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Information and knowledge for building: a role for emerging technology
Ruberg, K.; Sander, D. M.
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Ser TH1
N21d National Research Consell national
no 0 143'2
I
*
Council Canada de recherches Canadac * 2
BmG Institute for lnstitut de
-- -- Research in recherche en
Construction construction
Information and Knowledge for Building:
A
Role For Emerging Technology
'by K. Ruberg and D.M. Sander
Appeared in
Proceedings of the 10th Triennial Congress of the
international Council for Building Research Studies and Documentation, (CI B-86) Washin ton, D.C., September 22
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26, 1986F
Vol. 2, or the Computer Age, p. 498-505 (IRC Paper No. 1432)
Reprinted with permission
Price $2.00 NRCC 26795 NRC
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CISTI I R C L I B R A R YFEE
13 1!57
B I B L I O T H ~ Q U E\
I R C CNRC - IClCJTInformation and Knowledge for Building: A Role for Emerging Technology Kalev Ruberg and Dan M. Sander
Division of Building Research
National Research Council of Canada (NRCC) Ottawa, Canada, K1A OR6
KEYWORDS
Artificial Intelligence, Building Cycle, Expert Systems. ABSTRACT
Advances in microelectronics and computer technology have had a major impact on quality and productivity in the commercial, institutional and
manufacturing sectors. The building industry has taken only limited
advantage of this technology. Technologies may be roughly divided into two classes: 'hard' and 'soft'. Hard technology includes CAD/CAM, robotics, monitoring, control and document preparation. Soft technology deals with the information and knowledge requirements of the industry. Some hard
technologies have penetrated the design and building delivery process, but these automation technologies cannot substantially change the building cycle. Soft technologies have the potential to alter the building cycle because this cycle depends on comwnication. This paper discusses the need for reliable information flow and knowledge accessibility. Soft technologies are reviewed for potential application in design, conetruction, operation and maintenance of North American buildings. Of the soft technologies, knowledge-based expert systems promise greater information accessibility in the building cycle. An expert system can act as advisor, assistant, or diagnostician on a
wide variety of building-related topics. Examples of existing expert systems are identified and potential future developments are postulated.
Information et connaissances dans le bdtiment : un r81e pour la nouvelle technologie
Kalev Ruberg et Dan M. Sander
Division des recherches en bdtiment Conseil national de recherches
Ottawa, Canada, K1A OR6
MOTS
CGS
Cycle du bdtiment, Intelligence artificielle, systsmes experts.
k s progrss de la technologie informatique et de la microelectronique ont eu un impact consid6rable sur la qualit6 et la productivit6 dans les secteurs commercial, institutionnel et manufacturier. L'industrie de la construction n'a que tres peu b6n6ficig de cette technologie. On pourrait classer les technologies en deux catggories : les technologies "dures" et les
technologies "douces". La premiere catggorie comprend la CAO/FAO, la robotique, les activitds d'analyse et de contr6le, et la preparation de documents. La deuxisme inclut les technologies qui servent les besoins de l'industrie en matisre d'information et de connaissances. Quelques-unes des technologies "dures" ont Ct?5 introduites dans le processus de conception et de r6alisation des projets de construction, mais elles ne peuvent 3 elles seules op6rer des changements consid6rables dans le cycle du bdtiment. Les technologies "douces" ont la capacit6 de transformer le cycle du bdtiment parce que ce cycle repose sur la communication. Dans cet expos&, on
discutera de la necessit6 de cr6er une source d'information fiable et d'avoir acc2s aux connaissances. On examinera la possibilit6 d'appliquer les
technologies "douces" 3 la conception, la construction, l'exploitation et l'entretien des batiments en Am6rique du Nord. Des technologies "douces", ce sont les systsmes experts avec bases de connaissances qui offrent la plus grande accessibilit6 3 l'information dans le cycle du blltiment. Ces systsmes experts peuvent fournir des conseils, de l'aide et des diagnostics dans de nombreux domaines relatifs au bdtiment. Des exemples de syst2mes experts existants seront cites et il sera egalement question des d6veloppements futurs dans cette sph8re.
1. INTRODUCTION
Excitement about emerging technologies is a result of current advances in microelectronics and parallel improvements in software techniques. Product engineers have incorporated these advances to decrease costs, increase quality (and competitiveness) and decrease the time required for product delivery. Emerging technologies comprise a broad front of hardware and software innovations. The technology has evolved through phases. First, simple automation emulated purely physical tasks (e.g. word processing, computer-aided drafting). Second, the task was restructured for automated efficiency (e.g. database managers, communications systems). Now, the automaton (the hardware and software) is being restructured to emulate aspects of human intelligence.
The building industry has used some simple automation techniques in the design and construction of buildings. Although application in the building industry has been limited, there is considerable research in the use of artificial intelligence techniques for investment, design and construction decision making; robotics for construction; and advanced communications systems for building control.
This paper outlines Division of Building Research (DBR) interests in emerging technologies for the building industry in its broadest terms, and focuses on the current directions and developments in Knowledge Based Expert Systems
(KBES)
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an applied area of art if icial intelligence. 2. THE BUILDING DELIVERY SYSTEM AND INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGYThe building industry is
a
large but subtle, fragmented, dynamic system. For each building, the formal building team and the sectors involved in thebuilding cycle are structured as a system. Once the building is completed, the structure is dissolved. In this constant state of system flux,
technological innovation comes slowly. Acceptance of innovation by the industry is affected by three factors : l
1. Technical feasibility
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the hardware and software m s t be available, andthe ability to apply technical knowledge to the building industry.
Emerging technologies are being developed by the computer science sector, in conjunction with pure mathematics and applied psychology. Application of these technologies to buildings will depend on the building research comrmuni t y
.
2. Economic impetus
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the building industry is highly leveraged andsensitive to interest rates, building cycle fluctuations, and first-cost. Each of the under-capitalized sectors of the building industry has its own profit incentive. Because of this fragmentation, life-cycle costs have little meaning unless the building is delivered and operated by a single entity, as may be the case for government buildings. Clients and investors, designers, construction contractors, and building operators and managers will introduce innovation voluntarily only if the innovation will result in increase of profits, efficiency, or tangible market
3. Institutional and cultural acceptance
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the technology must fit the existing styles of work and organization to some degree. Innovative robotic technology and prefabrication methods may not be acceptable to the strong trade-union building delivery organization. Codes and standards may work for the inclusion of technology, or work against it. The above issues must be positively addressed for the building industry to incorporate software and hardware tools.3. EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
The potential technical changes for the building industry include:
1. automation of tedious or dangerous tasks,
2. restructuring of tasks to take advantage of automation, 3. applying intelligent automatons to the system.
The automation of some tasks has been accepted by the industry because the three governing principles of technical feasibility, economic incentive and cultural acceptance held true. For example, word processing, certain
applications of computer-aided drafting, specification writing, cost
estimation and project control are all being applied by the industry to the building delivery task.
Restructuring the task to take advantage of automation has occurred on a very limited scale in the building industry. Examples may be found where both the design and manufacture occur within the same sector. One such CAD system, SHOP ( I ) , has special functions to lay out ductwork relative to the
floorplan, generate bills of materials, create patterns for ductwork and duct fittings, and use these patterns to drive a cutting machine to form the
parts. This integrated CAD/CAM concept works for the mechanical contractor, but is impractical to apply to the whole building delivery system. Whereas contractors benefit most from the efficiencies of a common building
representation database, the capitalization costs are borne by the design sector. Large building industry organizations that are life-cycle cost sensitive will benefit most from integrated CAD development.
Restructuring the automaton to emulate human behaviour is still an embryonic technology. The most successful industrial advances have been in the
application of artificial intelligence techniques to emulate human expert behaviour. These Knowledge Based Expert Systems (KBES) rely on modeling the heuristics used by an expert while solving a problem, diagnosing a situation, or giving advice. KBES techniques are being applied to investment decisions and project management. The same technology can be used in design for
accessing technical information, and in the operation sector for maintaining buildings.
4. -KNOWLEDGE BASED EXPERT SYSTEMS FOR THE BUILDING INDUSTRY
During the building cycle, the successful flow of information ultimately defines the building. Poor or uninformed decisions may lead to building
problems. Because buildings and the teams that construct them are unique assemblies, general research information, guidelines, or manuals contain a large proportion of irrelevant information. Knowledge Based Expert Systems are computer programs designed to draw inferences about specific problems based on a general knowledge base. These systems provide answers similar to those provided by human specialists in their field of expertise. The level of knowledge in a KBES determines whether it is characterized as an
assistant, a colleague or an expert. KBES technology is suited to heuristic problems
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problems where naive physics, a large store of experiential knowledge, and specialized information are used in the solution. In the building delivery and operation process, these classes of problems are most prevalent. Rarely is there a need for detailed simulation or calculation(unless mandated), and mandated procedures are generally fairly simple algorithms.
Knowledge Based Expert Systems perform interpretation, prediction, diagnosis and prescription, design, planning, instruction and control. In the building sectors, problems arise in each of these areas.
4.1 What Has Been Done?
Examples of KBES systems for the building industry include building code analysis systems, diagnosis of fungi and rot in walls, structural framing advisors, and generative design algorithms. Small systems are being built to address a variety of applications in the building industry.2 At DBR we are developing a system for diagnosing window problems and choosing new windows. This is typical of the empirical experimentation with KBES systems. Most of these systems are quite small, and have no knowledge beyond their limited application. The knowledge bases have generally been built with information from manuals or references, as opposed to information elicited from domain experts. Researchers build systems with limited knowledge, and discard the structure when developing KBES for larger domains, or different applications. Theoretical foundations are being sought for the representation of knowledge, its structure, and its acquisition by machines.
4.2 What Could be Done?
Considerable development work has been done in financial planning and project management. This is directly transferrable to the investment and
construction sectors of the building industry. KBES developments in other fields3 can be used as models for application to the building industry. KBES developments in oil and mineral exploration (interpretation) have parallel applications to site selection and zoning law interpretation. Computer hardware manufacturers use KBES profitably to configure and specify large
systems. Similar configuration problems in buildings could benefit from these approaches. Medical diagnosis systems, always at the forefront of KBES application, have been used as examples for building diagnosis problems.
KBES for the design sector are being researched by the building research community, both government-based and academic. Research by the building research community has traditionally been aimed at the design sector, and the KBES developments now emerging reflect this tendency.
An array of possible applications is shown in Table 1. Because of the rapid changes in this field, many of the empty cells in the table have been or are being filled. Small systems could be built to address a variety of
applications in the building industry. This will lead to a large number of
limited KBES, each doing a small piece of the job
--
but not sharing theknowledge with other systems. 4.3 What Should be Done?
Building knowledge based systems for the building design sector indicates a need to:
1. structure the knowledge base within each sector, and throughout the
industry. Building science is not structured on the premise of understanding the building or its delivery process; rather it is
fragmented in its technical evaluation of components. ~ i j l ~ has pointed
to this critical problem within the design sector.
2. determine formalized methods for knowledge elicitation from experts who
have an underlying understanding of the whole industry. "Gut feelings" for successful decisions must be formalized.
3. agree about the taxonomy of the building. User interfaces may be
personalized to each designer's or contractor's vocabulary, but the symbolic terms used in the knowledge bases must be standardized if
larger, more able systems are to be configured and if knowledge is to be shared.
4. define qualitative factors and through Delphi (or other concensus
procedures) come to agreements about building method. Because knowledge bases are heuristic, some agreement must be reached if the knowledge base is to grow, without being continually questioned.
5. continue research on developing user interfaces that fit into building
practice. This rmst include a thorough understanding of the use of knowledge by the industry and its impact on practice.
Although these issues are not as seductive to researchers as solving a
specific KBES programming puzzle, they are critical to providing an
acceptable stable technology within an existing professional practice
context. Research done to increase the efficiency of the design sector and increase the quality of the building is justifiable only if it provides the economic incentives to the sectors that are to use the technology.
5. CONCLUSIONS
Emerging technologies provide a mechanism for increasing both productivity (and hence profitability) and the quality of decisions made during the building delivery and operation cycle. Application of simple automation is being accepted by the industry as a tool for productivity enhancement. Those whose primary justification is quality improvement without increase in
productivity need to overcome inherent disincentives in the building delivery process. This might be achieved by mandated codes and standards,
restructuring of the industry and formalizing the knowledge required to deliver and operate buildings.
Research and development i n t o new a p p l i c a t i o n s of t e c h n o l o g y t o t h e b u i l d i n g i n d u s t r y s h o u l d c o n s i d e r n o t o n l y t e c h n i c a l f e a s i b i l i t y b u t a l s o t h e n e e d s of t h e i n d u s t r y and t h e r e a l i t i e s of t h e marketplace. Knowledge based systems c a n have a s i g n i f i c a n t impact on v i r t u a l l y e v e r y a s p e c t of t h e b u i l d i n g d e l i v e r y and o p e r a t i o n p r o c e s s .
REFERENCES
1. R. Schoen, A.S. H i r s h b e r g and J.M. Weingant, New Energy Technologies f o r B u i l d i n g s , e d i t e d by J. S t e i n ( B a l l i n g e r , Cambridge, Mass., 1975)
pp. 49-65.
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4 ( 2 ) , pp. 253-267 (1985). 9. M.L. Maher, H i - R i s e : A Knowledge-Based Expert System f o r t h eP r e l i m i n a r y S t r u c t u r a l Design of High R i s e B u i l d i n g s , (Department of C i v i l E n g i n e e r i n g , C a r n e g i e I n s t i t u t e of Technology, P i t t s b u r g h , Pa.,
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5 7 ( 1 ) , pp. 125-131 (1985).11. J. Lansdown, E x p e r t Systems; T h e i r Impact on t h e C o n s t r u c t i o n I n d u s t r y , (Royal I n s t i t u t e of B r i t i s h A r c h i t e c t s , London, UK, 1982).
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TABLE I. Potential application of knowledge based expert systems by the building industry
SECTOR PROBLEM REF
Investor Plan investments
Client Plan project cash flow and monitor progress Architect1 Interpret user needs with client for program
Engineer Interpret applicable codes and regulations for building type 6 Interpret legal/professional responsibilities
Design building with respect to constraints 7,8
Design structure 9
Configure mechanical system 10
Configure electrical system
Evaluate building against (heuristic) objectives 11 Specify products related to constraints, plans 12 Predict building physical behaviour and user response 13 Contractor Estimate cost of building during design phases
Manage cash flow, labour, contracts 14
Give knowledge to construction robots 15,16 Check building against checklist before client acceptance
Owner1 Instruct building operator on use of equipment Manage office layout and work patterns
Operator Find building problems (qualitative, quantitative) 17,18 Suggest options for prescriptive remedies 19 Predict and control traffic and commnication systems
Maintenance Schedule cleaning and maintenance Control robotic or manual operations
T h i s p a p e r i s b e i n g d i s t r i b u t e d i n r e p r i n t form by t h e I n s t i t u t e f o r R e s e a r c h i n
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C o n s t r u c t i o n . A l i s t of b u i l d i n g p r a c t i c e and r e s e a r c h p u b l i c a t i o n s a v a i l a b l e from t h e I n s t i t u t e may be o b t a i n e d by w r i t i n g t o t h e ~ u b l i c a t i b n s S e c t i o n , I n s t i t u t e f o r R e s e a r c h i n C o n s t r u c t i o n , N a t i o n a l Research C o u n c i l of C a n a d a , O t t a w a , O n t a r i o , K1A 0R6. Ce document e s t d i s t r i b u 6 s o u s forme de t i r 6 - a - p a r t p a r 1 ' I n s t i t u t de r e c h e r c h e e n c o n s t r u c t i o n . On peut o b t e n i r une l i s t e d e s p u b l i c a t i o n s de 1 ' I n s t i t u t p o r t a n t s u r les t e c h n i q u e s ou les r e c h e r c h e s e n matiared e b a t i m e n t e n B c r i v a n t 3 l a S e c t i o n d e s p u b l i c a t i o n s , I n s t i t u t de r e c h e r c h e en c o n s t r u c t i o n , C o n s e i l n a t i o n a l d e r e c h e r c h e s du Canada, Ottawa ( O n t a r i o ) ,
