6 minute read
Michael Burger
LEADERS' OUTLOOK
ANNUAL EDITION / JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2022
BY MICHAEL BURGER
President & CEO, FARO Technologies, Inc
Today, we continue to see an explosion of growth in massive data that brings the physical to the virtual information world. This enables an efficiency boost so that the physical world can be analyzed better and faster — independent of location — and shared with practically any stakeholder. This moves organizations and economies to higher performance through less waste and cost. The insights gained are increasingly being supported with artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), where the interoperability of devices and data relies on the information provided by laser scanning and sensors.
Scanning launched surveying to new heights of performance, and broadened its impact. It has changed the construction and architecture industry as well, creating much better control and insight to manage process and design challenges. It has also found great application in mining, tunneling, water management, solar and wind power, heritage management, and forensics. The range of applications is growing every day. It is all about understanding and communicating 3D physical world data to a broader audience. The opportunity for cost savings in construction alone is massive, which is of tremendous importance given that construction is the largest industry in most economies.
Information about our physical world underpins our ability to address real challenges — from pre-incident planning and disaster response to forestry maintenance and environmental stressors that may imperil infrastructure. With advancements in mobile mapping, Digital Twin and the remote sensing technology we see today, our physical environment (indoors or outdoors) become further intertwined with the digital environments in which we work and live.
FARO has been a pioneer in 3D measurement since 1981. However, laser scanning technology really came to market about 20 years ago and we are proud to have been a leader in this space since that time. In fact, in November 2021, we manufactured our 20,000th scanner.
Building sustainable infrastructure By digitizing the physical world, we can create smarter designs to gain better efficiencies — lowering cost and waste while optimizing the processes in the virtual world. Digital technologies also help customers improve productivity and control over complex processes by getting things right the first time. Digital collaboration also means less need for carbon-producing travel to sites multiple times. It allows smarter insights by more stakeholders in a simple and more risk-adverse fashion. This data is also the basis for detailed simulations and optimization of complex projects.
The ‘Scan to BIM process’, for example, supports the concept of a regenerative circular construction economy, where a building is planned and built to use or recycle nearly everything that goes into construction and maintenance. Scanned data is used by all stakeholders to provide information about thermal performance, ideal layouts to manage fluctuations in temperature and weather conditions, support simulations, and optimized to reduce energy emissions, save on electricity, and more. When it’s time to retrofit or update, the process maintains an accurate as-built record. Understanding the physical world accurately helps to smartly reduce materials and energy waste, and optimize human labor. In infrastructure, it offers a similar proposition — scanned data coupled with sensor/real-time data that provides information on conditions, predicts risks, and provides the intelligence to help stakeholders map new infrastructure to meet the evolving conditions of their projects.
This can even have direct effect in disaster prevention and recovery, with important learnings
about what went wrong and what can be improved should new challenges materialize — saving lives and protecting the environment.
Digitalization also supports event monitoring and risk mitigation on several levels — stakeholders get to know earlier when structures are being stressed, be it in a building or a utility substation. Stakeholders receive this information nearly instantaneously so they can make decisions before any disruptions snowball or incur waste. This is especially true when it comes to monitoring buildings that are at risk before or after earthquakes, landslides or flooding.
Advancements in Digital Twin technology The significant advantages of digitalization create profound opportunities for industry and society. Today, more and more companies and cities have a spatial Digital Twin, meaning that relevant areas of their infrastructure are regularly updated to ensure an always up-to-date digital representation of their physical reality. The next step is to utilize these Digital Twins for more disciplines by adding non-spatial data and information to the 3D model to digitally support the operation and maintenance of a business or community. We are addressing these areas to enable both capturing solutions and data processing workflows that will deliver increased value.
The ATS and HoloBuilder acquisitions were important for FARO in offering the first complete end-to-end Digital Twin platform solution. ATS’ unique solution enables us to deliver a highly accurate 3D Digital Twin. In manufacturing, for example, this allows customers to simulate precise processes and automation with high confidence before its implementation into reality. In the Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Operations (AECO) space, digital realities are increasingly
being applied for whole buildings and job sites. And Digital Twins are used throughout the building or infrastructure lifecycle, from the planning phase, through the construction phase, until the operations and maintenance phase, and even back to the planning phase of an extension or renewal of assets, buildings, and infrastructure.
Different environments or applications have different requirements when it comes to accuracy of measured data and detail of captured data (both in 3D space and as a visual image). HoloBuilder helps us to open new areas that don’t need as highly accurate 3D point Clouds but high-resolution 360-degree images. Combining these two solutions, along with our other hardware and software workflows in one ecosystem, allows customers to have one place that reflects the full reality of their assets, buildings and/or infrastructure in the relevant quality.
The future FARO recently launched FARO Trek, in collaboration with Boston Dynamics. FARO Trek is the first step in fully automating the complete scanning/data acquisition process. We consider this to be an important trend in the industry. Already, today, this kind of application allows workers to have their hands and minds free for more complex
tasks that a robot cannot fulfill. This is especially true with simple routing tasks that can be covered well and even at off times when a construction site is quiet. Trek can also play an important role in risk and safety mitigation for on-site workers.
Artificial intelligence and automation will increasingly play an important role in supporting users to gain insights faster and at lower costs, and automate complete workflows that are mostly manual today. Cloud technology already allows immediate and low-cost distribution to all stakeholders. We support technologies that guide the world to broader data gathering in less time and at lower cost. It is all about unlocking the power of data and then using that information effectively.
As more projects move into a Cloud collaboration environment, it is important to protect data and standardize protocols around security. Digital chain of evidence is critical in Public Safety (hashing) and we were one of the first to offer a digital signature for our forensic users. This will become a broader issue as time goes by.
LEADERS' OUTLOOK
ANNUAL EDITION / JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2022
