With many construction projects, success or failure can often be determined during the planning stage. Foreseeing all possible roadblocks and creating contingencies before construction begins is the key to keeping a project on budget and finishing on time.
Accurate 3D mobile mapping offers a solution to this dilemma and it’s a cost-effective option that developers and planners can add to their toolkit. Unlike other technologies that require extensive training or new computer infrastructure, 3D mapping systems like Nexys fit seamlessly into existing workflows with minimal training and software reconfigurations.
Mobile laser scanning allows for fast 3D surveying of indoor or outdoor spaces without the need of a prior map or existing wireless infrastructure. These 3D digital twins can then be brought into your CAD, BIM, or other existing digital workflows for highly accurate planning, forecasting, and modeling.
Our Nexys payload works both as a handheld mobile unit and when connected to an aerial or land-based drone empower it to autonomously explore unknown environments. Nexys controls the drone autonomously using ExynAI – our proprietary LiDAR-based (Light Detection And Ranging) SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) algorithm. This modularity gives you the option to survey an area in the fastest, safest, and most affordable way possible based on the project.
The most useful technologies are those that can fit perfectly into existing workflows to increase their usefulness. That’s why smartphones were an immediate success after their introduction. Flip phones were integrating with the internet, coming equipped with newer cameras and features, the smartphone took it to the next level by making it intuitive and way more useful.
Colorized point cloud rendering of Exyn's office in Philadelphia
We designed Nexys to ensure it could interface with downstream software for construction and infrastructure projects, meaning all data captured can integrate with existing tools you're already using. Just like your smartphone, our Nexys is portable, powerful, and works nearly everywhere. But unlike your phone, it doesn't need a signal to operate.
Successful project planning for something as large and complex as an industrial warehouse or multi-level construction requires a highly accurate digital twin of the area where work is going to begin. If your entire project team can't access real-time data about the site it could bottleneck in your planning and working efficiency.
GIF demonstrating a point cloud aligning with a GCP data stream for accurate rendering
Digital twins captured by Nexys can be aligned with existing GNSS datasets or other geospatial data streams during post-processing. Project managers can remain confident that the 3D model of the area is accurate and feature-rich. And all of this post-processing can be done in the field through the provided ruggedized tablet, ensuring that the team is bringing back complete datasets after a day of field surveying.
The speed and flexibility of a mobile SLAM platform can increase the effectiveness of your survey team, ensuring that all data captured is complete and accurate for project planners to process and evaluate. Plus, shorter capture times means scans can be performed more regularly for greater transparency throughout the entire duration of a project.
ExynAI autonomously piloting itself through a dust cloud
If the project area changes or the client specifications change during the initial stages, you can quickly deploy the Nexys to capture new data. This allows you to adjust your bid or your project forecasts as conditions change. With traditional surveying, this would require extensive lead time and additional man-hours to deploy a team to re-survey the area.
With Nexys, a single operator can safely conduct the new 3D scan and gather all of the information needed and post-process the data directly on site – a swiss army knife of digital mapping and surveying making your team cost-effective with the ability to adapt to any contingency the project throws at you.
Autonomous robotics come in handy, the Nexys system works where other solutions simply fail from lack of signal.
GPS-denied areas, mines, caves, or hazardous areas can all be navigated by the Nexys' LiDAR-based SLAM autonomy. The operator simply has to plan a mission on the provided ruggedized tablet and press go, Nexys will take control of all mission planning until the map is complete or the intelligent return-to-home detects a low battery. If GPS is available (flying outdoors, for example), the Nexys will automatically detect the signal and integrate it into its online SLAM for better real-time positioning and offline map alignment.
We get that autonomous robotics can sound like science fiction, but after thousands of autonomous flights in the field we're confident Nexys can capture accurate 3D models of almost anywhere. If you want to see how Nexys can transform your surveying operations, book a personalized demo today and experience Level 4B autonomy for yourself.
