Ciao Re/Cappers!
The Godfather was an exquisitely new kind of movie. But its innovation doesn’t hold a candle or cannoli to the Godmother of AI, Fei-Fei Li, whom we’re thrilled to Re/Cap shortly thanks to her advancement of spatial intelligence and low-data, high-fidelity digital replicas.
Godmother. The gravity in such a moniker! So how on earth does one earn it?
Well, first, start ImageNet in ‘06 like Fei-Fei Li did. This large-scale dataset forged a new era of computer vision and deep learning, elevating AI's ability to grasp and process the data of our physical world.
Li would thrive in the 2010s, serving in advisory roles at fledgling operations like Stanford University and Google (hope they landed on their feet).
In 2019, three years before the launch of ChatGPT, she co-founded the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence.
Fei-Fei Li, with stuff probably produced before the day’s first coffee. Image credit National Geographic
While maintaining her unrelenting AI fire, Li’s more recent focus on spatial intelligence beautifully complements the digital twin and reality capture industries through:
Now that’s taking the Li’d in technology.
Fei-Fei Li’s TED Talk: With Spatial Intelligence, AI Will Understand the Real World
Mysterious AI Startup World Labs Achieves Unicorn Status in Record Time
What’s Cappenin’ This Week: Reality capture makes space for spatial intelligence, lasers aim at earth’s true center, wages for women in construction get ranked, an expert on drone competition and supply chains gets interviewed, and an AEC Error of the Week that ranks among New Zealand’s most catastrophic.
Mini ‘Cappenins: Ford departs the ground for drones, self-amputating robots fuse with other robots, a UK PropTech startup looks to solve housing, 5G-based LiDAR scanning, digital construction empowerment, and an RCN pod on how rising tides lift all boats.
Last week on twinning Mozart, GNSS & photogrammetry setting sail for smooth shipping, Utah DOT 💓’s 3D, some RIEGL UAV production, and a rather intact AEC Error of the Week in Shanghai, China.
From her TED Talk earlier this year to her startup’s $1 billion valuation, “Godmother of AI” Fei-Fei Li is betting on spatial intelligence, AI, and reality capture like Michael Jordan does on his own golf matches.
And perhaps more importantly, she’s inspiring others while doing it.
You try suppressing a smile when Andreessen Horowitz backs your venture! Image credit Kimberly White via The Verge
Her startup, World Labs, is striving for a spatial intelligence model that can craft hyper-detailed digital replicas, only without the daunting data demand. It’s one sliver of an expansive Forbes piece on startups prioritizing the convergence of technologies, in various industries. Enjoy perspectives and visions from data scientists, founders, Hexagon’s AI VP, and more.
Fun fact; we don’t actually know the true center of our planet. But a partnership between the U.S. Space Force, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and NASA aims - literally - to change that.
A laser retroreflector array (LRA) will make sub-CM-level measurements, and possibly moonlight as a disco accoutrement. Image credit NASA via Tomorrow’s World Today
This tenacious trio will install two LRAs (laser retroreflector arrays) onto two of NASA’s Space Geodesy Program’s satellites. Through satellite laser ranging, the earth’s center will be established, drastically easing the tracking of planetary changes from events such as tsunamis and earthquakes, and more gradual alterations.
Get to the core below, including what the heck 48 mirrored corner cubes will do, thanks to Tomorrow’s World Today.
14.3% of today’s workers in the construction industry are women, with lawyers, analysts, and real estate brokers comprising the bulk of that figure.
But while 14.3% may sound paltry, it’s nearly triple the percentage of just half a century ago. And as more women enter the space, an uptick in dollars has followed.
Friendly reminder of 2008’s profound lameness. Image credit Bureau of Labor Statistics via The Washington Post
But discrepancies still exist, and perhaps more notably, state-to-state wage data has more range than I-90. Construction Coverage wanted to get to the bottom of it, with a sprawling study drawn from U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data. The result was a ranking of the best-paying states for women in construction, on a median annual wage basis, adjusted for cost-of-living differences.
Supplying 70% of the planet’s consumer drones and almost 80% for American pilots, Chinese manufacturer DJI has emerged as king of the hill in about as much time as a flight from Minneapolis to St. Paul.
It’s not that Supply Chain Management/Aviation Logistics professor Clinton Purtell (University of North Texas) dislikes DJI. He just likes competitiveness, and how everything from optimized supply chains to BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) missions can foster it.
BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) missions, one of many focal points of Professor Purtell. Image credit Office of Marine and Aviation Operations
Professor Purtell is as qualified as anyone to speak on such matters, having partnered with NASA and a tranche of other research initiatives. Commercial UAV News interviewed the academic aerialist to get the flight manifest on competition, aviation industry lessons, projections & regulations, U.S. drone manufacturing, industry-pivoting, BVLOS missions, and much more.
The Canterbury Television building, Christchurch, New Zealand. Image credit Te Ara
Devastation. No other word sufficiently describes what came of the 6.3-magnitude earthquake that struck Christchurch, New Zealand on February 22, 2011. And among it, one building would symbolize the disaster: the Canterbury Television (CTV) Building. In mere seconds, the six-story structure collapsed almost completely, claiming 115 lives - about 60% of the earthquake's total fatalities.
Built in 1986, the CTV Building should have been a beacon of modern engineering. Instead, it became a cautionary tale of how design flaws and inadequate QC can yield horrific consequences.
The building's fatal flaws stemmed from its dawn. It relied on two key elements to resist lateral loads during earthquakes: the north wall complex and the south coupled shear wall. However, critical defects in the design, including a lack of ductility in joint zones, columns, and drag bars, meant these walls couldn't function as intended when subjected to strong shaking.
Errors didn't stop at the design stage, as construction and subsequent inspections also fell short. Even after a September 2010 earthquake and a December aftershock, engineers declared the building safe, having suffered only superficial damage. This false sense of security would have dire consequences.
The Aftermath
Investigations revealed a litany of issues in practically every stage of the CTV Building’s life cycle:
What may have adequately addressed flaws, obsolescence, and oversight, is reality capture.
Advanced structural analysis software, integrated with BIM, could have identified the design flaws in the building's lateral load resisting system during the planning phase. Precise metrology tools could have verified that the as-built conditions matched the design specifications during construction, ensuring no deviations compromised stability.
3D laser scanning could have created highly accurate as-built models of the completed structure, allowing for detailed comparisons with the original design and identification of any discrepancies.
A digital twin could have simulated the effects of seismic activity on the structure. This would have revealed vulnerabilities in the design and allowed for proactive reinforcement.
Drones equipped with high-resolution cameras and thermal imaging could have conducted regular external inspections, identifying potential weaknesses such as concrete degradation or structural misalignments that may not have been visible from the ground.
Structural health monitoring systems, integrated with the BIM model, could have provided real-time data on the building's behavior and integrity. This would have been particularly valuable after the preceding quake and aftershock, potentially challenging the superficial "safe" assessments.
Errors Happen. Reality Capture Needs to Happen More.
The CTV Building collapse serves as a somber reminder that behind every architectural design and engineering decision are human lives. As we push the boundaries of construction, we must never lose sight of our primary responsibility: to create structures that protect and preserve life, even in the face of nature's most powerful forces. And what better way to do that than to harness our own penchant for innovation?
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