This year marked our lab’s largest conference delegation yet at the 43rd International Symposium on Automation in Construction (ISARC 2026) and the 34th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC34), co-hosted at the National University of Singapore (NUS). With six presentations delivered by our lab members, the conferences provided an exciting opportunity to share our latest research, engage with leading scholars and industry professionals, and strengthen collaborations with the international construction research community.
This conference is particularly unique because it brings together the highly technical ISARC community with the management- and process-oriented IGLC community. As Construction API‘s research spans both construction automation technologies and lean construction methodologies, this interdisciplinary gathering closely aligns with our lab’s mission. It provided an excellent opportunity for our representatives to engage with researchers across both communities, exchange ideas, and stay informed on the latest developments shaping the future of construction.
Day 1 kicked off with Nelson Claudio Salim, who presented his IGLC paper, “Aligning Digital Safety Technologies with Lean Construction Principles.” His research explores how digital safety technologies can be thoughtfully aligned with lean construction principles, providing a practical framework that grounds technological innovation in lean thinking. Be sure to check out his paper and publication to learn more! ❐
Congratulations to Bryan Davis Tan, who presented his ISARC paper, “Hybrid Scene Graph Generation Framework for Structural Construction Activity Understanding Leveraging Human-Object Interaction and Vision-Language Models.“ His research introduces a novel framework for autonomously converting visual construction site information into machine-interpretable scene graphs, paving the way for more intelligent monitoring, automation, and decision-making in the built environment. Be sure to check out his paper and publication to learn more! ❐
To close out Day 1, Raynard Vincent Elsantio presented his ISARC paper, “Generating Schedule Knowledge Graphs for Structural Activities by Resource Linking Using Retrieval-Augmented Generation.“ His research demonstrates how retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) can automatically generate schedule knowledge graphs, enabling construction schedules to become more structured, machine-readable, and useful for intelligent planning and decision-making. ❐
At the start of Day 2, We also had the opportunity to attend Hui-Yu Lin’s ISARC presentation, “Democratizing Construction Robotics: A Neuro-Symbolic Framework for Semantic Spatial Adaptation and Intuitive Control.“ Hui-Yu is also a member of the Con-API Lab and is co-advised by our professor, making it great to see another exciting contribution from our extended research group at the conference. ❐
We also attended Jen-Hao Liu’s ISARC presentation, “Autonomous Port Area Safety Inspection Using a Multimodal Sensor-Integrated UGV.“ His work showcased how unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) equipped with multimodal sensors can autonomously perform safety inspections in port environments, demonstrating the growing role of robotics and AI in improving safety and operational efficiency. ❐
We also had the opportunity to attend Chun-Ying Lee’s presentation, “Interpreting and Operationalizing Enterprise Agility in Construction: A SAFE-Based Case Study.“ The presentation explored how enterprise agility can be effectively interpreted and implemented in construction through the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), offering practical insights into managing complex projects with greater adaptability and collaboration. ❐
We had an incredible time at the co-hosted IGLC 2026 and ISARC 2026 conferences, reconnecting with colleagues, meeting researchers and industry leaders from around the world, and learning from the many inspiring presentations throughout the week. Opportunities like these remind us of the strength of the global construction research community and the value of sharing ideas across institutions and disciplines.
Congratulations once again to all of our presenters for representing the lab so well. We look forward to reuniting with our academic family and making even more meaningful contributions at the next IGLC and ISARC conferences!