Smart Crane Director: Smart Technologies to Facilitate Safer and More Efficient Erections

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Background Cranes are the most crucial equipment in construction sites. Improving crane operations will directly increase the productivity and safety in many construction projects. With 17 years of research on cranes, the applicant proposes a five-year program to extend those technologies to facilitate the crane operations. A Five-Year Plan to Discover Knowledge and Develop a System In the first year, the research team will use machine learning algorithms to enhance the perception of crane operators. They will collect a considerable number of images from the views of crane operators (i.e. bird's-eye views) and manually tag the "critical objects," such as excavators, trucks, and workers, in those images. Using the image dataset, the researchers will employ machine learning algorithms to develop a real-time method to identify such objects to alert operators of risks and to proactively provide real-time guidance for safe, efficient erections. In the second year, the applicant will shift the focus to precise control to minimize cable sway. He and his research team will develop control algorithms that can generate a series of fine motion controls to reduce the sway from inertial forces. The third year, the applicant will focus on erection planning to generate collision-free operation paths. By integrating the knowledge discovered in the first two years, the path planner will not only minimize cable sway but will also avoid passing over personnel. The fourth year, the applicant will build a user interface to link perception, sway control, and path planner in guiding system for crane operations, tentatively coined as Smart Crane Director. In the fifth year, a field test will be conducted to ensure the overall usability of the system. Broader Impacts from the Grant This research brings cutting-edge technologies to the front line of construction sites and will bring three broad impacts to future constructions. 1. Better operations: With the proactive guidance from the system, the erections will be safer and more efficient, and thus will be a more productive and predictable construction process. 2. Better training: This research will benefit training for crane operators. The entire erection process can be logged and analyzed using the algorithms we will develop. These will allow for scoring the operational qualities for each lift and increase the learning of the best practices in a shorter time frame. 3. Toward future construction: This research will be fundamental to teleoperation in the future. With the capacity of perception, crane control, and erection path planning, operators may not need to work inside the job site. Instead, they may work remotely in safety to control the crane with a fully focused mind.