We are happy to announce that the DFG Research Training Group 3068 ("Climate-informed Engineering") has been funded. Together with Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M) and the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), we are looking forward to integrate state‐of‐the‐art climate science into engineering education and practice. The goal is to prepare the next generation of engineers to innovate climate‐resilient solutions, thereby mitigating the effects of climate change on the built environment.

• Project website
• Press release of the German Research Foundation (in German)

In the upcoming winter semester, we are again offering the exciting course "Scientific Working in Computational Engineering", this semester with a focus on robot-based underwater vehicles. Students will have the chance to explore the use of underwater vehicles and real-world applications for infrastructure inspection. Places are still available. Feel free to enroll via Stud.IP. In addition, the following courses are available:

• Engineering Informatics (taught in German)
• Construction Robotics

Note that the lectures will start in October. For more information, please visit www.tuhh.de/idac/teaching.

Five years have elapsed from the first printing of this book in 2019. The first edition of this book has been received very favorably, and we would like to thank our readers for the very encouraging comments. We have therefore decided to revise the book and enrich the set of recommendations, while maintaining an affordable price.

• For our students at Hamburg University of Technology, the new edition is available in the library (ISBN: 978-3-384-31012-5).
• The book may be ordered through the publisher's website or at other online book stores, such as Amazon.

For more information, visit www.smarsly.de.

The Forum Bauinformatik 2024 concluded today, and we would like to thank all, who contributed to this successful event! We are deeply grateful to 112 participants, whose active involvement made the event truly special. Our sincere appreciation goes as well to the keynote speakers, exhibitors, caterers, and the numerous helpers behind the scenes. For those interested, highlights from the conference can be found on our social media channels (links below), and a photo gallery is available here. We look forward to meet at the Forum Bauinformatik 2025!

• https://www.instagram.com/idac_tuhh
• https://x.com/IDAC_TUHH
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/idac-tuhh

IDAC is participating in the theme day "Education and Research" at the German Pavilion in the 88th Thessaloniki International Fair, where Germany is the country of honor. We had the chance to show our mobile monitoring concepts using our legged robots and embedded models, implemented collaboratively with our partners of the Laboratory for Strength of Materials and Structures at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, led by Assoc. Professor Konstantinos Katakalos, and to discuss with members of the Greek and German industry.

Further information: https://thessalonikifair.gr/en

We are happy to welcome Mark Moawad, who has joined the IDAC team. Mr. Moawad will be working in a research project, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), focusing on robot-based inspection of civil infrastructure using frame semantics and linguistic metamodels. We are looking forward to working together with Mr. Moawad!

Project information may be found here.

We are happy to welcome Lucia Seitz, who has joined the IDAC team. In the next 4 years, Ms. Seitz will be funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and will work in the DFG Research Unit "FOR 5672", focusing on multi-robot collaboration for monitoring and inspection of civil engineering structures. We are looking forward to working together with Ms. Seitz!

Project information may be found here.

It is our great pleasure to announce the winners of the “10th SMART MONITORING CONTEST”. The contest is an integral part of the IDAC course “Smart Monitoring”, which has received the prestigious Hamburg Teaching Prize in 2023 and has been supervised by Kosmas Dragos, Carlos Chillòn Geck, and Thamer Al-Zuriqat. This year, it was almost impossible to determine a winner team, as all student groups have implemented great ideas of exceptionally high quality, ranging from smart plant monitoring, non-invasive IoT-based home security methods, and smart control systems for laboratory gas analyzers to water quality monitoring systems. Finally, Nico Grümmert, Pamela Oviedo Arroyo, Omkar Kshirsagar, and Dhananjay Birmole have made the race. Congratulations!

We congratulate Mr. Häusler, who has been awarded the prestigious Ditze Prize for his Bachelor's thesis. The thesis was supervised by Professor Smarsly and Mr. Stührenberg, and it was conducted in collaboration with the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (Mr. Neumann). In his work, Mr. Häusler proposed a solution for gas source localization using swarm robotics and nano-quadcopters. For more details on Mr. Häusler’s work may be found here.

We are seeking a research associate (PhD student) to support our team (4 years, full time, salary level TV-L E 13). When you are interested in conducting research and teaching at IDAC in areas related to digitalization in civil engineering, do not hesitate to contact us or apply under the following link. Knowledge in the following areas is expected: Java programming, BIM, digital twinning, and database systems. German language skills are required. For further information or to apply for the position, visit the TUHH job portal: https://stellenportal.tuhh.de/og8r4

Smart sensors detect damage before it is too late...

Find out more about research and teaching at the Institute of Digital and Autonomous Construction at Hamburg University of Technology.

Join us on Instagram, Twitter, ResearchGate, Youtube, and LinkedIn.

On June 5, 2024, the North Rhine-Westphalia Academy of Sciences and Arts has welcomed Professor Smarsly as a new member. “Admission is reserved for outstanding researchers and artists,” states a press release of the academy. Overall, the academy comprises about 280 full members and nearly 130 corresponding members. The members engage in scientific dialogue within the academy and in exchange with research and cultural institutions in Germany and abroad. “Being elected to the academy is an immense privilege and a unique recognition of our interdisciplinary research in the field of computing in civil engineering,” says Professor Smarsly..

• Academy portrait (in German)
• Press release (in German)

Picture: Professor Dr. Jochen Kreusel, Vice President of the North Rhine-Westphalia Academy of Sciences and Arts and Secretary of the Class for Engineering and Economic Sciences, Professor Dr. Kay Smarsly, Professor Dr. Dr. Caren Sureth-Sloane, Deputy Secretary of the Class for Engineering and Economic Sciences. Source: North Rhine-Westphalia Academy of Sciences and Arts / Photographer: Bettina Engel-Albustin, 2024.

We are happy to welcome Adel Alatassi, who has joined the IDAC team. Mr. Alatassi will work in the emerging field of digitalization of earth-based construction processes. Mr. Alatassi has a strong background in additive manufacturing. His research project is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and includes a broad wealth of innovative digitalization aspects relevant to earth-based additive manufacturing, such as ontology-based coupling of semantic models and BIM-based fabrication information modeling (FIM). We are looking forward to working together with Mr. Alatassi!

Joining academia and industry at Hamburg University of Technology, IDAC and the Student Council of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering have co-hosted the “Hamburg Construction Day” (or “Hamburger Bautag”, in German). We congratulate the students that have been recognized because of their outstanding bachelor and master theses by the Hamburg Construction Industry Association. The theme of the Hamburg Construction Day was "Digitalization of the construction industry", and we would like to thank the many exhibitors and guests, and, particularly, our guests from Volvo Construction Equipment Germany GmbH and Marx Krontal Partner MKP GmbH GmbH for sharing their efforts towards the digitalization of the construction industry.

• Further information
• Newsroom

The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding a research project on decentralized digital twins for structural health monitoring. In the project, methods for designing embedded digital twins for structural health monitoring, tailored to the processing capabilities of smart wireless sensor nodes, will be investigated. The project duration is from 2024 to 2027. For further information please visit the project website:
https://www.tuhh.de/idac/research/decentralized-digital-twins

We are happy to announce that the DFG Research Unit 5672 ("Robotized Construction") has been funded. Together with Technical University Munich, Berlin University of Technology, and University of Duisburg-Essen, we are looking forward to investigate multi-robot collaboration for monitoring and inspection of civil engineering structures. Project website: https://www.tuhh.de/idac/research/multi-robot-collaboration

• When you are interested in becoming part of our team by joining the research unit in a PhD position (4 years, 100%), apply here: https://stellenportal.tuhh.de/beoau
• Also, we would like to draw your attention to another PhD position to be filled (4 years, 100%), focusing on BIM, object-oriented modeling, database systems. Apply here: https://stellenportal.tuhh.de/w7khn

IDAC is hosting the 6th International Workshop on Explainable Artificial Intelligence in Civil Engineering (XAICE). While the 5th XAICE workshop was held within the scope of the project "Resilient Infrastructure based on Cognitive Buildings", funded by DFG, this workshop is hosted within the DFG project "Explainable fault diagnosis for smart cities". Together with colleagues from our partner Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and our DFG Mercator Fellow, we are discussing the latest developments on applying XAI methods to civil engineering, as well as future research directions.

Our courses offered in summer semester 2024 are ready for enrollment. As every semester, we will offer exciting courses related to digitalization, sustainability, intelligent sensor systems, scientific working, and much more. We would like to draw your attention to the new "Digital Twinning" course offered for the first time in the summer semester. For general information about our courses, visit our teaching website at www.tuhh.de/idac/teaching. For detailed information and enrollment, visit Stud.IP. There are still places available. Note that the lectures will start in the beginning of April.

We are seeking a research associate (PhD student) to support our team (4 years, full time, salary level TV-L E 13). When you are interested in conducting research and teaching at IDAC in areas related to digitalization in civil engineering, do not hesitate to contact us or apply under the following link. Knowledge in one or more of the following areas are expected: Java programming, BIM, digital twinning, and database systems. German language skills are required. For further information or to apply for the position, visit the TUHH job portal: https://stellenportal.tuhh.de/w7khn

The Institute of Digital and Autonomous Construction celebrates its 3rd anniversary. Since its founding in 2021, research projects including digital twins, robotics, and explainable artificial intelligence, as well as several new courses, have contributed to the continuous innovation in the construction industry. “The achievements of the institute would not have been possible without the support of our partners, sponsors, students, and the university board,” Professor Smarsly said. Feel free to browse through our website and social media accounts to learn more about the activities conducted in the previous years:
Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, ResearchGate, LinkedIn

It is our pleasure to announce the “Hamburg Construction Day” (or “Hamburger Bautag”, in German), which is co-organized by IDAC and the Student Council of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The Hamburg Construction Day will take place at Hamburg University of Technology on May 8, 2024.

The Hamburg Construction Day has emerged as a pivotal platform for both academia and the industry to explore and discuss future directions of the construction sector and its educational frameworks. The theme of the Hamburg Construction Day 2024 is "Digitalization of the construction industry".

Further information: www.tuhh.de/bautag

IDAC will deliver a talk and a live demonstration of our robots at the RoboCup Junior Qualification on February 25, 2024. Visit RoboCup Junior and meet us at Hamburg University of Technology, main campus. The event is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.

• Further information: https://dual.tuhh.de/robocup-junior
• RoboCup German Open 2024: https://junior.robocup.de

IDAC invites you to participate in an excellent opportunity to join the scientific community of computing in civil engineering: The 35th Forum Bauinformatik will take place at Hamburg University of Technology from September 18-20, 2024. Young scientists, students, and companies will have the opportunity to present their research work, discuss problems and find out about the current state of research, in both English and German. For more information on dates and registration information visit http://www.forum-bauinformatik.de. For specific questions and requests, please contact the organizing team at fbi2024(at)tuhh(dot)de.

We are seeking a research associate (PhD student) to support our team (3 years, full time, salary level TV-L E 13), to be funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). When you are interested in conducting research at IDAC in the area of "robot-based inspection of civil infrastructure using frame semantics and linguistic metamodels", do not hesitate to contact us or apply under the following link.

Knowledge of formal systems and logic as well as interest in semantic modeling and cognitive linguistics (particularly frame semantics and linguistic metamodels) are expected. Interest in robotics and infrastructure inspection are of advantage. For further information, please visit the project website, and to apply for the position, click here: https://stellenportal.tuhh.de/d525o

We are happy to welcome Dr. Alexander Chmelnizkij, who has joined the IDAC team as a senior engineer. With a distinguished background in research, teaching, and IT administration, Dr. Chmelnizkij brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to our team. His main areas of expertise include, but are not limited to, numerical and data-driven modeling, digital twins, building information modeling, and artificial intelligence. We are looking forward to working together with Dr. Chmelnizkij!

We are seeking a research associate (PhD student) to support our team (3 years, full time, salary level TV-L E 13), to be funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). When you are interested in conducting research at IDAC in the area of "Digitalization of earth-based construction processes", do not hesitate to contact us or apply under the following link. Very good knowledge of semantic/object-oriented modeling and formal knowledge representation (e.g. ontologies and formal languages) as well as good German language skills are expected. Interest in clay printing, building information modeling, sensor technology, and robotics is of advantage. For further information, please visit the project website, and to apply for the position, click here: https://stellenportal.tuhh.de/s3z26

IDAC is pleased to announce a guest lecture, entitled “Building Tomorrow… with Site Solutions”, to be held by Dr. Michael Schwall. Dr. Schwall is a research engineer at Volvo Construction Equipment Germany GmbH and will discuss the development of digital site solutions as well as technical challenges. The guest lecture will be held digitally on December 5, 2023, at 3:00 pm. For registration, please contact Mr. Jan Stührenberg at jan.stuehrenberg(at)tuhh(dot)de. Students at TUHH participating in the “Construction Robotics” course may follow the information provided in Stud.IP.

We are seeking a research associate (PhD student) to support our team (4 years, full time, salary level TV-L E 13). When you are interested in conducting research and teaching at IDAC in areas related to digitalization in civil engineering, do not hesitate to contact us or apply under the following link. Knowledge in one or more of the following areas are expected: Java programming, BIM, digital twinning, and database systems. German language skills are required. For further information or to apply for the position, visit the TUHH job portal: https://stellenportal.tuhh.de/w7khn

The goal of this research project is to develop a wastewater surveillance strategy based on an AI model that combines data from different sources, including mobility data, SARS-CoV-2 data collected from wastewater treatment plants, environmental data, and data originating from domain-specific engineering knowledge. It is expected that an innovative methodology for wastewater surveillance, specifically for AI-based predictions of infectious events, will be provided, to strengthen the public health protection. We are happy to be part of this collaborative research project, which is funded by Robert Koch Institute (RKI) with € 1.68 million and coordinated by Bauhaus University Weimar.

• Further information: carlos.chillon.geck(at)tuhh(dot)de
• Project website: http://www.tuhh.de/idac/research/amelag

We are happy to welcome Aditya Tandon, who has joined the IDAC team. Mr. Tandon will work in the field of engineering informatics, both in research and teaching. He will put particular emphasis on object-oriented modeling, BIM, database systems, digital twinning, and construction robotics. We are looking forward to working together with Mr. Tandon!

The Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport is sponsoring a collaborative research project on generating and using digital twins of sewer infrastructure for increased operational availability and resilience, entitled "KaSyTwin". The overall project budget is € 3.85 million. We are thrilled to be part of this exciting project, led by RWTH Aachen University. Interested in joining the project as a hiwi student? Just send an email to yousuf.al-hakim(at)tuhh(dot)de and mention this website post.

Further information: https://www.tuhh.de/idac/research/kasytwin

Our new addition to the IDAC additive manufacturing lab will help us explore earth construction with a new perspective. With our clay printer, we will print sustainable, small-scale structures, build digital twins, and investigate earth printing. Thanks go out to our project partner HC Hagemann for their support. The clay printer will be part of our course “Scientific Working in Computational Engineering”.

Enrollment is now open for our winter semester courses. This semester, we are dedicated to advancing construction practices within circular economy, while focusing on digitalization. Explore cutting-edge subjects such as digital twins, additive manufacturing, and earth construction in our course "Scientific Working in Computational Engineering." Explore our full spectrum of courses awaiting your enrollment in the upcoming winter semester at www.tuhh.de/idac/teaching. To enroll, please visit Stud.IP.

We are seeking a post doc (or a PhD student who has almost finished his/her PhD studies) to work in our team in a permanent position as a senior engineer (salary level TV-L E 14, full time). When you are interested in conducting independent research and teaching in exciting fields related to digitalization in civil engineering, do not hesitate to contact us or apply here: https://stellenportal.tuhh.de/7ac2y

The Hamburg Minister of Economic Affairs and Innovation, Dr. Leonhard, visited IDAC to talk about the digitalization of the construction industry. Topics of the meeting included future fields of research and development relevant to the Hamburg economy, such as artificial intelligence in civil engineering, intelligent sensor systems, 3D printing, and autonomous construction robotics. The meeting took place at the invitation of Arne Weber, CEO of HC Hagemann GmbH, with whom IDAC closely cooperates in research and development.

IDAC team member Mathias Worm has received a 1-year “EXIST grant”, with Professor Smarsly being the official startup coach. Mr. Worm and his colleagues will receive funding from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), and support will be provided by the TUHH startup port. The IDAC team is looking forward to this collaboration, exciting student projects to be co-supervised by the startup, and we wish Mr. Worm best of luck in his entrepreneurial efforts!

We are seeking a research associate (PhD student) to support our team (4 years, full time, salary level TV-L E 13). When you are interested in conducting research and teaching at IDAC in areas related to digitalization in civil engineering, do not hesitate to contact us or apply under the following link. Skills in Java programming, database systems, and German language are among the main requirements.
For further information or to apply for the position, visit the TUHH job portal: https://stellenportal.tuhh.de/uewb4

Professor Smarsly has received the Hamburg Teaching Prize for excellent and innovative teaching. The prize is awarded annually by the Hamburg Ministry of Science, Research, Equality and Districts, and the right to nominate candidates lies with the students. Professor Smarsly thanked the IDAC team, without whom this success would not have been possible. For more information, see the links below:

• Gallery
• Press release (online version)

We are seeking several hiwi tutors for our new mandatory module "Engineering Informatics", which consists of the courses "Object-oriented modeling" and "Database systems", both to be taught in German. When you want to become part of our team and you are interested in either Java programming or databases, or both, please send your application to Mrs. Lange at anja.lange(at)tuhh(dot)de. Questions regarding the teaching organization may be directed to Mr. Stührenberg at jan.stuehrenberg@tuhh.de.

IDAC is hosting the 5th International Workshop on Explainable Artificial Intelligence in Civil Engineering (XAICE), which is being held within the scope of the project "Resilient Infrastructure based on Cognitive Buildings", funded by DFG. Together with colleagues from our partner Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and our DFG Mercator Fellow, we are discussing the latest developments on applying XAI methods to civil engineering, as well as future research directions.

IDAC is happy to announce a guest lecture, to be held by Max Herbers and Bertram Richter, entitled “Distributed fiber optic sensing – The future of structural health monitoring?” Mr. Herbers and Mr. Richter are members of the Institute of Concrete Structures at Dresden University of Technology. Both are involved in the IDA-KI research project, Mr. Herbers as the coordinator, and will present project insights as well as theoretical and practical monitoring applications. The guest lecture will be held digitally on June 20, 2023 at 1:30 pm. For registration, please contact Mr. Chillón Geck at carlos.chillon.geck(at)tuhh.de. Students at TUHH may follow the information provided in Stud.IP ("Smart Monitoring" course).

About 20 attendees have participated in the IDA-KI project meeting at IDAC. Besides project partners from academia and industry, representatives of the advisory board have participated to discuss project results and challenges in infrastructure maintenance, followed by a boat excursion to waterside infrastructure. The IDA-KI project aims to design fully automated analysis algorithms based on AI and IoT concepts, for detecting deterioration and damage of civil infrastructure. Further project information may be found here.

We welcome Mrs. Anja Lange to the IDAC team. Mrs. Lange will take over the position of the administrative manager and will be in charge of managing the IDAC administration. We wish Mrs. Lange a prosperous start at TUHH. We are very much looking forward to the support she will provide to our institute and we are very happy to start working with our new team member. Welcome to the team!

The first PhD event of the priority program SPP100+, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), has successfully been completed. The event took place at TU Braunschweig. Besides updates on the status of the project, the PhD students enjoyed a thematic training on modeling in civil engineering, with lectures on special topics, such as linked data, geometric machine learning, uncertainty quantification, and data management as well as several networking activities, a visit to Salzgitter AG, a barbecue, an evening in a virtual reality gaming lounge, and lab visits. Further information on IDAC’s sub project may be found here.

IDAC proudly announces a guest lecture, to be held by Dr. George D. Manolis, Professor Honorariuas at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and DFG Mercator Fellow at TUHH. Professor Manolis will give a guest lecture entitled on "Smart monitoring – Structural health monitoring issues in civil infrastructure". The guest lecture will be held digitally on May 23, 2023, at 1:30 pm. For registration, please contact Mr. Dragos at kosmas.dragos(at)tuhh(dot)de. Students at TUHH may follow the information provided in Stud.IP ("Smart Monitoring" course).
Information on Professor Manolis' lab may be found here.

As every semester, we will offer exciting courses related to digitalization, sustainability, intelligent sensor systems, scientific working, and much more. There are still places available. Note that the lectures will start in the beginning of April.

• General information about our courses may be found at “teaching”.
• For detailed information and enrollment, visit StudIP.
• Examples of the outcomes of the last semesters may be found on our social media channels.

2-year anniversary! The IDAC team says thank you! We would not be able to celebrate the achievements in research and teaching without the great support of all our partners and supporters! Feel free to browse through our website and social media accounts to learn more about the activities conducted in our second year:
Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, ResearchGate, LinkedIn

Congratulations to our students who have successfully passed this semester's construction robotics course! The students have explored robot localization by detecting fiducial tags using cameras mounted on our mIDOGs. In addition, the student groups have specialized on tag following, platooning, BIM-based localization, and capacitive sensor grid localization. We look forward to supervising the course next winter semester! Further information on our social media channels and on the course website.

The project BioFass ("Biologically inspired facades based on multi-agent technology and swarm intelligence"), funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), has successfully been completed. This week, the final meeting took place in Weimar. IDAC was involved with a sub project entitled "Multi-agent-based sensor/actuator systems for intelligent facades". We would like to thank BMBF, the project coordinator Finger Institute at Bauhaus University Weimar, and all parties involved for this great project. In the future, more efficient photocatalytic materials will advance building facades to reduce anthropological pollution in cities using distributed artificial intelligence and sensor and actuator networks.

The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding a research project on modeling and design concepts for digital roads. With a total budget of 632.850 EUR, the project aims to provide a basis for fully utilizing information generated by digital roads. The research project is a joint effort conducted together with the Chair of Steel and Hybrid Structures at Bauhaus Univeristy Weimar. We are looking forward to start the project and, in the near future, we will announce a job posting to seek candidates with a background in mathematics and/or computer science.

Apply here: https://stellenportal.tuhh.de/45kb3
Project website: https://www.tuhh.de/idac/research/digital-roads.html

IDAC is presenting its research related to construction robotics at BAUMA 2022, the world's leading trade fair for construction machinery, building material machines, mining machines, construction vehicles, and construction equipment, which takes place from October 24 to October 30, 2022 in Munich. In the Science Hub (Hall B0), visitors have the chance to experience our applied research and particularly our legged robots. In parallel to a scientific exchange with seven other universities, students and visitors, so far, enjoyed our robots the most:
https://youtu.be/5B138WV_WPc

We appreciate the large number of visitors at our booth, managed by Dr. Kölzer, and the valuable discussions we have had so far. In addition, the IDAC team members Jan Stührenberg and Mathias Worm gave a presentation on "Legged robots in the construction industry" at the Bauma forum. For further information, please visit our social media channels on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Youtube.

Today, MKP GmbH and IDAC have signed a cooperation agreement on “digital twins in civil engineering”. Through the cooperation agreement, MKP GmbH and IDAC aim to further strengthen the cooperation that has successfully been conducted in the last years by advancing the implementation of digital twin concepts in engineering practice. Further information may be found at the project website.

We are happy to welcome Dr. Masayoshi Kaneda, who has joined the IDAC team. Dr. Kaneda will work on quality assurance for digital twins using mathematical abstraction and tangle-based blockchain architectures within a research project funded by the German Research Foundation. Before joining the IDAC team, Dr. Kaneda has been a Lecturer at the University of California, Irvine, Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Mississippi, Assistant Professor at the United Arab Emirates University, Visiting Professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Associate Professor at Nazarbayev University, Associate Professor at the American University of Kuwait, and Visiting Scholar at Georg-August University Göttingen. We are looking forward to working together with Dr. Kaneda!

In the upcoming semester, we will build an IoT-enabled shake table within the course “Scientific Working in Computational Engineering”, which will serve as a practical exercise to learn scientific working and scientific writing. Furthermore, we will offer the well-established course “Engineering Informatics” for the first time at TUHH. In summary, the following courses will be offered in the upcoming semester. There are still places available. Please enroll via Stud.IP.

• Scientific working in computational engineering
• Engineering informatics, including OOM and DB (in German)
• Digitalization and sustainability in AEC
• Construction robotics

The German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU) is funding a research project on innovative and knowledge-based neighborhood development for energy- and resource-efficient living ("Innowater"). The project, focusing on intelligent water supply for urban greening through AI and IoT technologies, is a joint effort of several universities, associations, and industrial partners, coordinated by Bauhaus University Weimar (Professor Silvio Beier). Project partners and associated partners, besides Bauhaus University Weimar, are Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences, JENA-GEOS GmbH, HVG GmbH, Vivawest GmbH, and Emschergenossenschaft/Lippeverband.

Further information may be found at the project website.

It is our great pleasure to welcome Dr. Judith Fauth, who joins the IDAC team. Dr. Fauth's teaching and research activities will focus on digital building permitting and process management, using ontologies and building information modeling for knowledge and information representation. She received her PhD in 2021 and has been active at Fraunhofer Italia Research and in the construction industry. We are very happy to welcome Dr. Fauth to the team!

On September 13 and September 14, 2022, the kick-off meeting of the Priority Program (SPP) 2388 took place at Dresden University of Technology. The SPP, in which Professor Smarsly is a member of the group of initiators, is entitled "Hundred plus" and receives EUR 7.2 million for the first three-year funding period. At the kick-off meeting, 50 scientists of 20 projects of the SPP have discussed research concepts to advance the current monitoring and maintenance strategies for civil infrastructure.

• Further information on the SPP
• Information on IDAC’s SPP project

We would like to draw your attention to the courses we will offer next semester. In particular, we will offer the course "Engineering informatics" for the first time at TUHH, which will be taught in German language ("Bauinformatik"). The course will include important topics that are relevant to digitalization in civil engineering, such as object-oriented modeling and database systems. Moreover, we would like to point out that the course "Digitalization and sustainability in AEC" will again be offered. Enjoy the trailer!

We are happy to welcome Ms. Heba Al-Nasser, who has joined the IDAC team as a PhD student on September 1, 2022. Focusing on artificial intelligence and smart sensors, Ms. Al-Nasser will conduct basic research on explainable fault diagnosis for smart cities, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Before joining IDAC, Ms. Al-Nasser has been working as a structural engineer in companies in Germany and in Jordan. Welcome to the team!

The School of Civil Engineering at Hamburg University of Technology and the School of Civil Engineering at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, are happy to announce the agreement for a scientific cooperation, which has been signed by the deans of both schools.

The cooperation has been initiated by IDAC and builds upon a number of joint projects that have been (and still are) successfully conducted by both parties. Joint research projects, exchange of information as well as mutual research visits, workshops, and field measurements will be promoted by the cooperation. Specifically, we will be working together in the areas of cyber-physical systems, structural health monitoring, smart sensors, cognitive buildings, artificial intelligence, and digitalization in engineering. Information on our recent joint research projects may be found here and here.

The Northern German Broadcasting (NDR) has visited IDAC to produce a TV report covering our research on construction robotics. The video may be found here. As a special feature, we have assembled some "behind-the-scenes" of the video production that you may enjoy on our Instagram or Twitter account.

The German Press Agency (DPA) has visited the Institute of Digital and Autonomous Construction to report on our research in the fields of digitalization in civil engineering. The DPA video can be found here. Online articles based on the DPA material may be found in several newspapers and news websites, such as Süddeutsche Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine, RTL, and Die Zeit (online article).

Today, Professor Smarsly and the project partners have presented the CoMoTH project to the Minister of Health of the Free State of Thuringia, Heike Werner. In the CoMoTH project, which is coordinated by Professor Beier (Bauhaus University Weimar), we are developing a SARS-CoV-2 monitoring system for wastewater using artificial intelligence. By using wastewater, we are several days quicker in analyzing the pandemic situation, as compared to taking the number of COVID-19 cases reported to health authorities as a basis.

• Project information
• Press release
• Some impressions on Instagram
• Online articles: FAZ, TA, AT, BUW

In the IDA-KI project with its total volume of € 3.85 million, algorithms are being developed for automated analysis and assessment of monitoring data, to be validated on a real research bridge. On Friday, July 15, 2022, the first large project meeting took place at the Institute of Concrete Structures at Dresden University of Technology, in which several IDAC members were actively involved. The results of the individual work packages were discussed, followed by a visit of the new Bosch wafer fab. We would like to thank the Institute of Concrete Structures at Dresden University of Technology for the excellent organization and all participants for the valuable discussions.

The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding a research project on quality assurance of digital twins based on mathematical abstraction and tangle-based blockchain architectures. The project is part of the DFG priority program SPP 2388 entitled "Hundred plus - Extending the Lifetime of Complex Structures through Intelligent Digitalization". Please apply here to fill the new position. Expertise in the following areas relevant to the project will be required: Taxonomic representations, formal logic, relational algebra, categorical ontology protocols, type theory, diagrammatic semantics, and tangle-based blockchain architectures.

Project website: http://www.tuhh.de/idac/digital-twin-quality-assurance.html

We would like to draw your attention to our open topics that are available for M.Sc. and B.Sc. theses, to be found through the link below. In particular, it is our pleasure to offer two very exciting topics that we have just defined together with the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM). The topics include (a) mobile robots and material-integrated sensing (mathias.worm(at)tuhh(dot)de) and (b) swarm robotics with nano-quadcopters (jan.stuehrenberg(at)tuhh(dot)de). When you are interested in conducting a thesis in these fields, please contact the beforementioned individuals for further information.

• http://www.tuhh.de/idac/news/open-theses-and-projects.html

The IDAC team warmly welcomes Dr. George D. Manolis, Professor at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and DFG Mercator Fellow at TUHH. Professor Manolis will give a guest lecture on "Civil Engineering Infrastructure: Function, Analysis, Design, and Structural Health Monitoring Issues". The guest lecture will be held digitally on May 17, 2022, at 1:30 pm. For registration, please contact Mr. Dragos at kosmas.dragos(at)tuhh(dot)de.

Information on Professor Manolis' lab may be found here.

IDAC has presented its research and teaching activities at this year's career orientation evening organized for high-school students of Immanuel-Kant-Gymnasium in Hamburg. We took the opportunity to encourage the high school students to enroll in the attractive degree programs at TUHH and we gave insights into digitalization, intelligent sensors, artificial intelligence, and construction robotics. Looking forward to further collaborate with Immanuel-Kant-Gymnasium.

On April 13 at 4pm, we will present our institute at the "Talk Around The World" series, which is a seminar series hosted by the alumni network TU & YOU at Hamburg University of Technology. Feel free to join the digital event! The link to the event and further information may be found here: https://tuandyou.de/profitieren/events.

We are happy to announce that our PhD student Mathias Worm is the third-place winner of the "Best Student Paper Award" of the prestigious "2022 SPIE Smart Structures + Nondestructive Evaluation Conference", held at Long Beach, California, USA. Congratulations! The successful paper is entitled "Mobile structural health monitoring using quadruped robots" and can be found here for download.

We are seeking, for the earliest possible date, a researcher in a full-time position (100%), for a maximum of 36 months. A further employment is possible and aspired. The remuneration is in accordance with TV-L 13. Your tasks will be to conduct research in the areas of explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) and fault-tolerant sensor technologies, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

• Project information: www.tuhh.de/idac/research/smart-cities.html
• Apply here: stellenportal.tuhh.de/grm7b

1-year anniversary! The IDAC team says thank you! We would not be able to celebrate the achievements in research and teaching without the great support of all our partners and supporters! Feel free to browse through our website and social media accounts to learn more about the activities conducted in our first year:
Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, ResearchGate, LinkedIn

We are happy to announce a cooperation with Bern University of Applied Sciences, in which we will work on a smart floor equipped with intelligent sensors that automatically classifies movements based on machine learning and capacitive sensing. The smart floor will be capable of determining more than just the presence of people; it rather will help detect falls, analyze walking routes, and check distances between people in pandemics without violating personal rights. Within the cooperation, Mr. Wirth has started working on his PhD thesis at IDAC as an external PhD student. Welcome to the team! Project website.

We are happy to announce that Mr. Al-Zuriqat and Mr. Al-Hakim have joined the IDAC team. Both researchers will be working in collaborative research projects, which have in common the development of artificial intelligence algorithms for analyzing sensor data. Mr. Al-Zuriqat will be working on structural health monitoring of civil infrastructure. Mr. Al-Hakim will support the development of a SARS-CoV-2 monitoring system for wastewater; we hope to detect Corona hotspots earlier than it is possible with current test strategies.

The IDAC team and our Greek partners at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, have successfully conducted field tests at a pedestrian bridge in Thessaloniki. The bridge has been instrumented with a sensor network to obtain bridge data used for comparison with the data that our mobile robots collect. Our sincere thanks go to the dedicated staff of the Laboratory of Strength of Materials at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and to our DFG Mercator Fellow, Professor Manolis, for offering support in conducting the tests. The tests were conducted within a research project that has been initiated from a DFG-funded German-Greek collaboration.

We are offering attractive job opportunities for students with a background in mathematics or mathematical aspects of computer science. Furthermore, we have announced a number of topics for student projects, bachelor theses, and master theses on our website. The topics range from applied and engineering mathematics to formal logic. You will also have the opportunity to bring in your own ideas and to define your own topics.

Interested? Do not hesitate to contact Mr. Ahmad at muhammad.ekbal.ahmad(at)tuhh(dot)de.
Further information may be found here.

We welcome Ms. Nina Sorge to the IDAC team. Ms. Sorge will take over the position of the administrative manager and will be in charge of managing the IDAC administration. We wish Ms. Sorge a prosperous start at TUHH. We are very much looking forward to the support she will provide to our institute and we are very happy to start working with our new team member. Welcome to the team!

Today, we conducted field tests on a pedestrian brigde in Harburg. The goal was to test the intelligent sensors that have been implemented in the "Smart Monitoring" course. By jumping, running, and cycling with bikes, we had to excite the bridge to allow the sensors to measure and analyze the data automatically. It was a fun, but very cold event. We are happy that our sensors were robust enough for the low temperature. Thanks go to the Hamburg Agency of Roads, Bridges and Waters (LSBG). The results will be presented online in the final presentation of this course on February 1, 2022, to which everyone is invited. If you would like to attend the presentation, please contact the instructors of the course for login data.

The Ministry of Urban Development and Housing (BSW) of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg is funding a research project on localizing mobile robot systems. Accurate localization is required when deploying robotic systems for building inspection, enabling the robots to find their routes within the buildings. Together with the Institute of Technical Logistics at TUHH, we will validate different LiDAR systems, which generate point cloud data, with regard to the usability for building inspections.

Project website: www.tuhh.de/idac/research/robot-localization.html

The Corona pandemic has unveiled an ongoing need for multidisciplinary research on various aspects of the COVID-19 disease and the SARS-CoV-2 virus. We are happy to announce a new project that aims to develop a monitoring system for SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. The project will be conducted together with university and industry partners. Further information may be found at the project website.

50 students from Aarhus University, Denmark, have visited IDAC to learn more about our activities in smart sensing, information modeling, AI in civil engineering, and construction robotics. It was an exciting event, in which our IDAC team members have presented some live demos and have very much enjoyed the discussions with the Danish students and their supervisors. The visit has been organized by Professor Teizer of Aarhus University and by Professor Smarsly. We are looking forward to strengthen the German-Danish collaboration in the near future.

More impressions of the visit: www.instagram.com/idac_tuhh

A collaborative research project entitled “IDA-KI” has been funded by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) within the mFUND research initiative. The total IDA-KI budget is EUR 3.9 million. IDA-KI aims to design fully automated monitoring algorithms based on AI and IoT concepts, for detecting deterioration and damage of infrastructure. The algorithms will be validated on a large-scale bridge structure that will be intentionally damaged for test purposes. Project partners are Dresden University of Technology (coordinator), MKP GmbH, and Hentschke Bau GmbH

Further information may be found at the project website.

On October 1, 2021, Mr. Muhammad E. Ahmad has joined the IDAC team. Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), Mr. Ahmad will be working on abstract mathematical modeling of engineering systems and its application in engineering practice. We welcome Mr. Ahmad as a new PhD student in our team.

This winter semester, we will offer new modules, “Construction Robotics” and “Digitalization and Sustainability in AEC”. Because of the positive feedback to our courses newly offered in the last summer semester, we will also offer the following courses again in the upcoming winter semester: “Smart Monitoring” and “Scientific Working in Engineering”. To enroll and for further information, please visit the course websites:

• Construction Robotics (new)
• Digitalization and Sustainability in AEC (new)
• Smart Monitoring
• Scientific Working in Computational Engineering

Today, the IDAC waste collection initiative has successfully been conducted. Our destination for cleaning up our environment was the city park in Harburg, but we already became active on our way to the park when passing the Hamburg Innovation Port, the campus, and the city center. The result is 45 kg of waste. In the name of our environment, we would like to thank all participants for their active support. It was a great event to all of us, and it was an important statement to preserve our environment!

We are hiring! Want to join our team? The following positions are to be filled. For details and contact information, please follow the links below.

• Office assistant (Permanent position, September 24, 2021)
• Systems engineer (Permanent position, September 17, 2021)
• Social media support (Hiwi position, open until filled)
• Intelligent sensors (Hiwi position, open until filled)

On September 9, 2021, the Fourth German-Greek Workshop on Explainable Artificial Intelligence in Civil Engineering (XAICE) took place as an event co-organized by IDAC and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. The workshop has been conducted within the scope of the DFG-funded joint research project on “Data-driven analysis models for slender structures using explainable artificial intelligence”. In a hybrid format, researchers from Greece and Germany have discussed the research status and new opportunities about how to make AI, usually being "black-box", more explainable to engineers.

We warmly welcome Professor Manolis, who joins the IDAC team as a DFG Mercator Fellow within a research stay. Dr. Manolis is a professor at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. He will bring international expertise and will increase the visibility of our DFG project “Resilient infrastructure based on cognitive buildings”. The project has been initiated out of a German-Greek cooperation, also funded by DFG, entitled “Data-driven analysis models for slender structures using explainable artificial intelligence”. Interested in working in the project as a hiwi student? Contact kosmas.dragos(at)tuhh(dot)de.

We are seeking a systems engineer for our team, to be employed in a full-time permanent position.

Duties include, but are not limited to, setup and development of the institute's IT infrastructure, maintenance of video and web conferencing systems, network management, development of software components, programming of embedded systems and intelligent sensors, technical support in research and teaching, data protection and IT security advisory as well as planning, tendering, purchasing, configuring, and operation of large infrastructure systems, such as robotic systems.

Apply here by September 17, 2021: https://stellenportal.tuhh.de/u1yzn

Littering and environmental pollution are critical issues particularly in our cities. To preserve our nature and our neighborhood in Hamburg, IDAC is organizing a waste collection initiative. Everyone is welcomre to join. For free, every participant will get a modern “IDAC” high-visibility vest that can be kept after the event. Our initiative will be part of the City of Hamburg's campaign “Hamburg räumt auf!”. We will meet on September 13, 2021, at 3:30 pm, at the HIPOne building, and we will start at 4:00 pm. The campaign will be performed in strict compliance with the current Covid-19 restrictions and hygiene rules.

For joining the initiative, please send an email to our IDAC administrative manager Ms. Schütte (svea.schuette(at)tuhh(dot)de) by August 24, 12:00 pm. We are looking forward to a great afternoon of caring for our environment with you!

Mr. Jan Stührenberg has joined the IDAC team on August 16, 2021. As a PhD student, Mr. Stührenberg will be working on robotics, mechatronics, sensor/actuator systems, and embedded systems. Mr. Stührenberg will support us in research, in teaching, and in setting up our new labs. Welcome to the team!

It is our great pleasure to announce the winners of the 7th “SMART MONITORING CONTEST”, hosted by IDAC. The contest was initiated by Professor Smarsly in 2013 and took place this year, for the first time, at Hamburg University of Technology. Within this year’s contest, students of IDAC’s “Smart Monitoring” course have designed intelligent wireless sensor systems to automatically analyze the condition of bridges and buildings, which have been tested at Köhlbrand Bridge (or “smartBRIDGE”). The two groups with the best sensor systems have been honored with vouchers of a large e-commerce company. The following group members have received their prizes within the scope of the awards ceremony, in the foreground from left to right: Clea Kummert, Layla Raig (in the laptop), Marike Bornholdt, and Miriam Sonnak. Congratulations!

Mr. Carlos Federico Chillón Geck has joined the IDAC team on July 15, 2021. As a PhD student, Mr. Chillón Geck will be working on multi-agent-based sensor/actuator systems for intelligent facades. The project is a sub project to the joint research project "BioFass" ("Biologically inspired facades based on multi-agent technology and swarm intelligence"), funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the program "Biologization of Technology".

We are happy to announce a cooperation with the German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM). Together with BAM Division 8.1 (Sensors, Measurement and Testing Methods), led by Dr. Bartholmai, we will work on intelligent material. Intelligent material is enhanced with miniaturized sensors and actuators, able to analyze its own condition, and to communicate with computer systems and with human individuals. Within the partnership, Mr. Johann, an expert of integrated sensors and a member of BAM Division 8.1, has started working on his PhD thesis at IDAC as an external PhD student. Welcome to the team! Website at BAM, project website.

On July 1, 2021, Mr. Mohamed Kamal joins the IDAC team. As a PhD student, Mr. Kamal will be working on semantic modeling of additive manufacturing processes of metal structures, which is a subproject to the joint research project "ODE_AM", funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the MaterialDigital program. Project details may be found here.

This week, the closure meeting of the Dafmon project took place in digital form, organized together with our project partner MKP GmbH. Dafmon has been funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) within the mFUND program. Within Dafmon, an intelligent sensor concept has been implemented and successfully tested at bridges, which allows sensors to self-detect sensor faults and miscalibrations. As a result, sensor systems become more reliable and the assessment of engineering structures becomes more efficient. Follow-on projects are envisaged.

• Project profile at BMVI (in German)

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has established the priority program SPP 2388 entitled "Hundred plus - Extending the Lifetime of Complex Structures through Intelligent Digitalization". The priority program has been initiated by Professor Marx (coordinator, Dresden), Professor Smarsly (Hamburg), Professor Geißler (Berlin), Professor Klemt-Albert (Hannover), and Professor Reiterer (Freiburg). The priority program will receive EUR 7.2 million for the first three-year funding period and will focus on lifetime extension of complex structures through intelligent digitalization. Proposals for subprojects may be submitted until October 29, 2021. DFG announcement (in German): PDF/website; article TU Dresden (in German): PDF/website; article Bauingenieur 24 (in German): PDF/website.

A collaborative research project entitled “BioFass” has been funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). "BioFass" is biologically inspired in a twofold manner and pursues two corresponding goals, (i) the design of self-regulating façades, adapting the properties of the human skin, and (ii) the design of an intelligent sensor/actuator system, biologically inspired by emergent phenomena observed in nature ("swarm intelligence"), aiming to detect façade conditions and pro-actively trigger irrigation. Project partners are the Finger Institute at Bauhaus University Weimar and Fuchs Systembau GmbH.

Further information may be found at the project website.

The Institute of Digital and Autonomous Construction offers attractive hiwi positions in different research areas. We are part of the School of Civil Engineering, but our research is also closely related to robotics, computer science, and mathematics. Therefore, the open positions are not restricted to students of the School of Civil Engineering. We currently offer exciting hiwi positions in the areas of construction robotics, building information modeling, artificial intelligence, geomatics/laser scanning, anstract mathematical modeling. Click here for details.

The IDAC team is seeking candidates in the area of "abstract modeling of engineering systems". Main tasks include mathematical modeling of intelligent sensor systems and systems for structural health monitoring (SHM) as well as formal knowledge representation and creation of conceptual/semantic models. The topic is flexible and large portions of the work may be defined in accordance with the interests and expertise of the successful candidate. The initial duration of 2 years can be extended.

• Details may be found here: Job announcement (in German).
• Apply here: https://stellenportal.tuhh.de/cb328

Interested in joining our team to establish the affinity area of "robotics and artificial intelligence in construction"? We are seeking a PhD student or post doc (full time, 4 years). The topic is flexible and you will have the chance to define details of your work areas in accordance with your interests and expertise.

• Details may be found here: Job announcement (in German)
• Apply here: https://stellenportal.tuhh.de/5kv3z

Congratulations to our senior engineer Mr. Kölzer for successfully defending his doctoral thesis! His thesis is entitled "The impact of digitalization on work processes on construction sites". Examiners were Professor Schmidt-Döhl (mentor), Professor Smarsly, and Professor Mondino. Professor Rombach was chair of the examination board. As soon as he has received the doctoral certificate, Mr. Kölzer will be allowed to officially hold the doctoral degree.

We welcome onboard our new IDAC team members Svea Schütte (office assistant), Florian Brix (systems engineer), and Thomas Kölzer (senior engineer), and we are looking forward to working together to setting up the institute and beyond. Congratulations on joining our team!

A new research project, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has been approved. The project aims to render additive manufacturing techniques and processes of metal structures more robust and efficient. The project partners are the Material Research and Testing Institute (Weimar, Germany), Ilmenau University of Technology (Ilmenau, Germany), and Fraunhofer Institute for Casting, Composite and Processing Technology (Augsburg, Germany). Further information may be found at the project website.

We are seeking a PhD student or a post doc to work in this project. If you have studied computer science or if you are a civil engineer interested in computer science, please apply here (job posting, in German).

This summer semester, we will offer three new modules. Each module features hands-on project work, ranging from digital modeling to intelligent sensors with lab tests and on-site experiments. Important note: Because the courses are newly offered, they are not yet listed in Stud.IP. You need to enroll by email. You will find the email contacts at the following course websites. Due to the individual supervision and the limited number of sensor sets, enrollment is limited.

• Building Information Modeling
• Smart Monitoring
• Scientific Working in Computational Engineering

IDAC receives a 3-year grant by the German Research Foundation (DFG) to construct resilient infrastructure based on physics-based models embedded into intelligent sensors, following the principles of cognitive buildings. The project has started today. Within this project, Professor Manolis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) has been awarded the prestigious title “Mercator Fellow” to support the project. Details may be found at the project website.

• A list of IDAC research projects may be found here.

A promising new project, funded for 3 years by the German Research Foundation (DFG), has been launched to develop an explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) concept to advance fault-tolerant sensor networks in smart cities. A novelty will be a strong mathematical formulation of a deep learning concept proposed for distributedly embedding convolutional neural networks in wireless sensor networks. Details may be found at the project website.

• A list of IDAC research projects may be found here.

It is our pleasure to announce the activation of our Instagram (@idac_tuhh) and Twitter (@IDAC_TUHH) accounts.

• Follow us on Instagram.
• Follow us on Twitter.

With Professor Smarsly moving from Bauhaus University Weimar to Hamburg University of Technology, the new Institute of Digital and Autonomous Construction (IDAC) starts operations in the Hamburg Innovation Port on March 1, 2021. The IDAC team is looking forward to taking the new opportunities in research, teaching, and industrial practice. For suggestions and questions, please contact us. You may find your contact persons here.