4 Ways Artificial Intelligence is Reshaping the Construction Industry
Think about this for a moment. The construction industry is one of the oldest professions and accounts for 14 percent of the global GDP. According to McKinsey, an estimated $10 trillion is spent annually on construction-related goods and services. Additionally, the construction sector also employs 7 percent of the world’s labor force. But you know what else?
Labor productivity in the construction sector grew by one percent per year over the two decades compared to 2.8 percent in the global economy, and 3.6 percent for manufacturing. In other words, if productivity in the construction sector was to match that of the global economy, $1.6 trillion could be added in value to the industry yearly.
Equally important, when it comes to embracing AI, the industry is still under-digitized. Construction is still lagging behind in the adoption of AI compared to other industries such as financial services and the retail sector.
So what is artificial intelligence?
Simply, AI is a technology that allows machines and computers to mimic human intelligence such as speech and image recognition. For instance, AI is becoming commonplace these days in voice assistants such as Siri and Alexa, recommendations on what to watch on Netflix, or even Google’s search engines.
Let’s now look at some of the ways that AI is reshaping the construction industry.
- Planning and Design
For a construction project, the ideation, design, and planning processes need to run smoothly. This ensures that a project is finished on budget, with the required quality and on time. But, the design stage can be a time-consuming process. This is because of design variations, compliance with building regulations and the functional requirements of a building.
Enter generative design, an AI-powered design process. This is a system that has a database of plans of buildings that have been built before. By analyzing this information, generative design is able to come up with design alternatives for a given project. What’s better, the software learns all these changes that are been made on a design, and over time becomes smarter.
Collectively, generative design improves the quality of designs, reduces the time used in the design process, and also helps identify mistakes and omissions before the actual construction begins. Even better, generative design can provide design solutions that professionals would not have contemplated.
2. Managing Cost Overruns
Even with the best team, projects can run into cost overruns. With AI you can be able to approximate cost overruns by analyzing similar previous projects. Depending on the project type, materials used or even the contract type, AI can be able to estimate overall costs. Additionally, this technology can help identify potential risks by analyzing previous projects.
3. Safety
Safety is the top priority in a construction project. But, keeping construction sites safe is still a challenge because site conditions differ, and usually no two sites are identical. When they happen, accidents can lead to cost overruns or worse, project delays.
When combined with cameras, AI can be used in image classification and recognition. By analyzing video records of work sites, it’s possible to identify unsafe behavior. As a result, this data can then help in the formulation of future safety training. For instance, AI can be used to identify safety hazards such as when a worker is not wearing safety gear. A wearable on the worker can then alert him, or even have the authorized personnel informed.
AI can also help in the operation of construction machinery. Simply, when there’s a chance of collision happening, AI can inform the operator or even shut down the machine to prevent an accident from happening. All in all, by having the ability to be on the lookout 24/7, AI can save lives and improve efficiency.
4. Equipment Operation
You have probably heard of self-driving cars. But that’s not all. We now have autonomous construction equipment. To put it into perspective, imagine just you and your dog on a construction site. You’re sitting under a shade catching up with the news on your tablet while the self-operated excavator does the digging. Well, it sounds like a scene in a fiction movie, but it’s happening.
Using AI, self-operating machines are carrying out tasks such as excavation, demolition and grading. Through a combination of cameras, GPS, sensors and 3D mapping, data is fed to AI to instruct the machine on where to go and what to do. On the other hand, while the equipment is operating, AI is collecting data such as site conditions and this in return helps it to improve with time.
Additionally, AI is also able to monitor the equipment real-time such as the engine temperature and fuel consumption. In short, a self-operated equipment helps increase safety and efficiency. Also, these machines come in handy whenever there’s a shortage of skilled personnel to operate them.
Bringing it all together
Yes, AI holds a lot of promise and will play a vital role in the construction industry. It’s a dream-come-true for the construction sector. And yes, this technology is not coming to take away our jobs. It’s more of a collaboration allowing us to handle high-value tasks such as creativity. AI will make our jobs better, and that’s the dream, right?
