AI in Construction: A Technology that Enhances Construction Quality and Safety in a Smarter Way

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been there in the theory of science and conjured up futuristic visions of robotic technologies and intelligent systems for many years now. Nowadays, AI technology is widely present behind digital assistants like Meta, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and many more. The biggest advancement in AI is mainly happening through smartphones where people can enjoy AI-powered technologies quite conveniently. If we talk about the importance of AI in the construction industry, it not only helps to improve the production capabilities but also enhances the quality and safety of these projects. With the introduction of AI in the construction industry, construction companies can solve many problems faced by the industry today, such as schedule delays, safety issues, cost overruns, and many others.

What are the Various Uses of AI in the Construction Industry?

AI can help the construction industry in various ways. Some of its significant uses in the industry are discussed below:

• Optimizing Project Designs with AI: The traditional way of designing construction projects is time-taking. This is further slowing down the building process of the projects. With AI-powered building designs, contractors can get a detailed insight into various data, such as building data, material data, and also required environment-related information. In this way, AI can provide the best way to design, plan, and develop a project.
   
• Eliminating Time-Consuming Tasks by Integrating AI: In the construction industry, a project manager is used to organize the project, assign work to employees, and monitor the workflow. These tasks are done manually and leads to wastage of time and resources. However, AI can easily handle these tedious tasks efficiently with minimum errors. By having the data about the employee AI system can automatically assign the work based on skills, experience, and availability. With this, it can simplify the regular process and help employees to focus on productivity.
   
• Enabling Land Survey and Mapping with Drones: The use of drones at construction sites can significantly help in reducing the time taken to gather accurate information about the land. Drones can take aerial images of the construction site and track the project updates and issues at the job sites. These features of drones can help contractors in improving their decision-making skills regarding the project.
   
• Speeding up Product Delivery with Offsite Construction: Usually, workers have to assemble the parts of the building at the construction site to complete the building. However, with the involvement of AI, autonomous machines can more efficiently complete the structures than workers. This further helps workers to focus on other high-value tasks such as installation of electrical systems, plumbing, and many more.
   
• Improving Safety at Workplace: At construction sites there exist some risks. Larger projects hold higher risks. To reduce the risk factors, contractors can use AI and machine learning tools to monitor and prioritize the risk at the construction site. With the help of these tools, contractors can assign a particular team to work closely on resolving the high-risk factors at the site. In addition, with the implementation of the Internet of Things (IoT), such as wearable sensors, the contractors can identify the location of the workers and provide alerts if any of the workers have the risks of falls or slips.
   
• Increasing productivity with AI-Driven Vehicles: With the involvement of self-driving construction pieces of machinery, some repetitive tasks can be easily performed more efficiently, such as poring concretes, bricklaying, demolition, and many more. For instance, some autonomous bulldozers can be used for excavation work. These AI-driven vehicles can not only free up the employees to concentrate on the actual construction work but also help to complete the project at a faster pace.

Key Message

With the rapid incorporation of AI, the global construction market is soon going to adopt smart construction technology. This will create a strong base of digitization in the construction industry and the industry will see significant profitability and enhanced productivity soon. This is mainly because inefficiency and various real-time construction-related problems can now be tackled with assistance from AI. 

About the Author(s)

     

Rosy Behera

Rosy Behera holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and is currently working as a content writing professional. She loves to portray her thoughts and ideas via her command on words. Grabbing her audience’s attention with her creative write ups is one of her biggest assets. Apart from writing, she is a certified “Odisi” dancer and has done Gardharva in Drawing, Painting and Arts. She always explores new things through travel and is a big foodie.