Testfit
Dallas, Texas
Founded: 2017
Founders: Clifton Harness (CEO), Ryan Griege (CTO)
Structures can be generated in seconds with TestFit by simply inputting a building’s parameters. Building types and unit styles can be swapped instantly, massing adjustments can be made on the fly, and multiple sites can be reconfigured simultaneously.
TestFit uses a data-driven approach to smart urban planing and removes barriers in the adoption of generative design. TestFit helps real estate developers, architects, and urban planners conduct feasibility studies and test fit sites for multifamily, hotel, modular, parking, and office development. Using proprietary AI algorithms, the company claims results can be produced in seconds. Building simulations can be run using multiple parameters such as geolocation and 3D contest building to build on a site’s GIS data, user-generated building schemes for comparative analysis, and time-of-day shadow generation. Building typologies can be selected from presets that include wrap, donut, tower, hotel, and podium or they can be created custom by users. TestFit data can be exported to Sketchup, integrated with Dynamo/Revit, and have 3D views exported for PDF. In 2020, TestFit announced $2 million in seed funding from Parkway Venture Capital.
Buildots
Tel Aviv, Israel
Founded: 2018
Founders: Aviv Leibovici (CPO), Roy Danon (CEO), Yasir Sudry (CTO)
Buildots was designed to enable maximum control of construction processes with minimal effort. The solution uses 360-degree cameras mounted to project managers’ hardhats to create a digital twin of the construction site and turn every site walk into process data. Once access to updated schedules and designs are loaded into the platform, Buildots uses artificial intelligence to automatically analyze and map all of the files to produce a detailed digital construction program to be tracked by the system. The process data is automatically aggregated and compared to the expected status of the project.
Buildots can help track and identify project loose ends, analyze project progress, calculate expected payments, and detect errors. In order to ensure a higher degree of accuracy and the most valuable insights, the Buildots algorithm is augmented with manual analysis and assistance during the initial weeks of a project. The platform includes features such as automated video analysis, per-trade throughput and progress analysis, a consolidated project view with “percent complete" and identification of the most urgent issues, and on-demand project status and gap, both detailed and aggregated. Additionally, Buildots can be easily integrated into existing management workflows.
AI Clearing
Austin, Texas
Founded: 2020
Founders: Michael Mazur (CEO), Adam Wisniewski (CTO)
The AI Clearing dashboard (below) for a highway construction project. The dashboard is interactive and fully customizable for each project. Reports are also available in PDF format.
AI Clearing is an artificial intelligence-powered construction progress monitoring solution meant to help companies track the progress of work on their large civil engineering project sites. Data from schedules, CAD, BIM, and drones is used and analyzed by artificial intelligence and then sent back to the client in the form of a dashboard. This dashboard tracks metrics such as utilization of materials, completion or various layers of road surface, and the number of structures erected while also identifying even the smallest discrepancies with the design. Analyzing this data could take a human employee 20 days or more, but AI Clearing is able to do the job in 20 minutes.
An example of an overhead drone photo with objects color-coded.
“We’ve realized that construction companies don’t want to spend a lot of time setting up systems, and they definitely don’t want to pay for yet another software license or subscription,” said Michael Mazur, CEO, Co-Founder, AI Clearing. “That’s why we structured the product the way we did. There’s one fee per project. It takes about four hours to set up the transfer of data from out clients and after that it’s automated. We pull the information in and send it back to the client in the form of analysis that’s displayed on dashboards for as many users as they want.”
Current clients include PCL Construction in the U.S. and Canada, and the French construction group Vinci. AI Clearing recently completed a $2 million seed round in December 2020 that was led by Tera Ventures from Estonia. Co-investors included Venture Partners, Innovation Nest, and other funds from places including Australia.
Related Stories
Energy Efficiency | Aug 9, 2024
Artificial intelligence could help reduce energy consumption by as much as 40% by 2050
Artificial intelligence could help U.S. buildings to significantly reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, according to a paper by researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Products and Materials | Jul 31, 2024
Top building products for July 2024
BD+C Editors break down July's top 15 building products, from Façades by Design to Schweiss Doors's Strap Latch bifold door.
Smart Buildings | Jul 25, 2024
A Swiss startup devises an intelligent photovoltaic façade that tracks and moves with the sun
Zurich Soft Robotics says Solskin can reduce building energy consumption by up to 80% while producing up to 40% more electricity than comparable façade systems.
Great Solutions | Jul 23, 2024
41 Great Solutions for architects, engineers, and contractors
AI ChatBots, ambient computing, floating MRIs, low-carbon cement, sunshine on demand, next-generation top-down construction. These and 35 other innovations make up our 2024 Great Solutions Report, which highlights fresh ideas and innovations from leading architecture, engineering, and construction firms.
AEC Tech Innovation | Jul 4, 2024
Caution competes with inevitability at conference exploring artificial intelligence for design and construction
Hosted by PSMJ, AEC Innovate in Boston found an AEC industry anxiously at the threshold of change.
Contractors | Jun 4, 2024
Contractors expect to spend more time on prefabrication, according to FMI study
Get ready for a surge in prefabrication activity by contractors. FMI, the consulting and investment banking firm, recently polled contractors about how much time they were spending, in craft labor hours, on prefabrication for construction projects. More than 250 contractors participated in the survey, and the average response to that question was 18%. More revealing, however, was the participants’ anticipation that craft hours dedicated to prefab would essentially double, to 34%, within the next five years.
AEC Tech | Apr 30, 2024
Lack of organizational readiness is biggest hurdle to artificial intelligence adoption
Managers of companies in the industrial sector, including construction, have bought the hype of artificial intelligence (AI) as a transformative technology, but their organizations are not ready to realize its promise, according to research from IFS, a global cloud enterprise software company. An IFS survey of 1,700 senior decision-makers found that 84% of executives anticipate massive organizational benefits from AI.
BIM and Information Technology | Mar 11, 2024
BIM at LOD400: Why Level of Development 400 matters for design and virtual construction
As construction projects grow more complex, producing a building information model at Level of Development 400 (LOD400) can accelerate schedules, increase savings, and reduce risk, writes Stephen E. Blumenbaum, PE, SE, Walter P Moore's Director of Construction Engineering.
AEC Tech | Mar 9, 2024
9 steps for implementing digital transformation in your AEC business
Regardless of a businesses size and type, digital solutions like workflow automation software, AI-based analytics, and integrations can significantly enhance efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness.
AEC Tech | Feb 28, 2024
How to harness LIDAR and BIM technology for precise building data, equipment needs
By following the Scan to Point Cloud + Point Cloud to BIM process, organizations can leverage the power of LIDAR and BIM technology at the same time. This optimizes the documentation of existing building conditions, functions, and equipment needs as a current condition and as a starting point for future physical plant expansion projects.