Dozer CEO and co-founder Andrew Tam believes that infrastructure projects can be more efficient and safe if sites are effectively monitored.
This idea ultimately led to the creation of Dozer a few years ago. Here’s how the platform works: Cameras and sensors are attached to heavy construction equipment to capture activity in real time. The data collected can then be used to help increase productivity.
Dozer joined the St. Petersburg-based spARK Labs by ARK Invest incubator this summer. An announcement was made last month.
Tam argued that many infrastructure jobs have had challenges or inefficiencies due to missing information. As a result, there is a lot of idle equipment and labor delays. Moreso, valuable time is wasted.
“We actually started this knowing that there was a large labor shortage coming,” he said. “People are working and the effort is there, but the information just isn’t traveling down the pipe fast enough.”
Dozer CEO and co-founder Andrew Tam
Artificial intelligence plays a critical role in the Dozer platform.
Cameras on the equipment track items in 3D, Tam explained. All of the video collected is sent to the cloud. Artificial intelligence then extrapolates “a lot of the anomalies and productivity metrics.”
“What we’re doing there is unpacking the job and unpacking the context,” he said. “We’re not just taking snippets. What we’re doing is actually watching the job and learning how the job is done.”
This process replaces tedious manual data collection.
“If somebody basically assigns you to watch the rear end of a dozer, you’ll do it for a certain number of hours,” Tam said. “But, humans get kind of tired when machines don’t. Leveraging AI to have the backs of our operators in the cabin is one of the, I think, best use cases that we can showcase for AI.”
While the company was founded in the San Francisco region, he added, expanding to St. Petersburg made sense.
“There’s a lot of benefits to joining spARK Labs,” Tam said. “The network, people and community here allow us to integrate well into an area that is not unfamiliar with construction.”
He explained that storms have had a devastating impact on local municipalities within the past few years.
“We would love to be able to be a part of helping these communities rebuild,” Tam said. “If we can provide any information on how things can get safer or how things can get done faster, I think that helps everyone in terms of cost and labor.”
Since becoming a member of the spARK Labs by ARK Invest incubator program, Tam and his team have networked with advisors and other founders. He argued that being able to learn from individuals who have scaled companies before is an invaluable opportunity.
“Dozer AI is bringing real-time intelligence to an industry where better data can have a significant impact on productivity, efficiency and ultimately the bottom line,” said spARK Labs CEO and president Becca Brown in a statement prepared for the Catalyst. “They’re giving developers and construction companies greater visibility into what’s happening across their operations and the ability to make smarter decisions faster. We’re excited to have the team at spARK Labs and to support their growth as they scale.”