scale parts, on-site assembly and inspection, refurbishment, and demolition. It aspires to be the central publication platform for the expanding construction robotics community, accelerating and promoting this new field while enabling architects and civil engineers to publish their work at a high scientific level. More information about the journal can be found here.

Hack My Robot (HMR) competition 2023

The final round of the Hack My Robot Challenge happened in November, and it was great organizing it for the second time! The students had the chance to present their cybersecurity skills and demonstrate their ideas to compromise the data and operations of the given robotic system, representing an autonomous excavator. All teams came up with creative ways and showed the vulnerabilities of increasingly digitalized construction environments!

Thanks to the judges (Nader Kayali - Accuracy - Manager, Sabyasachi Jana - ALEC - Innovation Specialist, Christoforos Vasilatos - NYUAD CCSAD - Research Engineer), and congratulations to the winning teams! First place: Botraiders Team (from KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology)) - David Felipe A., Nouf Farhoud, Luis Vazquez, Erick Silva). Second place: Bit Shifters Team (from the American University of Sharjah) - Shahed Obaid Alqadoumi, Ansah Siddiqui, Mahmoud Darwish, Muhammed Noshin. Third place: BIN10 Team (from Abu Dhabi University) - Ahmad Al-Remawi, Ahmed Elsayed, Nayef Abusharia, Abdelrahman Tameem.

Cybercrime and Cybersecurity Practices in the Middle East Construction Industry

Amidst the rise of cybercrimes and cyberattacks, it has become paramount for companies across the globe to prioritize the establishment of strong cybersecurity measures. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Accuracy, and New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) collaborated to carry out a comprehensive survey within the Middle East region’s construction sector (the Survey). The purpose of the Survey was to evaluate the risks construction project participants face in relation to cybercrimes and gauge their level of preparedness. This report examines the common cybercrime and cybersecurity practices in the Middle East construction sector using the results from the Survey. DOWNLOAD the report here.

Professor Borja Garcia de Soto has been appointed as Honorary Fellow of ISTeA

Professor Borja Garcia de Soto has been appointed as an Honorary Fellow of the Italian Society for Science, Technology, Engineering for Architecture - ISTeA (Società Italiana della Tecnologia dell'Architettura) .

The title of Honorary fellow is awarded to people who distinguished themselves for particular achievements related to the objectives of ISTeA, committing to promoting culture and scientific research in the production and management of the built environment.

More info about ISTeA here.

New book chapter: Cybersecurity Considerations for Deep Renovation

Check out our chapter "Cybersecurity Considerations for Deep Renovation" (co-authored with Semih Sonkor). This chapter is part of the book titled "Disrupting Buildings: Digitalisation and the Transformation of Deep Renovation" edited by Theo Lynn, Pierangelo Rosati, Mohamad Kassem, Stelios Krinidis, and Jennifer Kennedy PhD. Thanks to the Center for Cyber Security at New York University Abu Dhabi (CCS-NYUAD) for the support provided. The chapter is Open Access and available here.

University Partner of the Year 2022

Thank you, ALEC, for inviting us to the ALEC Innovation Day 2023. It is an honor to be selected as the “University Partner of the Year 2022”. Special thanks to Imad Itani and Sabyasachi Jana for their continued interest and support in our research! It’s great to see all the amazing things your team is doing to make ALEC the leader in innovation in construction projects in the region.

Dr. Samuel A. Prieto, Nikolaos Giakoumidis (from the Kinesis CTP at NYUAD), Eyob T Mengiste, and Prof. Borja García de Soto were invited to participate during the ALEC Innovation Day last March 2, 2023.

First UAE Construction Research Gathering at NYUAD

The S.M.A.R.T. Construction Research Group organized the first UAE Construction Research Gathering (CRG2023) at New York University Abu Dhabi. The main goal of the CRG is for researchers in the UAE working in the area of automation and robotics in construction to meet and have informal discussions about their ongoing research. We had the luxury of having Prof. Miroslaw Skibniesky joining the first edition of CRG. Thank you, Mirek, for all the insights and suggestions provided to the postdocs and Ph.D. students! It is expected that the 'Construction Research Gathering' will be done every year to strengthen the relationships and stay up to date with research in the area of automation and robotics in construction being developed in the UAE.

Dr. Garcia de Soto appointed as General Secretary of IAARC

Borja has been appointed the General Secretary for the International Association for Automation and Robotics in Construction (IAARC). IAARC is considered the premier global organization dedicated to the advancement of Automation and Robotics in Construction. It represents fields of construction, including civil and building engineering, machine automation, robotics applications to construction, information technologies, planning, logistics, and more. More information about IAARC can be found here.

Testing our robots with ALEC

In early December 2021, we had the opportunity to test our robotic systems in one of ALEC's projects in Abu Dhabi. Thanks to Imad Itani, the Innovation Manager at ALEC, for making this possible.

Using our robots in real construction sites makes a big difference when testing and fine-tuning the navigation and localization algorithms. Researchers from the S.M.A.R.T. Construction Research Group were able to identify some of the challenges when moving the robots from the lab to real construction sites. Ongoing work on the automation of data collection and progress monitoring during the construction phase is being conducted by Dr. Samuel Prieto, Eyob Mengiste, Xinghui Xu, Nas Gopee, and Prof. Borja Garcia de Soto. In addition, Dr. Nikolaos Giakoumidis, the Instrumentation Research Specialist from the Kinesis CTP at NYUAD, is collaborating on this project.

ISARC 2021 in the UAE

The S.M.A.R.T. Construction Research Group will participate in the 38th International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction (ISARC) in Dubai from 2nd to 5th November 2021. This is the first time that ISARC comes to the middle east and the United Arab Emirates will host ISARC in Dubai. 

Researchers from the S.M.A.R.T. Construction Research Group have contributed to ten peer-reviewed conference papers. Several papers are authored by undergraduate and graduate students from NYUAD. Also, some papers have been done in collaboration with industry (ALEC and Hilti) and researchers from other universities (University of Sharjah, Northumbria University, Polytechnic University of Marche).

Information about ISARC 2021 can be found here.

The S.M.A.R.T. Team wins at SciRoc

The S.M.A.R.T. Team was the winning team of Episode 1 (simulation) at the second edition of the Smart City Robotics Challenge (SciRoc) that took place from the 6th – 10th September 2021 in Bologna, Italy. The team participants included Pi Ko, Muhammad Anas (Nas) Gopee, Yaman Garg, Xinghui Xu, Samuel A. Prieto, Nikolaos Giakoumidis, and Borja García de Soto. 

The robot utilizes ROS, and runs in Gazebo. It is able to navigate autonomously throughout the coffee shops, detect and recognize humans and food items, and interact with human customers through speech recognition. The robot uses the latest and most efficient algorithms to perform its tasks, such as PocketSphinx for speech recognition and YOLOv5 for object detection. You can check out the simulation here.

14 teams, from various universities around the world participated in the entire SciRoc competition. Congrats to the winning teams!

Game engines to support industrialized construction

Industrialized Construction is emerging as a disruptive force in the construction industry. The work by PhD student Ali Ezzeddine and Prof. Borja García de Soto about the use of game engine technology to connecting construction teams has been published in Automation in Construction. 

Their study demonstrates how game engine technology can enhance coordination and collaboration in modular construction projects. The authors developed a digital platform to connect all teams involved. This study shows that game engines provide a rapid and cost-effective tool for developing digital solutions for modular construction projects. Feedback from industry professionals highlighted the benefits of using such game engine-based tools in projects which opens up future investigations on the practical use of game engines in other aspects of construction. You can read the paper here.

Professor delivers keynote address at Abu Dhabi conference
Professor Borja Garcia de Soto delivered a keynote lecture titled “Towards an Innovative and Productive Construction Industry” at the 2nd International Conference in Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Project Management, where he highlighted some of the current research of the S.M.A.R.T. Construction Research Group, led by him (February 5, 2019).

Construction Technology Festival – Online

Dr. Garcia de Soto was part of the panel for "Big data issues in construction: Security, Integrity, and Ownership" during the CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY FESTIVAL on 21 October. The panel was moderated by Prakash Senghani, Director Digital Delivery, JLL. Other panelists included: Sultan Moraished, Chief Information Security Officer Cyber Security, The Red Sea Development Company; Paul Shillcock, Author of ISO 19650-2 and the UK National Annex, Managing Director, Operam; Muks H, Technical Director, CrowdStrike. Great topics and extraordinary speakers. The complete agenda can be found here.

Cyber Security in relation to Construction 4.0

The European Network of Construction Companies for Research and Development (ENCORD) had its 2nd (Virtual) Council Meeting on 14 September 2020. The focus of the meeting was on “Cyber Security in relation to Construction 4.0”. Guest panel speakers (Mrs. Rositsa Georgieva, Programme Officer, EU Policies at the European Commission; Mr. Ian Hill, Global Director of Cyber Security, Royal BAM Group; Mr. Juan Cobo, CISO, Ferrovial; Mr. Prof. Borja García de Soto, Assistant Professor, NYU Abu Dhabi) and IT/Cybersecurity experts from ENCORD members had an opportunity to meet and exchange ideas about such an important topic. Founded in 1989, ENCORD has become a major network in the construction sector. More information about ENCORD can be found here.

Construction 4.0: An Innovation Platform for the Built Environment

Researchers in the S.M.A.R.T. Construction Research Group contributed in the creation of the Construction 4.0 Handbook edited by Anil Sawhney, Michael Riley, and Javier Irizarry.

Chapter 15: Future of robotics and automation in construction (by Borja Garcia de Soto, and Miroslaw J. Skibniewski)

Chapter 16: Robots in indoor and outdoor environments (by Bharadwaj R. K. Mantha, Borja Garcia de Soto, Carol C. Menassa, and Vineet R. Kamat)

Chapter 22: Cyber threats and actors confronting the Construction 4.0 (by Erika A. Pärn, and Borja Garcia de Soto)

1st Workshop on Cybersecurity Implications of Construction 4.0 (CIC-2020)

The S.M.A.R.T. Construction Research Group hosted a workshop on February 2nd and 3rd to discuss the cybersecurity implications to the architecture, engineering, construction, and facility management (AECFM) industry caused by Construction 4.0 (i.e., the digitalization and automation of the construction sector). The ultimate goal will be to define a research agenda to address the cybersecurity implications of Construction 4.0.

Borja Garcia de Soto named to exclusive board

The International Association for Automation and Robotics in Construction (IAARC) is the premier global organization dedicated to the advancement of Automation and Robotics in Construction. As a member of the BOD, Borja's research will promote automation and robotics in construction through partnerships with industry, academia, and government organizations in the United Arab Emirates and internationally. More information about IAARC can be found here.

“Out of Labs” exhibition during the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW)

Min Kyu Jung (BSc student, NYU Abu Dhabi) and Dr. Bharadwaj Mantha (Post-Doctoral Researcher, NYU Abu Dhabi) presented a prototype that is capable of navigating through a building to gather information to monitor the performance of buildings. Part of the work for this project was also conducted by Yiming Huang (BSc student, NYU Shanghai) during her visiting undergraduate studies at NYUAD in Fall 2019. 

Dr. Garcia de Soto's interview featured in Design & Build Review

Design & Build Review, Issue 53, December 2019. The Future of Robotic Construction: A Solution to the Industry’s Most Pressing Issues? (More info here)

Dr. Garcia de Soto's interview featured in Design & Build Review

Design & Build Review, Issue 50, June 2019. Architecture’s robot revolution: pioneering robotic construction. More info here.

Construction industry’s long-overdue shift to digital raises threat of cyber attacks

As more and more activities are conducted in the digital realm, some industries, such as banking, have made strides to reduce the risks that come with doing business online. The architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry has been slow to adapt to the digital world. But the shift is now happening, and it’s time to prepare for the impact this transformation will have on the industry (June 2019).

As part of the Cybersecurity Awareness Week 2022 (CSAW'22 MENA), the S.M.A.R.T. Construction Research Group, in collaboration with the Center for Cyber Security (CCS-AD) and the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR), organized the first edition of the Hack My Robot (HMR) competition. 16 students in four teams from the MENA region participated in the challange. 

Thanks to the judges: Ebrahim Hamed - Aldar - Vice president of digitalization and innovation; Nader Kayali - Accuracy - Senior Associate; Sabyasachi Jana - ALEC - Innovation Specialist; Daniel Feliu-Talegon - Khalifa University; Christoforos Vasilatos - NYUAD - CCSAD

...and big congrats to the winning teams!

First place: SENTRY TEAM (from KAUST): Ioannis (Yannis) Zografopoulos, Alyah Alfageh, Li Zhou, Shijie Pan.

Second place: YASTA TEAM (from NYUAD) Abdullah Alhasni, Salman E., Youssab William, and Omar Mostafa.

Interested in participating next year? More info about this year's edition here: https://www.csaw.io/hack-my-robot