Photo by Engin Akyurt
Artificial intelligence has quickly gone from a Hollywood fantasy to a real benefit to efficiency in so many sectors. With algorithms designed to solve problems through stored data, artificial intelligence can be utilised to perform many different tasks for the construction industry, from administration to on-site tasks like bricklaying.
In the article below, building design software suppliers, Oasys, offer a brief insight into some potential benefits within this sector:
Categorising artificial intelligence
There are four main categories of artificial intelligence within the construction sector:
Planning
Construction plans are supported by the input of artificial intelligence. Autonomous equipment is considered as AI as it is aware of its surroundings and is capable of navigation without human input. In the planning stages, AI machinery can survey a proposed construction site and gather enough information to create 3D maps, blueprints and construction plans. Before this advancement, these processes would take weeks – now they can be done in one day. This helps to save firms both time and money in the form of labour.
Admin and office
AI can also be used for day-to-day office tracking and recording. For example, workers can input sick days, vacancies and sudden departures into a data system and it will adapt the project accordingly. The AI will understand that the task must be moved to another employee and will do so on its own accord.
Method
Engineers can also rely on artificial intelligence for creating a project’s methodology. For example, if engineers were working on a proposed new bridge, AI systems would be able to advise and present a case for how the bridge should be constructed. This is based on past projects over the last 50 years, as well as verifying pre-existing blueprints for the design and implementation stages of the project. By having this information to hand, engineers can make crucial decisions based on evidence that they may not have previously had at their disposal. Plus, there is also the development of autonomous site machinery, which allows the driver to be outside of the vehicle when it is operating at dangerous heights. Using sensors and GPS, the vehicle can calculate the safest route.
After completion
Artificial intelligence continues to work hard long after the project is completed. In the US alone, $1.5 billion was invested in 2016 by companies looking to capitalise on the growing market of post-construction AI.
One example of this is the Wynn hotel chain, who implemented Amazon Echo into every room of its Las Vega hotel. These devices can be used for aspects of the room such as lighting, temperature and any audio-visual equipment contained in the room. These systems can also be used within domestic settings, allowing homeowners to control aspects of their home through voice commands and systems that control all electronic components from one device.
Using building information modelling
That’s not all. So that buildings hold informative, historical information regarding their construction, building information modelling (BIM) can be used so that a building’s history from its construction, to the management decisions alongside construction, up until demolition, are all recorded.
The way this information is accessed is also improved by AI. Virtual assistants, also known as VAs, can then be used to add a conversational element alongside this information. By combining VAs alongside NFC (near-field communication), VAs can be given additional information to the building itself in real-time from various sensors in the building. For example, if there were structural problems with a building, then VAs could inform engineers specifically where the problem was and how it can be fixed.
Artificial intelligence certainly has a lot to give this sector in terms of efficiency and detail. As the future of AI becomes more of a reality within construction, only time will tell how reliant upon intelligent machines we will have to be in order to construct innovative building designs.
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