Guidance of the Knowledge Base System for Offsite Construction
Get assess to the AI-based OSC Assistant
By using this prototype system, you can learn related knowledge and explore any reusable cases of inter-module connection design based on the given project context. There are three tasks for this trial: Task 1 for asking general questions OSC; Task 2 for getting recommended design cases; and Task 3 for exploring more details of these cases based on the system responses, such as configuration of specific design options.
Task 1: Ask general questions
In this task, you can get familiar with offsite construction (OSC) by asking some general questions. For example, at user page, you can simply ask in the chat box at bottom and click send bottom on the right.
(1) How much time can be saved by using modular construction method?
Then, you will get similar response shown in Figure 3. Referred knowledge sources will also be provided for reliability concerns. You can also modify the relevance of referred knowledge sources to be retrieved.
It is your turn now. Please ask the rest of questions to learn more about OSC.
(2) What is offsite construction?
(3) How could efficiency and feasibility of offsite construction projects be impacted?
(4) Why are connections important in modular construction?
Task 2: Get recommendations for reusable connection design
A feature of this system is embedded structured knowledge, which can handle the knowledge about specific construction objects. For example, you can follow the steps shown in Figure 4 to get recommendations for reusable connections designed by previous studies and projects.
Step 1: Search for concepts and apply to use
Simply use the search box at the top of Context Configurator at left side and type “InterModuleConnection”. You will see the concept shown in result box. Click to select it and then click “Apply Enhancement” to apply to the context for knowledge enhancement.
Step 2: Explore knowledge related to specific concepts
You can decide the knowledge types to be used. In default, unstructured knowledge will be limited to selected concepts, which is recommended for better attention of LLMs. In this mode, ask a specific question about the selected concept to see the response:
(5) How is the inter-module connection classified?
Step 3: Get reusable cases for specific project requirements
Then, you can explore purely structured knowledge to get more specific recommendations based on given project context. Click the checkbox “Only use structured knowledge” and ask following questions to see the response:
(6) How many inter-module connection design options here in the knowledge base? Give illustration for each of them.
(7) Recommend me some cases for ease of assembly on-site and better disassembly when repair.
(8) Recommend me some cases that adopt plugin device as part of the connection.
Task 3: Explore more details based on recommended design cases
The system provides you with related concepts that have been embedded in the knowledge base. For example, search “Option1” according to the answer from the step 3 in task 2 for a more detailed exploration. When you apply this concept to enhancement, send the system this query to see the response:
(9) Describe the configuration of the inter-modular connection design option1.
In addition, if you want some supplementary unstructured knowledge such as drawings of this case, simply cancel the check box “Only use structured knowledge” and the system will automatically involve related documents back to the context. Then, you can ask:
(10) Any picture or drawing about the details of connection option1?
In the “Document Sources” part, click “View Document” to see the visualised illustrations (see Figure 5).
Feedback
The usability of this system is going to be evaluated using a standard questionnaire. Please use this link to provide your feedback and comment: https://redcap.auckland.ac.nz/surveys/?s=JWERKPW7CED3X9XM. First 30 completions will be able to get a Woolworth eGift card (NZD$20). Let’s improve knoweldge sharing and reuse for offsite construction together!
Acknowledgement
This research is sponsored by BRANZ (Building Research Association of New Zealand) from the New Zealand Building Research Levy (Ref. LR16302). Application for Ethics Approval has been granted (Ref. UAHPEC28340)
Appendix
Twelve inter-modular connection design cases evaluated from four aspects: prefabrication (P), on-site assembly (O), in-service performance (I), and Repair (R).
Reference
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