smart construction, smart city, smart building

Our mission is to build and manage smart cities including infrastructure systems and buildings through smart construction and management. We conduct basic research in areas that include sensing and data analytics (AI, data science), information modeling/visualization and simulation (digital twin, VR), and human-robot interfaces, in the context of construction management, infrastructure management, and building science. We apply this research to projects that include teleoperation in construction workplaces (automation in construction), Human-Robot Interface for Extraterrestrial Construction (Lunar Construction), AI-driven disaster risk prediction (e.g., hurricanes, pandemics), smart city digital twin for vulnerable populations (e.g., older adults) and regions (e.g., coastal communities), smart building, and cyber-physical systems (CPS) for improving STEM education.

Our members are students, faculty, and affiliates of Texas A&M University (TAMU). We come from a variety of academic backgrounds across engineering and science. We currently have openings for highly motivated and driven students across multi-disciplinary backgrounds! If you are interested, please contact Dr. Ham sharing your CV and passion.


Recent News

2023

  • Jan. Journal paper on “Simulating travel paths of construction site workers via deep reinforcement learning considering their spatial cognition and wayfinding behavior” was accepted by Elsevier Automation in Construction.

2022

  • Nov. Di presented her research on Multi-User Immersive Operation and Communication in Virtual Reality: A Research Case on Robotic Excavator in The 22nd International Conference on Construction Applications of Virtual Reality (CONVR2022), 16-19 Nov, Seoul, South Korea.

  • Sep. Jaeyoon successfully passed the prelim exam! Way to go!

  • Sep. Dr. Ham's team received funding from NSF to study Human-Robot Interface for Extraterrestrial Construction (Space Construction).

  • Aug. Dr. Seonghyeon Moon from Seoul National University, South Korea joined Ham Research Group as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Welcome, Seonghyeon!

  • June. Yoojun and Dr. Ham were selected to receive the Best Paper Award from the 9th International Conference on Construction Engineering and Project Management. Yoojun presented his research on Enhancing occlusion robustness for vision-based construction worker detection using data augmentation.

  • June. Yeon Chae from Seoul National University, South Korea joined Ham Research Group as a Visiting Student. Welcome, Yeon!

  • May. Mirsalar successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled “Construction Site Hurricane Preparedness Using Digital Twinning through Large-scale Visual Data”. Congrats! He will join The University of Southern Mississippi as an Assistant Professor from August 2022. Best of luck on his new career!

  • May. Journal paper by Kamari, M., Kim, J., and Ham, Y. on “Analyzing Safety Risk Imposed by Jobsite Debris to Nearby Built Environments via Geometric Digital Twins and Vision-based Deep Learning ” was accepted by ASCE Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering.

  • May. Di presented her research on Towards a Collaborative Future in Construction Robotics: A Human-centered Study in a Multi-user Immersive Operation and Communication System for Excavation in 2022 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Workshop on Future of Construction: Build Faster, Better, Safer - Together with Robots, Philadelphia, PA.

  • May. Jinsol presented his research on The effect of challenging work environment on human-robot interaction and cognitive load during teleoperation: a case study of teleoperated excavator in a virtual experiment in 2022 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Workshop on Future of Construction: Build Faster, Better, Safer - Together with Robots, Philadelphia, PA.

  • Mar. Journal paper by Kim, J., Ham, Y., and Park, H. on “Underground Metal Pipeline Localization Using Low-cost Wireless Magnetic Sensors Mounted on an Excavator” was accepted by IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

  • Mar. Jinsol presented his research on Exploring Human-Machine Interfaces for Teleoperation of Excavator in CRC 2022 conference, Arlington, Virginia.

  • Feb. Dr. Ham has been selected as a Assistant Specialty Editor in the Information Technologies (IT) area for American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Journal of Construction Engineering and Management (JCEM).

  • Jan. Minguk Kim from Incheon National University, South Korea joined Ham Research Group as a Visiting Student. Welcome, Minguk!

2021

  • Dec. Journal paper by Lee, J., Ham, Y., Park, H. and Kim, J. on “Challenges, Tasks, and Opportunities in Teleoperation of Excavator towards Human-in-the-loop Construction Automation” was accepted by Automation in Construction, Elsevier.

  • Dec. Journal paper by Kamari, M. and Ham, Y. on “AI-based Risk Assessment for Construction Site Disaster Preparedness through Deep Learning-based Digital Twinning” was accepted by Automation in Construction, Elsevier.

  • Oct. Ruchita joined our research group as a master student. Congrats and Welcome aboard!

  • Sep. Dr. Ham got promoted to an Associate Professor with a History Maker Homes professorship.

  • Aug. Dr. Seulbi Lee (former lab member) joined Incheon National University, as an Assistant Professor. Congrats and Good luck!

  • Aug. Dr. Ham's team received funding from NSF to study Smart City Digital Twin for Older Adults.

  • Aug. Dr. Ham's team received funding from NSF to study Digital Twin Infrastructures for Coastal Community Resilience.

  • Aug. Yoojun joined our research group as a PhD student and received the Top Off Scholarship. Congrats and Welcome aboard!

  • Aug. Di joined our research group as a PhD student. Congrats and Welcome aboard!

  • Jul. Nicole joined our research group as an undergraduate researcher. Welcome aboard!

  • May. Dr. Ham received the 2020 Research Excellence Award from Department of Construction Science at Texas A&M University.

  • May. Salar passed the preliminary exam and now became a PhD candidate. Congrats!

  • Mar. Dr. Seulbi Lee (former lab member) joined Ewha Womans University, as a Research Associate. Congrats and Good luck!

  • Mar. Dr. Hongjo Kim (former lab member) joined Yonsei University, as an Assistant Professor. Congrats and Good luck!

  • Jan. Dr. Ham's team received funding from NSF to study The Future of Teleoperation in Construction Workplaces.

  • Jan. Dr. Ham's team received funding from NSF to build PreK-12 School Resilience in the Face of COVID-19.

  • Jan. Dr. Jeehee Lee (former lab member) joined the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, as an Assistant Professor. Congrats and Good luck!