Jul 18 2017
Toshiba Digital Solutions Corporation and Taisei Corporation have developed a new digital gate management system to enhance the efficiency of managing vehicles entering and exiting construction sites.
The system, called T-Gate.Navi, is based on a glasses-type wearable device with the speech recognition technology and image recognition technology of Toshiba’s RECAIUS™, a communication AI service. The glasses also offer the screen for viewing information.
Digital gate management system that combines glasses-type wearable device and communication AI. Credit: Toshiba Corporation
In particular, major construction sites for large-scale construction projects have to manage a regular flow of vehicles at multiple gates. In most cases, this management is carried out manually, where every vehicle entering the construction site is individually registered and verified against the day’s schedule, and its exit is also often recorded and confirmed. These details are recorded as written data for transferring it into to a digital format in the future. Overall, this type of management is time consuming and can result in gate congestion and mistakes, incurring costs and reducing efficiency.
The T-Gate.Navi system uses the speech recognition and image recognition technologies of Toshiba’s RECAIUS™ in order to digitize the process as well as rapidly and accurately collect vehicle data that is recorded and stored in the system server. Jointly developed by the companies and tested, improved and fine-tuned with feedback from various Taisei sites, the system eliminates existing problems, eases vehicle entry and exit management at construction sites. It also enhances the efficiency of overall gate management by as much as 20%.
A Vehicle Manager vocally turns on the camera in the glasses-mounted device to photograph the number plate when a vehicle nears a site gate. The captured image is then sent to the system server, which verifies the number against a list of registered vehicles, and provides the necessary information, displayed on the device screen, to the Vehicle Manager. This enables the Vehicle Manager to guide the vehicle to a location on the site or to a different gate.
The system also shows the information on a computer at the site office and ensures that the Site Managers get an update on the day’s logistics and traffic flows. In addition, the system can also send an email to listed people who have to be informed of vehicles entrance and exit, and record the vehicle information in a spreadsheet for complete record keeping.
Although the test results differed with the number of vehicles entering and exiting sites, and the skills of the Vehicle Managers, on-site testing confirmed the effectiveness of the system and found that it decreased the workload by about 20% across a series of sites.
Taisei will continue to improve the effectiveness of the T-Gate.Navi system through regular use of the system at construction sites. It will support productivity enhancement as well as work-style reform with construction information management technology that employs cutting-edge ICT.
Toshiba Digital Solutions will carry on developing and promoting solutions that improve productivity in areas including construction, and make full use of IoT technology, including its RECAIUS™ communication AI service.