Broadly, I think there's so much potential for computing in construction. If we can model logistics decisions as optimization decisions, we can leverage incredibly efficient solvers to extract efficiencies. The challenge, of course, being the "info pipeline" - integrating machines with construction processes and planning software and orchestrating it all in a way that adds value.
If an entire construction plan is modeled, you could also compile it into a staged procurement/shipment plan, and essentially orchestrate the supply chain in sync with the jobsite activities.
It'd be cool to have more info on how the process looks like with/without these machines, how rates of specific activities are impacted etc. but a bunch of this stuff is probably proprietary.
The challenge is that nothing gets built strictly according to the plan. Solar farms seem easy because there's no foundation, everything is above ground, and there's essentially no finishing involved.
This really is the "lowest hanging fruit" of the construction industry.
There are foundational elements, those arrays of panels do have to be mounted to the earth somehow after all. I've built solar farms where we drilled thousands of 5-foot deep, 6-inch diameter holes with 1/4" tolerance for the location. Into which pipes were concreted and the long crossbars for the panel arrays were installed.
Did the tolerances truly need to be so tight? Probably not, and just set so by a designer somewhere. But the panels do have to line up for tying into conduit that goes to (pad mounted) transformers and distribution equipment, etc.
Sure, but in that case, the alignment really just saves you on conductors, it's not required for the larger structure to operate correctly. The posts aren't meaningfully tied together in any structural way unlike a post and pier "foundation."
What I meant was, for something like a building, the plan will describe the invariants of the design, but what it really reveals are all the available variants in achieving that outcome on the actual site. With a solar farm that available variance is actually very small because the overall "plant" has very little additional or emergent structure.
This is somewhat like AVX - it only works if you have large enough vectors (a simple operation that is repeated a million times on contiguous data). Arbitrary buildings are much harder to optimize.
Broadly, I think there's so much potential for computing in construction. If we can model logistics decisions as optimization decisions, we can leverage incredibly efficient solvers to extract efficiencies. The challenge, of course, being the "info pipeline" - integrating machines with construction processes and planning software and orchestrating it all in a way that adds value.
If an entire construction plan is modeled, you could also compile it into a staged procurement/shipment plan, and essentially orchestrate the supply chain in sync with the jobsite activities.
It'd be cool to have more info on how the process looks like with/without these machines, how rates of specific activities are impacted etc. but a bunch of this stuff is probably proprietary.