Demolition Technology 2020 by Mark Anthony

Demolition Technology

The demolition industry of tomorrow will look very different to the sector of today. As our massive Demolition Technology 2020 online event proved, the technological revolution has only just begun. Mark Anthony reports.

The Future Starts Now

A few years ago, I wrote a book called Demolition 2051 in which I imagined what the demolition world might look like in 30 or so years. For a niche book on a niche subject it sold remarkably well, although I doubt that it gave JK Rowling and Stephen King sleepless nights.

It was a work of fiction but it was rooted very much in reality. Much of the technology I mentioned – remote site monitoring, machine automation and drone surveys – already exists. So it wasn’t a huge stretch of the imagination to envisage how the sector might evolve and embrace this technology.

What I didn’t foresee was the arrival of a global pandemic that would place much of the industry on lockdown and force it to find new ways of working. Nor did I anticipate the speed with which the adoption of new technology would take place, or the industry’s eagerness to embrace change.

I should have done.

From its very inception, the demolition industry has been constantly-changing, constantlyevolving and constantlyimproving. In just a few short decades, the industry went from manual demolition with mattocks and sledgehammers to highlyadvanced high reach excavators of 50, 60 and 70 metres in height. It has adopted remotely controlled demolition robots, dust, noise and vibration monitors that report their findings via Bluetooth and wi-fi; machine telematics and advanced diagnostics that eﬀectively allows demolition equipment to manage its own health and status; wearable devices that monitor exposure to hand and arm vibration; and a whole host of other significant developments.

Even the traditional cigarette break during top-level meetings has been replaced by “comfort breaks” that allow industry executives to catch up on emails via mobile phone.

As a direct result, the industry has grown more productive, more efficient, safer and more professional with each passing year. But the technological revolution within the global demolition industry has only just begun. In evolutionary terms, the global demolition industry currently has just discovered the pointed stick. Emerging technology will provide the sector with tools, fire, and the wheel.

App Happy Technology has infiltrated and transformed virtually every aspect of our lives. It has impacted upon how we communicate with family and friends, how we purchase goods, how we consume entertainment, and how we carry out financial transactions. It has placed at our very fingertips the sum of all human knowledge (good) and the sum of all human ignorance, stupidity, prejudice and bigotry (not so great). Regardless of the task you wish to perform, chances are there is an app for it. And nowhere is this technological transformation more evident than in the business world. Want to carry out a pre-start check on a demolition machine? There’s an app for that. Want to empower your team to speak freely about mental health issues? There an app for that too. Within hours of national governments announcing local lockdowns amidst the Coronavirus pandemic, the term “jump on a Zoom call” had slipped unnoticed into the industry’s language.

Several years ago, I purchased a drone and sent my son off to get his pilot’s license with a view to offering his services for aerial surveys, video and photography. Like so many (all) of my get-richquick schemes, this failed to take off (pardon the pun) as every demolition contractor worth his/her salt now has a drone of their own.

I have been on numerous sites that require fingerprint or retina-scan ID for access, and several more at which all site “paperwork” now lives in the cloud instead of a catered old ring binder and which is accessed and continually updated via mobile device.

And yet, all of this is merely a first step; the first step on an exciting journey in which the destination is still unknown.

Data- Driven How often do you currently find yourself working blind; with no access to drawings; no real idea of what might lurk beyond a structure’s exterior; what potential hazards it might contain; where utilities might run or where hidden basements and underground voids might lie in wait?

In a BIM (building information modelling) empowered world, that should no longer be an issue. Assuming that BIM has been implemented properly, future demolition contractors will be able to see precisely what lies where. They will be able to mine data to find details of what the structure was made of and how it was erected. They will be able to analyse fixing points and potential weaknesses and

track utilities long before they set foot on site.

Such an implementation will inform demolition methods and sequences. It will aid in the selection of appropriate equipment, personnel and resources. And, having identified just what the structure comprises, it will facilitate more eﬀective recycling and repurposing of materials. Indeed, it doesn’t require too much imagination to picture a world in which recovered materials are sold on a preorder basis before demolition even commences.

The use of BIM was mandated on all government-funded construction projects in 2016. Given that the life expectancy of some inner city buildings is now just 20 to 30 years, it is likely that demolition companies will benefit from access to unprecedented levels of data in little more than a decade from now.

But what then?

Heads- Up Display Demolition sites hold regular on-site briefings and Toolbox Talks in which the daily or weekly tasks ahead and the potential hazards are highlighted and discussed. But those briefings often lack both depth and context. It is one thing to describe a plan of action; it is quite another to actually show it.

3D modelling is now an accepted part of the modern demolition company’s armoury. 3D animations are used to help explain complex demolition sequences to potential clients and stakeholders in order to win work; and they are used to allow those same stakeholders to monitor and chart progress should the demolition firm’s bid prove successful.

But what if those 3D models and animations were built using available BIM data? What if all works, methodologies and sequences were based upon real information contained within a “digital twin”? And what if those sequences and methodologies could be communicated and taken beyond a daily or weekly briefing and into reality?

That capability exists today. Systems like the Hololens could arm each worker with a had hat featuring a heads-up display on a visor that would allow the wearer to see not just the physical structure but also an augmented reality version of it, eﬀectively granting them X-ray vision. The sequence of works, hidden utilities and basements and potential hazards can be projected onto the visor’s display, allowing the wearer to take every sect of that Toolbox Talk with him/her. That data would be updated in real-time allowing management staﬀ to chart progress while providing stakeholders with a remote monitoring capability like never before.

It is important to note here that while my book – Demolition 2051 – envisaged a world in which man had been removed entirely from the demolition site, emerging technology allows humans to retain their place while becoming more eﬃcient, more productive and – above all – safer.

Changing Skills With that being said, the role of equipment operators has the potential to change beyond all recognition. We have already seen the arrival of autonomous machines in the field of mining and quarrying where repetitive tasks and isolated sites allow such vehicles to operate in splendid isolation. That environment does not exist in demolition (although 3D modelling beamed into an autonomous machine is more than a figment of my imagination) so, in all likelihood the demolition sector will continue to rely upon the skill and expertise of the men and women behind the levers for some time to come.

But those skills will unquestionably change. We have witnessed the advent of remotely controlled machines from the likes of Brokk, Husqvarna and now ES Manufacturing. More recently, we have seen remote controls

refined and applied to machines from the likes of Bobcat. But that is merely scratching the surface.

Last year, I had the pleasure of operating a Caterpillar dozer located in Arizona while I was sat in an oﬃce in Birmingham (the one in the UK). At the Bauma exhibition in 2019, I used a simulator on an exhibition stand in the German city of Berlin to operate an excavator in South Korea.

Not only are such systems a testament to man’s ingenuity and innovation, their practical application has the potential to transform demolition and construction sites. Obviously, true remote control oﬀers the ability to finally take man away from the dangers of the workface.

But consider this.

Imagine you are working on an urgent project in which speed of completion is a priority. Work starts, as usual, at 8.00 in the morning UK time. And the experienced UK equipment operators then work until 5.00 pm, again as usual. Using systems like the Danishdeveloped Steer solution, a team of equally experienced operators based in – say – Texas could then take over the control of the machines and work another shift remotely. When their shift ends, they pass the project to a team in

Osaka who will keep working until the UK team arrives for work the following morning.

Such a future is diﬃcult to imagine. But that technology exists right here and right now. All that is required to bring such a future to fruition is the will. (And, just as an aside, let me quickly address the subject of the lag between performing and action in one place and seeing it happen in another. When I was operating the Caterpillar dozer, I raised the same point. One of Caterpillar’s specialists – who had clearly faced this question before – suggested that I switch on the machine’s working lights as a demonstration. The response was instantaneous. The lights on a machine in Arizona came on even before I had taken my finger oﬀ the switch).

Machine Monitoring But what if the machine breaks down in the middle of the night while it is being operated by the Japanese crew? In a world of modern telematics and remote monitoring, unplanned downtime simply should not happen. Those telematics can monitor and manage every aspect of the machine’s functions, checking engine status, fuel and oil levels and detect potential faults. Those systems can also be deployed to ensure that a machine is not being overworked or overextended. Cameras in the cab can ensure that the machine operator is paying full attention and is not distracted by things like mobile telephones. The data recorded by these systems can be used to inform training, focusing on aspects of the operator’s performance that are causing unnecessary wear and tear or that are using too much fuel. An automatic stop could automatically shut the machine down when it idles for a prescribed period.

Such systems have the ability to fundamentally change the way in which we think about equipment fleets. Rather than hiring a machine for a project or a specific task, it is not inconceivable that it would be possible to hire it based upon the work it performs. You might have a hired high reach on site for a week; but if it only works for two hours and 12 minutes for three out of six days, that is what you pay for. Such a system would be entirely transparent between the hirer and those operating the equipment as the data on precise usage would live on a shared dashboard that is updated in real time.

Facilitating Change All of which sounds daunting, right? It shouldn’t. As an industry, we saw cloth caps and tweed jackets replaced by had hats and high vis’ vests in a single generation. We saw sledgehammers and mattocks usurped by hydraulic excavators in the same period. We have seen crawler cranes and wrecking balls consigned to the history books while remotely controlled demolition robots have become commonplace.

Away from work, we have seen personal computing take over the world in 20 or so years. We have seen traditional book and music publishing become electronic. We have seen the Internet transform virtually every aspect of our lives.

You have in your pocket a device that can make and receive phone calls. That can send and receive emails, take photos, display movies, play music, deliver the latest news, track your fitness, monitor your heart rate, pay for your morning coﬀee and provide instant access to the sum of all human knowledge. That device didn’t exist 20 years ago. And yet today, that device has become so ubiquitous and so omnipresent that we actually take it for granted.

Besides, demolition is all about progress. It is an industry that can change the skyline of an entire city. Demolition doesn’t just embrace change, it facilitates it.

I will see you in the future.