Saskatchewan Polytechnic to use AI in interior design process

Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s Digital Integration Centre of Excellence (DICE) is working with a local business owner to improve the interior design process.

“It is going to take interior design from a very cumbersome process to a little bit more simplified process,” said Tamara Bowman, owner and creative director at Metric Design.

Bowman and DICE are working on two projects. The first one is to create a digital twin, or a virtual replica of a physical room or space. The second project will use machine learning and artificial intelligence to auto-choose from millions of options based on a consumer’s preferences, available stock and product dimensions.

“It’s gathering the information so it can accurately and more specifically make selections around the needs of that space in that room,” said Bowman. “And we are using our digital twin, which is the scanning of the room tool to be able to absorb the information.”

While Bowman admits she has little experience in the tech sector, the team at DICE are able to make her vision come to life.

Research manager Cyril Coupal says he’s excited to bring his unique blend of expertise in both the tech sector and in design.

“A lot of our projects have an AI component to it, but so far none of them ever had the design component that’s here,” said Coupal. “And in one of my previous careers, I was design draftsman for residential housing. So it’s an area that I really enjoy.”

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Coupal says this project, like so many others, relies on data.

“When we talk about training a model, we're not talking about having a thousand pieces of data or a thousand records of data. We’re talking millions,” he said.

But with the support of DICE comes a pool of talented student researchers willing to pour over the data.

“I got to experience and explore new technologies and we are aimed at integrating 3D visualization and artificial intelligence,” said Pooja Nair, student at Saskatchewan Polytechnic. “I’m happy that I get real world experience by working on the project.”

Coupal says the digital twin project should be ready for testing in the new year, but the generative AI project will take up to three years.

Bowman says, when complete, it will save designers time and consumers money.

The projects are supported by grants from Mitacs and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council totalling $730,000.