Technology

What Automation and Robotics Will Bring to Construction

With the help of drones and robotics, safety and efficiency improvements will push the construction industry toward a more data-led and agile working environment.
By Mike Winn
March 5, 2021
Topics
Technology

Furnished with connected tools, devices and robotics that automate hazardous, time-consuming and inefficient industrial processes, hundreds of companies are already well-equipped for the future. True for most industries, including manufacturing, energy, facilities, insurance and others where global sales of industrial robots have tripled, this wave of innovation will likely impact construction.

And while construction consistently ranks as one of the least digitized and least innovative industries in the world, with an overall productivity growth that has actually declined since the 1990s, recent research suggests that the industry will “look radically different five to 10 years from now.” Due in part to the impact of increasing digitization as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, this finding holds particular weight for enterprise construction companies, where a movement toward digitization—no matter how small or slow—may have reverberating impacts on the industry as a whole.

Among these shifts, construction professionals should expect to see massive safety benefits as a result of further automation, as well as an influx of new, technologically-native talent and cohesive software that will help workers better collect and understand data.

With a Rise in Robotics Comes a Rise in Safety

One of the most immediate needs of the construction industry arising from the pandemic is bespoke remote work tools. Where other, more digitized industries could be more agile in their operations when shelter-in-place restrictions were instated, many commercial construction projects ground to a halt.

Even with the gradual lifting of restrictions, most firms still needed to completely re-work the way they went about operations. With the help of tools such as drones or ground rovers, construction companies could effectively dispatch a single worker to a jobsite to collect data and map progress rather than entire teams of people, helping drive potential viral exposure down. Paired with the right analytical software, this method of measuring jobsite progress also enabled improved remote collaboration via live streams and shareable 3D maps/models.

Outside of pandemic-driven use cases, drones and industrial robotics have long improved safety standards on industrial jobsites. Rather than dispatch workers to remote locations or conduct lengthy and costly ground surveys of a jobsite, construction firms can use drones and ground rovers to compare both aerial and interior maps to design-plans, therefore identifying potential issues or deviations ahead of time. This proactive approach also leads to quicker, safer QA/QC inspections to ensure jobsites adhere to existing safety regulations.

Automated Tools Can Help Attract New Talent

In an opinion piece for WIRED, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently discussed the need for democratized “tech intensity,” defined as the intersection of “the adoption of technology, the capability of individuals to use it, and their trust in the organizations deploying it.” In a technologically intense society, “tools from cloud computing to AI should be in the hands of every knowledge worker, first-line worker, organization, and public-sector agency around the world.”

On the construction site, this takes the form of better robotic and image-capture tools in on-site workers’ hands. Across various commercial sectors, companies are already beginning to see a rising demand for commercial drone training and an interest in developing drone skills. In 2019, the FAA predicted that the commercial drone market could triple between now and 2023, far exceeding anticipated forecasts.

With drone skills soon to become desired qualifications, most notably consumer deliveries and distribution, construction firms should invest in drone and automation upskilling programs for current and future employees.

It’s All About the Data

However, it’s important that construction professionals recognize the importance of adopting advanced software solutions that will unleash the full potential of robotic capture. Without the software to synthesize and analyze spatial and visual data captured by drones and ground rovers, companies cannot easily leverage this data into improved safety and efficiency benefits.

Emerging technologies such as AI, machine learning and computer vision have already transformed how construction companies approach jobsite mapping and 3D capture. However, most current robotic tools lack the direct integration of these technologies into their hardware, and full embedded functionality without the assistance of an outside software is still many years away. Unlike automotive or manufacturing industries, construction does not provide a rote landscape where robots can perform simple and repetitive tasks. Rather, advanced software and analytics solutions are increasingly needed to bring out the full transformative potential of these hardwares.

The Pace of Change

Ultimately, the commercial construction industry is still full of highly specialized tasks and roles that automated tools cannot easily replace; however, these tools will help bring about long-overdue digital transformations in the industry. With the help of drones and robotics, construction professionals will experience a variety of safety and efficiency improvements that will push the industry toward a more data-led and agile working environment.

by Mike Winn
DroneDeploy is an enterprise drone data solution that brings together developers, partners and pilots on one, unified platform. Since its inception in 2013, DroneDeploy has built partnerships with the likes of Airbus, launched the industry-leading DroneDeploy Conference, and been recognized by CNBC as an “Upstart 25” startup to watch.

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