VOICES | AIDAN KELLY To automate we must accommodate the ideas of others Automation in building services will continue to thrive, says XCO2s Aidan Kelly, but only if engineers collaborate and share knowledge through industry hackathons and bodies such as the Society of Digital Engineering E ver since the invention of the ductulator, building services engineers have sought to automate the time-intensive design processes. Why? The cynic may say that its so we can finish our work a day early, or deliver more projects and profit within a given timeframe. But the honest answer, I believe, is something more fundamental: engineers dont want to spend their time doing repetitive processes. They want time to be spent creatively, critically and quantitively assessing different approaches, and integrating lessons learnt from past projects with new technologies for an optimal solution, rather than spending days calculating ductwork resistance. If we want to develop artificial intelligence (AI), however, we cannot do so in isolation. Collaboration can help to break open silos, bringing together new ideas and skill sets. So, how far have we come since the ductulator? OK lets consider some examples (there are many more available): For many, Revit and its in-built programming tool, Dynamo, have long since banished the administrative processes of project set-up and drawing creation to yesteryear, and allow engineers to design in three dimensions. Parametric environmental analysis tools, such as Honeybee and Ladybug, have turbocharged early-stage concept design and optioneering. With a simple 3D model, you can now run multi-objective optimisation routines at the click of a button, to assess different designs and then have the option to produce highquality visual outputs. Generative design tools, such as Space Allowances, will take a few significant MEP load inputs and generate 2D and 3D drawings of plantrooms, along with plant schedules. Life-cycle carbon assessment tools for BIM applications streamline the process to such an extent that embodied carbon can be quantified much earlier in the design phases, and used to make key design considerations to reduce the environmental impact of the scheme. The new TM65 embodied carbon calculation tool will help more manufacturers to calculate the lifecycle carbon of their products, taking into account not just manufacturing elements, but also transport to site, parts replacement and refrigerant leakage. This list is not exhaustive, but hopefully provides a peek as to what is happening in our industry. One issue, however, is that all too often automation occurs in silos great work is done by a self-selecting few, and shared with a limited audience. As a result of a lack of promotion, or companies keeping their aces tucked up their sleeves, very similar great work is done by another small cohort to another small audience, reinventing the wheel. Autodesk University, CIBSEs Technical Symposium and the Build2Perform events and the Society of Digital Engineering (SDE) do a great deal to provide a platform for innovators to present their latest automations. However, the missing ingredient and the one that I believe can help supercharge automation is collaboration. This can be done internally, at the company level, or via inter-company working groups or hackathons. At XCO2, we have created the XCO2 Lab, an open group to identify time-intensive processes ripe for automation solutions. Through identifying problems, the lab creates an opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration solutions can come from anywhere: from graduates with machine learning experience, to senior engineers armed to the teeth with Visual Basics for Applications scripts. Previous automation examples include a daylight simulation project for a warehouse that aims to arrange and minimise glazing area, minimising overheating risks while maintaining high levels of daylight autonomy (see Figure 1 and 2). All too often, automation occurs in silos great work is done by a self-selecting few, and shared with a limited audience AIDAN KELLY is chair of the Society of Digital Engineerings digital innovations working group and digital lead and mechanical engineer at XCO2. 46 March 2022 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE March 22 pp46-47 AI and collaboration.indd 46 25/02/2022 16:57