CMU School of Drama


Friday, September 04, 2020

Meet Trek, With Autonomous Scanning and Data Collection Super Powers

Digital Engineering 24/7: What do you get when you combine a laser scanner with a robot capable of remote data capture? You get Trek, a fully autonomous 3D mobile scanning device capable of remotely monitoring the progress and condition of commercial construction projects or creating digital twins of a manufacturing floor, among emerging use cases.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Trek is really a revolutionary idea. The closest tech that's really comparable is the used of drones to map an area and implement photogrammetry to generate a 3D model. While the individual processes within such a workflow are relatively automated, a human still has to transfer the data between each step and manually adjust it on the fly (pun intended). In contrast, the Trek is fully autonomous and can be used to generate a digital twin of a space. This space could be anything from a factory floor to a disaster recovery site, or even a stage deck in the process of load in (though that might be a bit much). Over the summer, I learned about how architects and building services firms use LIDAR and laser scanning to accurately measure complex geometries in existing structures. I've even used sonar to map sea walls for inspections. The Trek is a giant leap up from these processes, though, thanks to its autonomous nature.