Now Ecometrix is starting up Project ACORN together with RISE. The project will work with recipe optimization of concrete with the help of AI. Optimizing concrete recipes is an important piece of the puzzle in improving concrete's environmental impact, such as its CO2 footprint.
Project ACORN addresses the development of advanced, sustainable concrete recipes using AI. By integrating research data, the project aims to use generative AI to generate optimized concrete recipes. The project will use language modeling (LLM) to consolidate datasets and AI-powered anomaly detection to ensure data quality.
What does this mean then?
Project ACORN brings about a paradigm shift for concrete development, where concrete recipes can be optimized for specific applications and produced with a reduced climate footprint. A few percent improved climate footprint in a concrete mix that can be used in many applications has a great effect in Sweden and globally. Project ACORN is unique in its focus on developing technology to efficiently compile large volumes of data rather than optimizing AI technology to perform simulations based on small databases.
This is where it is really exciting and fun that we get to be at the forefront and work closely with the research that we do in this project. We will learn a lot in this and our product will be put to new tests that it has not faced before. We are well established within environmental data for concrete, but this will deepen our expertise and knowledge in the area.
- Erik Enecker, CEO Ecometrix
Goals with Project ACORN
The purpose of the project is to create a prototype that is tested and technically ready to become an established product in industry (TRL6 level). The project has the focus on LLM data collection, AI deviation detection and predictive AI modeling of concrete recipes. The goal is to build a system infrastructure for AI-based collection of concrete data where predictive models are developed for the simulation of mechanical properties and climate footprint based on input materials and a process configuration. Ecometrix's work in the project prioritizes modularity and openness, giving users the ability to integrate proprietary data and optimize simulations for priority space in future versions.
Claes Holmström, CTO at Ecometrix, and Jan Suchorzewski, unit manager at RISE R&D Concrete inspects concreteprofiles in the lab in Linköping.
I am incredibly excited to work so close to the research, of course there will be some challenges in data, data quality and language model, but that is also what is fun!
- Cleas Holmström, CTO Ecometrix
The project is financed by Vinnova and will last for 1 year with the project starting in June 2024. You can read more about the project at Vinnova's website.
