Hey Re/Cappers. Or, as the Swedes say, hej. Coverage is en route of a famed Swedish retailer that loves drones nearly as much as ready-to-assemble furniture and serving meatballs.
But not just any drones, oh no. IKEA’s got eyes for one company’s unmanneds, a company with a fascinating ascent in its own right.
Verity was founded in 2014 by Raffaello D'Andrea, a dynamic systems professor at ETH Zürich who previously co-founded Kiva Systems (now Amazon Robotics.)
Autonomous, indoor drone systems were the focus from inception. In 2014, they created the world's first fully integrated, completely autonomous solution of self-flying drones that operate indoors. By 2015, Verity had developed drone safety technology, making quadcopters redundant to propulsion system failures, before raising millions in funding some pipe dreamer named Larry Page who had something to do with some search engine. Other investors got in line, and things got, well, loud.
Because Verity launched the Lucie® microdrone, which debuted at a Metallica concert as the first fully autonomous self-flying drone swarm for a major touring act.
When “Master of Puppets” meets Swarm of Drones. Image credit Verity
But it quickly became more “Enter Warehouse” than “Enter Sandman,” because 2020 saw the rollout of their signature service.
Today, thanks to their millions of flights, tireless iterating, and multi-industry appeal, you could mistake their client list for a “stocks I wish I bought 15 years ago” rundown. And as we’ll soon Re/Cap, they may be ushering in a new age of drones, AI, and inventory in tandem with IKEA.
But before we get to the tech, how ‘bout an appetizer round if it piques your appetite…
What’s Cappenin’ This Week: Drones get the need for Swede, LiDAR’s a trail guide on steroids, Deloitte delves into the digital customer experience in manufacturing and construction, Vectorworks’ CEO gets interviewed, and an AEC Error of the Week in which the Christmas spirit was celebrated with some forced evacuations.
Mini ‘Cappenins: XR/NeRFs/rethinking reality capture, world's largest 3D-printed neighborhood, hands-on with Meta’s first pair of AR glasses, Imaging lenses for UAVs, a TED Talk on the rise of virtual humans, and an RCN pod on women in ConTech, filling knowledge gaps, and saying “Yes.”
Last week: Photogrammetry enshrines tribal artifacts, normal smart cities look dumb compared to Lithuania’s capital, we can all get more fiber (internet) thanks to geospatial and reality capture, AI in construction needs deeper thought, and a Brazilian balance beam of an AEC Error of the Week.
Three years ago, a single drone took a test flight in a Swiss IKEA warehouse. Little did that UAV know it would become what Mark Twain was to quote attribution - a trendsetter.
Because now, across 73 IKEA distribution centers in nine countries, over 250 drones capture images of missing or mislocated items, while taking stock of every piece of inventory. They need no humans, no light, but do perform better when supplied meatball treats.
Cool, but, uh, is the next stage drones delivering those meatballs? Image credit IKEA
The fleet belongs to Verity, a Swiss operation that also calls Maersk and Samsung clients. Just as impressive as what Verity’s drones do, is how they came to do it, by way of IKEA’s own investment and assistance. As a part of their “Future of Supply-Chain Management” series, Business Insider published a sweeping article on the technology, journey, and partnership of IKEA and Verity, before broadening the scope into regulation, competition, industries, and the prospect of drone deliveries.
Even if the technology firefighters actually put their hands on has improved over the decades (the extent to which is debatable,) one technology realm they rely on for their heroism has not; evacuation routes.
This ossification means that determining their quickest path is an educated guess, drawn from a combination of experience, shared wisdom, and any surface knowledge they’ve gleaned.
Well, thanks to some University of Utah researchers, firefighters, disaster responders, rural health care workers, and others will get to hit their stride like never before.
No, literally, this routing revolution is called STRIDE.
A hiker rescue simulation of STRIDE route optimization. Image credit Scientific Reports via Phys.org
The “Simulating Travel Rates in Diverse Environments” is a first-of-its-kind, airborne LiDAR-based model that accounts for vegetation density, ground roughness, slope, and other nuanced factors. STRIDE will grant the aforementioned saviors paths of optimized travel, saving time, resources, and lives. Take a hike with Phys.org by clicking below, or you can put the lab coat on for the full scientific study published on Nature.com.
When Mom speaks, you listen. And when Deloitte dishes, you do.
The workplace research & finance juggernaut released an exhaustive piece on what they call the DCX, or digital customer experience, as it pertains to industrial manufacturing, engineering, construction, aerospace & defense, and other industries
Between Deloitte’s connections and more surveys than a Family Feud marathon, the data on where industries and technologies are, and more importantly where they’re going, are riveting.
More potential than if Michael Jordan had biohacking podcasts to listen to. Image credit Deloitte Analysis
Two prominent forces shaping DCX strategies are evolving customer expectations and competitive pressures, while the strategic variance between B2B B2C, and B2G only muddy them. But Deloitte’s got your back, if you’ve got the time (it’s not a sticky note read.) Ocean of survey data aside, the commentary covers key technologies from robotics to IoT, applications, benefits & barriers, trends, and much more.
While file-based workflows still reign supreme in AEC, the migration to the cloud is pronounced, even if at a slower pace than some expected, say, five years ago.
And it’s one of many issues of which Vectorworks is mindful as its 2025 release nears.
Persistent two-point perspective, a three-point shot for Vectorworks’ 2025 game. Image credit AEC Magazine
AEC Magazine recently visited with Vectorworks CEO Biplab Sarkar, and the questions were not of the softball variety. New features, 2025’s themes, Revit and BIM tools, auto-drawings and other AI implementations, desktop apps, and Apple AR took center stage in a far-reaching discussion as apropos to the industry as it is Vectorworks.
Sydney, Australia’s Opal Tower. For developers and insurers, more like Hopeful Tower. Image credit The Urban Developer
Sydney, Australia has no shortage of eye-catching buildings. But in 2018’s winter, one high-rise decided to take the concept of "standing out" to a whole new level—by literally cracking under pressure.
On Christmas Eve, residents of The Opal Tower got quite the stocking’s worth of coal, as they had to be evacuated, sleigh-free, after cracks appeared in the building's foundations. As investigations unfolded, it became clear that the situation was not the result of overweight reindeer on too long of a stop.
The cracks, caused by design flaws in critical hob beams, raised serious concerns about the tower's structural integrity. Despite developer claims, engineers determined that the issues were more than just cosmetic—they posed a genuine threat to the safety of those inside.
The blame game began in earnest, with the builder, Icon, launching a claim against the engineering firm WSP Structures. Icon alleged that shortcomings in WSP's designs led to the cracking and subsequent evacuation, resulting in a staggering repair bill exceeding $30 million. Meanwhile, residents took matters into their own hands, initiating a class action lawsuit against multiple parties, including the Sydney Olympic Park Authority (SOPA), which owned the land.
As the legal proceedings dragged on, it became clear that the Opal Tower saga was no ordinary construction mishap. With multiple stakeholders pointing fingers and a growing list of lawsuits, the situation had all the makings of a TV show entitled “Hob & Order.”
By April 2019, reparations on the building had begun in earnest. The structural engineers identified that some of the hob beams were under-designed according to the National Construction Code and Australian Standards. They also found that lower-strength concrete was used in some hobs on level four, which likely precipitated the observed major damage.
Fast forward to 2022, and the Opal Tower saga has reached a landmark resolution. The building is now deemed safe to occupy, and most residents have already repossessed their units. It's a testament to the power of swift action, thorough investigation, and commitment to rectification.
Lessons Learned
The Opal Tower incident served as a wake-up call for the construction industry in New South Wales. The government announced changes to building laws, including new regulations requiring the registration of designers, engineers, and architects, with building commissioners appointed to audit their work.
But imagine if reality capture technologies permeated this project from day one. 3D scanning and/or photogrammetry could have detected deviations from approved designs early on—especially in critical areas like hob beams—ensuring that any issues were addressed before they escalated into Christmas conundrums. BIM could have provided engineers with a comprehensive digital twin that allowed for advanced finite element analysis. This would have enabled them to identify stress points and potential design flaws before construction even began.
High-resolution imagery captured by drones could have facilitated thorough inspections of hard-to-reach areas, while utilizing digital twin technology combined with real-time sensor data would enable ongoing monitoring and predictive maintenance strategies.
The Opal Tower saga serves as a sobering, pricy reminder that in construction, an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of litigation.
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