Digital Twins (DTs), enriched with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain technology, promise a revolutionary breakthrough in smart asset management and predictive maintenance in the built environment. This study aims to portray a conceptual framework of Blockchain and AI-based DTs and outline its key characteristics, requirements, and system architecture by composing a functional model using IDEF0. Such an approach is expected to enhance predictive maintenance in building facilities, simplify the management and operation of smart built environments, and ultimately deliver valuable outcomes for facility operators, real estate practitioners, and end-users.
Zongliang Zhang, Sherong Zhang, Zhiyong Zhao, Lei Yan · 6 authors
Improving the design efficiency of hydropower hub buildings and promoting the application of intelligence in engineering construction and operation management have been critical issues in hydropower engineering construction. The major challenges are mainly reflected in the difficulties of multidisciplinary collaboration and the inefficient coordination of work involving multiple parties. This paper proposes a building information modeling (BIM)-based technology system architecture for digital design, intelligent construction, and intelligent operation, which combines BIM technology with geographic information system (GIS), computer aided engineering (CAE), internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and other technologies. The proposed system includes a BIM-based multiprofessional forward collaborative design method, a BIM-based engineering construction management model, and a real-time safety analysis and evaluation technology system based on actual measured safety information and construction. The hydroelectrical engineering BIM (HydroBIM) comprehensive control platform is developed. In the planning and design stage, the platform enables the whole process and full-professional collaborative digital design. In the engineering construction management stage, it supports the whole process and all-round information management and control of contract, schedule, quality, safety, and investment. In the operation management stage, the platform facilitates the integrated management of engineering safety evaluation, early warning, and emergency plan based on monitoring data and the consistency criterion of positive and negative evaluation. The application of this technology in more than 20 engineering, has proven to improve the efficiency of design and analysis of hydropower hub buildings and the intelligence level of engineering construction and operation management, and overcome the difficulties of multi-professional collaboration in the design stage and low efficiency of multi-participant coordination in the construction stage.
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are a type of digital asset that represents a proof of ownership over a particular digital item such as art, music, or real estate. Due to the non-fungible nature of NFTs, duplicate tokens should not possess the same value. However, with the surge of new blockchains and a massive influx of NFTs being created, a wealth of NFT data is being generated without a method of tracking similarity. This enables people to create almost identical NFTs by changing one pixel or one byte of data. Despite the similarity among NFTs, each NFT is assigned a completely different token ID. To address the NFT duplication issue, we developed a modular, easily-extendable, hardware-agnostic, cloud-centered NFT processing system that represents NFTs as vectors. We established a database containing a vector representation of the NFTs in accordance with the Ethereum Request for Comment 721 (ERC-721) token standards to initiate the process of aggregating NFT data from various blockchains. Finally, we developed an NFT visualization dashboard application with a user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI) to provide non-technical users access to the aggregated NFT data. The Universal NFT Vector Database is an off-chain framework for NFT data aggregation based on similarity, which provides an organized way to query and analyze NFT data that was previously unavailable through on-chain solutions.
Jan-Iwo JĂ€kel, Sophie Kalisch, Peter GölzhĂ€user, Katharina KlemtâAlbert
To ensure intact infrastructure systems and a long service life of bridge structures in the operational phase, the establishment of a predictive maintenance management based on digital 3D models is essential.These 3D models are often not provided, especially for existing bridge structures.In addition, their creation is very complex, resource-intensive and involves many stakeholders.Through the use of digital methods and technologies, important efficiency steps have been taken in the creation of digital models in recent years.Although semi-automated modeling of digital bridge models is possible, the quality agreed upon is not always achieved at the end of each development step.In this article, an approach is developed to create transparency, safety, consistency and traceability for the generation process of digital models of existing bridge structures.The approach involves all stakeholders participating in the process and creates a decentralized control and documentation mechanism using distributed ledger technology (DLT) and blockchain.First, the current status on the use of DLT in the construction industry and bridge engineering is presented.Then, the system concept is presented and the basic algorithm is described.The general system architecture and the workflow are presented and described in models.Then the basic feasibility of the approach is presented and the previously shown concept is implemented.The basic functions of the algorithm are described and the results are critically reviewed.The result of the article is showing the possibilities to use DLT and blockchain to improve the accuracy, transparency and security in the creation of digital models of existing bridge structures.
Mario Casillo, Francesco Colace, Brij B. Gupta, Angelo Lorusso · 6 authors
Digital Design is becoming more advanced by the year, software more sophisticated, and products of ever-increasing quality. In the design and implementation processes of structural works, Building Information Modeling (BIM) has now established itself as a standard process in professional and non-professional environments. In particular, the creation of BIM families is a topic of great interest to engineers and designers who can focus on describing a single object in every detail before it is included in a larger, more complex project. Since they represent digital products, specific problems could arise, particularly copyright management and certification of digital files, which must be able to be shared within the entire reference project, which is sometimes large and complex. This paper aims to solve these issues by leveraging blockchain technology as a tool for certification and attribution of authorship and/or ownership of a particular file. Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) represent an excellent opportunity for the digital design world as they were born precisely to manage the ownership of digital assets in a secure manner certified by the Blockchain. The results show how BIM and Blockchain technologies can work together and benefit from each other.
The present study uses a bibliometric and systematic literature review (SLR) to examine the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM), the Internet of Things (IoT), and Digital Twins (DT) in the construction industry. The network visualization and other approaches based on the Web of Science (WOS) database and the patterns of research interactions were explored in 1879 academic publications using co-occurrence and co-citation investigations. Significant publications, conferences, influential authors, countries, organizations, and funding agencies have been recognized. Our study demonstrates that BIM, IoT, and DT in construction, Heritage BIM (HBIM), Smart Contracts, BIM, and Ontology, and VR and AR in BIM and DT are the main study themes. Finally, several prospective areas for future study are identified, including BIM and Metaverse technology, BIM and Artificial Intelligence (AI), Metaheuristic algorithms for optimization purposes in BIM, and the Circular Economy with BIM and IoT.
The management of construction projects requires adequate techniques to support the continual exchange of information across disciplines. Recent advances in Building Information Modelling (BIM) have exposed new ways for process and data integration with open data formats, process mapping, and terminology. In construction projects where multiple disciplines produce and share BIM data, mechanisms for defining information priority, provenance and suitability become necessary in order to have consistent and traceable use of data. This includes objects or collection of attributes for data objects that are associated with a discipline or organisation including clear identification of the transaction that has introduced the information. Blockchain can be used to record metadata of BIM objects such as the issuing discipline, object version and responsibility/ liability associated with the data. Blockchain can offer the capability to apply levels of âtrustâ to individual BIM objects and a more secured framework of collaboration across stakeholders. This paper proposes a Blockchain-based BIM data provenance model to support information exchange in construction projects. By testing the solution in a real-world bridge construction scenario, it has been shown that the approach can recognise the levels of competence and can improve the process of BIM implementation. The proposed approach gives stakeholders more confidence when sharing their BIM data, reduces costs, and improves risk contingencies in construction projects. The paper provides a cost analysis to evidence the implications of using Blockchain for BIM data provenance through an experimental framework supported by an Ethereum public test network. A front-end web page has also been created to facilitate interaction with smart contracts and to monitor the BIM data provenance process.
Shenghui Cheng, Yue Zhang, Xiaofei Li, Lin Yang · 6 authors
Truth must be told, but not muchâa hybrid society of real and virtual is coming. Metaverse,1Cheng S.H. Metaverse: Concepts, Technologies and Ecology. China Machine Press, 2022Google Scholar rise recently, is attracting significant attention from academia to industry. A metaverse is a network of three-dimensional (3D) virtual worlds focused on social connection. Bearing the outbreak of the coronavirus 2019 pandemic, people are physically isolated, which triggered the growth of the metaverse. Different from existing work, this commentary targets the roadmap of the metaverse from an artificial intelligence (AI) perspective. First, we blueprint a roadmap for this digital cyberspace transformation, including immersion creation, hardware support, text interpretation, audio processing, connection construction, economy operation, and security protection. Second, at each phase of the roadmap, we address the status as well as the advanced technologies to provide in-depth views accordingly. The whole pipeline is illustrated from an AI2Xu Y.J. Liu X. Cao X. et al.Artificial intelligence: a powerful paradigm for scientific research.Innovation. 2021; 2: 100179Scopus (114) Google Scholar perspective, as shown in Figure 1, and we believe that AI is playing an increasingly important role in core techniques toward this technological singularity. Immersion creation refers to the technique that provides human beings with immersive feelings by constructing a 3D virtual world. Inspired by computer vision, graphics, and visualization techniques, immersion creation includes generating virtual scenes in the metaverse and displaying them to end users. AI has revolutionized these techniques recently. For instance, the scene generation process has been significantly speeded up to nearly real time. However, the scenes generated by these computer-vision-based methodologies are limited by the pre-defined elements used in AI algorithms, which would preclude the immersive feeling of human interaction with a digital human in the metaverse since these elements are different from the real ones, but we desire both parties to share the same scene and thus the same feeling of the environment. This brings challenges in sensing, sampling, and scene generation in the metaverse. One solution is to capture real scenes and use those images or videos to generate new ones and update the scenes in the metaverse with a short period of time, possibly in real time eventually. To this end, computational imaging has provided a promising solution to capture scenes efficiently in a low-cost, low-bandwidth manner;3Altmann Y. McLaughlin S. Padgett M.J. Goyal V.K. Hero A.O. Faccio D. Quantum-inspired computational imaging.Science. 2018; 361: 6403https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat2298Crossref Scopus (119) Google Scholar along with AI, computational imaging may develop rapidly in metaverse-related applications in the future to provide a higher sense of immersion. Hardware denotes the end-user devices, such as the brain-computer interface, robotics, and virtual reality or augmented reality headsets as well as glass-free 3D devices, which determine the quality of the userâs immersive experience. These devices have been revolutionized many times in history;4Lee L.K. Braud T. Zhou P.Y. et al.All one needs to know about metaverse: a complete survey on technological singularity, virtual ecosystem, and research agenda.arXiv. 2021; (Preprint at)https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2110.05352Crossref Google Scholar taking the AR headset as an example, it was designed from macro- to micro-optics and now is heading toward nano-optics, and the size has been reduced dramatically. However, one main challenge is the design of large-scale diffractive devices used in glasses, and AI is now helping with and speeding up the design in a number of ways, from accelerating the iterations to proposing new solutions. The AI accelerator, such as neural-inspired AI chips, designed to accelerate AI and its applications, is growing tremendously now and will evolve to task-specific chips to be used in the metaverse. We believe this is a trend in optical or other devicesâ design and is not limited to the metaverse. Text interpretation regards to text generation and text for communication purpose. The metaverse brings convenience for recording activities in business and social life, which potentially facilitates the role of natural language processing,5Zhang Y. Teng Z.Y. Natural Language Processing: A Machine Learning Perspective. Cambridge University Press, 2021Crossref Google Scholar a research domain widely supported by AI. Most natural language processing applications in the metaverse focus on personal assistance and business meeting analysis: from the personal side, new dialogue systems could benefit book-keeping of social activities, enabling a personal assistant to give clear instructions, and from a business perspective, it keeps track of meeting minutes, where AI algorithms generate summaries and answer questions concerning specific details. However, in a hybrid society, how to communicate with people of different backgrounds even living in different eras could be an interesting AI-powered application. Audio processing aims for the rendering of auditory immersion. Voice is considered one important interface for humans to enter the metaverse, and it is also the main interaction model between entities (avatars, digital humans, or even non-human objects) in the metaverse. Voice processing consists of two major tasks: automatic speech recognition and text to speech (or speech synthesis), which transforms voice signals to text, or vice versa. Together with the language-understanding techniques, automatic speech recognition and text to speech enable entities in the metaverse to understand the message and intention of others and to speak as if they were in the real world. In addition, audio signals could be rendered as binaural signals, from which humans can sense the location of the sound source and the presence of an enclosed space; in other words, to have the sense of auditory immersion. For auditory immersion in the metaverse, many challenges need to be further overcome, such as separating metaverse sound from real-world sound, customized speech synthesis, complex 3D soundscape generation, etc., which highly rely on advanced signal-processing and machine-learning techniques. Sound is ubiquitous in the metaverse, and we believe that AI is playing a leading role in audio management in the metaverse. Connection construction in the metaverse includes network connection and social construction to get connected with others. Network connections require high-speed network to transfer massive amounts of data, accounting for the obstacles in latency, bandwidth, and consistency. AI overcomes the obstacles in various aspects including traffic planning, routing and classification, congestion control, quality of service, and quality of experience management. After being networked, the society emerges but faces challenges like behavior communication or community management. AI is capable of optimizing social group management by matching people with their desired communities so that the whole society will be divided spiritually rather than physically. As the core purpose of the connection, social activity is a requisite of some recognition techniques, such as face recognition for meeting people and gesture recognition for behavior interaction, as well as pose tracking, texture restoration, and blur correctionâall of which are common cases where AI excels. Economy operation is for exchanging virtual goods through a blockchain digital system. With the exponential growth of virtual economy, some challenges have arisen, like large-scale asset management and fraudulent-transaction detection. AI empowers the virtual economy by generating and managing digital assets, monitoring transactions among huge databases, and more. New classifiers and mechanisms supported by AI verify the authenticity of transactions via a decentralized blockchain infrastructure to improve security posture. AI-generated non-fungible tokens and AI-assisted asset tagging increase the efficiency of asset generation and management. In the future, AI can build a more reliable technology-based virtual economy system. Security protection corresponding to the security framework and privacy protection becomes extremely challenging when tremendous virtual devices are connected. This connection is not that reliable and gives space to get attacked, e.g., identity theft and spying, which are common problems that security faces. To be protected, the security system has to require frequent authentications when accessing the service related to virtual devices, which results in time-consuming and other problems. New mechanisms are demanding for authentication with alternative modalities, such as biometric authentication driven by muscle movements or eye gazes, as well as seamless authentication. None of these would happen without AI. Moreover, countless activities and interactions are recorded, creating a crisis of personal privacy. AI is capable of privacy protection through algorithms that automatically and dynamically detect user privacy preferences from diverse contexts in the metaverse. An AI-powered security system will emerge in the metaverse. Besides, other techniques like robotics, cloud computing, the Internet of Things, and decision-making are also important components for the metaverse. Likewise, AI also contributes significantly to themâfor example, with the help of reinforcement learning, decision-making demonstrates great potential since it enables AI to make decisions through huge amounts of data with various factors and has now become a new trend. AI not only advances the above technologies but is itself evolving rapidly. Current components such as immersion creation and hardware techniques are not really âintelligentâ by themselves but are composed âsensing/sampling + AI algorithmsâ to claim to be intelligent. Looking forward, the next step of AI in the metaverse should move from âmake the hardware intelligent by AI algorithmsâ to âbuild intelligent hardware by AI algorithms,â where the latter is a hybrid mode and focuses on end-to-end solutions. In this solution, other important techniques in AI such as reinforcement learning, federated learning, and few-shot learning will probably lead to new revolutions. A new era driven by AI is emerging. The digital human produced by AI will increase dramatically, and a digital second life is appearingâa society combined with real and digital humans is launching. It is likely that other species or organisms will be reborn and that a âcreator-verseâ will turn up. Immortal technologyâliving foreverâwill eventually become true. At the current stage, it is more from the inorganic side where everything is generated with digital computers; however, the society will continue, and people will eventually reach the third-verse or even the multi-verse, where the organic world and the inorganic world may merge. AI will speed up this revolution. We would like to thank the support from the Research Center for Industries of the Future (RCIF) at Westlake University, Westlake Fundation (2021B1501-2) and the funding from Lochn Optics. The authors declare no competing interests.
Amer A. Hijazi, Srinath Perera, Rodrigo N. Calheiros, Ali Mohammed Alashwal
Purpose Despite a large amount of BIM data at the handover stage, it is still difficult to identify and effectively isolate valuable construction supply chain (CSC) data that need to be reliably handed over for operation. Moreover, the role of reconciling disparate data is usually played by one party. The integration of blockchain and BIM is a plausible framework for building a reliable digital asset lifecycle. This paper proposes a BIM single source of truth (BIMSSoT) data model using blockchain for ensuring a reliable CSC data delivery. Design/methodology/approach This paper utilises a blended methodology, the foundation of which is ingrained in business and management research with elements of information and communication technology (ICT) research wherever required. Knowledge elicitation case studies utilising novel interventions such as a data flow diagram (DFD), taxonomy and entity-relationship diagram (ERD) were used in this paper to develop the BIMSSoT data model. The model was validated using an expert forum, and its technological feasibility was established by developing a proof of concept. Findings The practical contribution of this research leads to the progression of BIM towards digital engineering to go beyond object-based 3D modelling by building structured and reliable datasets, transitioning from project-centric records to a digital ecosystem of linked databases by utilizing blockchain's potential for ensuring trusted data. Originality/value To the best of the author's knowledge, prior to this paper, no research had investigated a detailed data model development leveraging blockchain and BIM to integrate an immutable and complete record of CSC data as another dimension of BIM for operations.
User Interaction for NFTs (Non-fungible Tokens) is gaining increasing attention. Although NFTs have been traditionally single-use and monolithic, recent applications aim to connect multimodal interaction with human behavior. This paper reviews the related technological approaches and business practices in NFT art. We highlight that multimodal interaction is a currently under-studied issue in mainstream NFT art, and conjecture that multimodal interaction is a crucial enabler for decentralization in the NFT community. We present a continuum theory and propose a framework combining a bottom-up approach with AI multimodal process. Through this framework, we put forward integrating human behavior data into generative NFT units, as "multimodal interactive NFT." Our work displays the possibilities of NFTs in the art world, beyond the traditional 2D and 3D static content.
Peng Guo, Ruoting Xiong, Gang Yu, Peisong Gong · 6 authors
Building Information Model (BIM) has been envisioned as one of the most promising technology for smart construction industry, e.g., industry 4.0 or industry digitalization. BIM data is of the most importance in the smart construction since the data can cover the whole life cycle of the building, which is somewhat also called digital twins. BIM data usually stored in cloud servers and finally BIM big data is formed. The BIM data is always required to be shared among a large number of contributors, and re-use of those data will greatly decrease the development delay. As BIM data usually encloses the intellectual property of contributors, the sharing of BIM data may be unwilling and thus difficult, especially in open data sharing over specific platforms or markets. To promote the re-use and replication of BIM data yet protect the intellectual property, we propose a blockchain and smart contract based scheme in this paper. The blockchain technology can encourage the sharing by awarding of tokens and trace the sharing behaviors. Smart contract can implement autonomous sharing with copyright registration, authentication, and verification. The experiment results justified that our proposed scheme is practical.
The creation of artworks in the metaverse as unique files that exist on a blockchain world of the non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have revitalized discussions over the uniqueness of a work of art. Similar to the art world market in Second Life, this has presented a novel way to collect imported or natively digital art. This raises the following questions: What are the processes that artwork undergoes in the web 3.0 or metaverse? What constitutes the reproduction/recreation of a work of art? Which tools can be exploited to create more content for this universe? How does this new approach affect ownership, scarcity and authenticity? Unlike art productions that find a place in museums or galleries, Daragaç Art Collective independently uses the streets both as their location, and as their canvas. This creates the need to store the artworks as fully as possible in any form available. With this aim, a team of architects, designers and software engineers designed, implemented and tested a mobile application to represent and recreate the experience of the artworks in the digital environment. The artworks of independent artists were collected virtually and compiled in a relational database over the years, and are displayed in their geographical coordinates, and represented in the 3D world. After discussion on how to represent the artworks, it was decided that some only exist in videos and photographs, therefore, we decided to use the archaeology of digital data and present them in 3D space, to ensure their continued existence once they had been performed or exhibited. Illustrated by the case of our augmented application, this paper discusses the reproduction of ownership and scarcity of artworks in terms of preserving a cultural heritage in the metaverse.
The emergence of technological innovations in disciplines such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IOT) has introduced opportunities to enhance the traditional user experience. The potential of these opportunities has yet to be fully explored particularly within the cultural heritage sector where immersive technologies can benefit both the user and the heritage site. A potentially unforgettable user experience can be offered in an immersive environment and these technologies can also be used to rebuild locations under threat to ensure they can be accessed in the future (Garlandini, 2021). The intention of this paper is to critically analyse the emergence of Industry 5.0 and the implementation of personalisation in a machine learning system. It is important to thoroughly evaluate the aspects of AI technologies and the IOT that can be used to support personalisation. An element of blockchain technology known as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) which was developed in the recent past may have the potential to address ongoing challenges in digital curation and this research paper will provide an evaluation of this technology. It is crucial for all the technologies mentioned to work together to produce a system that aligns with the traditional human-centred philosophy and is inclusive to all participants.
We present a technique to embed information invisible to the eye inside 3D printed objects. The information is integrated in the object model, and then fabricated using off-the-shelf dual-head FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) 3D printers. Our process does not require human intervention during or after printing with the integrated model. The information can be arbitrary symbols, such as icons, text,binary, or handwriting. To retrieve the information, we evaluate two different infrared-based imaging devices that are readily available-thermal cameras and near-infrared scanners. Based on our results, we propose design guidelines for a range of use cases to embed and extract hidden information. We demonstrate how our method can be used for different applications, such as interactive thermal displays, hidden board game tokens, tagging functional printed objects, and autographing non-fungible fabrication work.
Describing a substantial proportion of the worldâs species could be made much easier by the 3D digitization of collections, which would facilitate the dissemination of taxonomic information locked up in natural history museums. Three-dimensional imaging captures many characters and allows a lot of versatility in the way that morphological data is displayed and used (Wheeler et al. 2012; Faulwetter et al. 2013). Moreover, the loss and damage of valuable specimens, many of which are very fragile, can be reduced as a result of the use and sharing of 3D model substitutes among researchers. This can also lead to a reduction in the handling and transportation expenses of many specimens.
With the creation of massive data in projects, the digitization/computerization of various stages and processes of built environments are emerging to have a broad influence on how the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) projects are planned, built, and managed. With the evolution of Big Data and model-based engineering, the next logical step is to introduce the concept of Digital Twin, extending model-based paradigms along the complete lifecycle. Digitalization and computerization of data and information flow have a broad influence on the system and process of managing the lifecycle of projects. The relation among the DT and smart cities has been recognized as the novel and ultimate technological apparatus for smartening cities. Blockchain empowers the security of the DT system through cryptographic hashing algorithms. This process is possible by storing DT data on distributed ledgers that cannot be changed easily and cannot be controlled by any central authority. DT encompasses sensors, measurement technologies, internet of things, simulation, and modeling and ML.
Building Information Modeling (BIM) can be considered as a visual database which means a 3D building model equips all data for different disciplines like architecture, structure and Mechanical-Electrical â Plumbing (MEP) design. The data rich model serves multi tasks from cost estimation, project scheduling, energy analyses. However, the data in BIM model cannot be controlled strictly in project phases by stakeholders, therefore the quality of BIM Model and included documents is limited and disorder. Blockchain, the back-end database technology that makes Bitcoin work, is one of the most exciting technologies emerging right now. Beyond the cryptocurrency, it is redefining how we store, update, and move data on networks. It enables a whole new way of writing and deploying applications that has the potential to improve online security and trust. It can even enable the creation of a new type of organization that is devoid of hierarchy and centralized decision-making. This paper shows the development of a blockchain based on Ethereum for BIM applications, which can help to solve model ownership and increase the quality and usefulness of the BIM model.
Interpenetration of ideas, culture, economics, raw materials and etc. are causing globalization in our society. This trend is also assisted by the growing technological innovations. Society is increasingly turning to digital tools to provide fast communications, access to information and goods through the global network, especially needed during the pandemic. In terms of art, these factors contribute to shifting the range from classical means of expression to contemporary art forms focused on digital media. Historically, the discovery of photography in the 19th century radically changed art. Painting frees itself from the function of reflecting objective reality and seeks new means of expression and meaning. In the early 20th century, new trends in the avant-garde art seek to depict intangible things away from visible reality such as the inner world of the artist, emotions, symbols, music, time and more. One of the brightest trends - Cubism is a typical example. It seeks a way to show objects rationally from several sides simultaneously - three-dimensional, but unfortunately it is limited by the means of expression - the two-dimensional surface of the canvas. Digital technologies today have a solution to this problem. They provide digital tools that completely change painting. The canvas no longer exists in the familiar way in which the artist works. It is becoming history. With the invention of VR glasses, the boundaries of visible reality and imagination in art have been removed to enter a new virtual world. Tilt Brush technology goes one step further, giving the opportunity to the artist to create 3D images with a brush in hand while moving in the virtual world he creates. Canvas doesnât exist, it is a virtual digital world three-dimensional arising from the imagination of the artist and existing only through the eyes of the pink VR glasses. Here comes the question, will technology displace the artist's hand? Keywords: Digital Art, Art, Virtual Reality (VR), Tilt Brush, Technological Innovations, Net Art, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT), Artificial Intelligence
This paper presents a smart contract-based solution for autonomous administration of construction progress payments. It bridges the gap between payments (cash flow) and the progress assessments at job sites (product flow) enabled by reality capture technologies and building information modeling (BIM). The approach eliminates the reliance on the centralized and heavily intermediated mechanisms of existing payment applications. The construction progress is stored in a distributed manner using content addressable file sharing; it is broadcasted to a smart contract which automates the on-chain payment settlements and the transfer of lien rights. The method was successfully used for processing payments to 7 subcontractors in two commercial construction projects where progress monitoring was performed using a camera-equipped unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) equipped with a laser scanner. The results show promise for the method's potential for increasing the frequency, granularity, and transparency of payments. The paper is concluded with a discussion of implications for project management, introducing a new model of project as a singleton state machine.
The ITC Digital Library has an ambition to provide a single point of entry to scholarly and research publication from the domain of construction informatics alias construction information technology. We believe that works, in full text, should be available for free, to the researchers, students and the industry.