Construction Robotics Will Flag Problems and Track Progress

We’ve been warned for years that robots are going to take all our blue-collar jobs. While robotics is coming to the construction industry, not in the way you might think. Construction robotics will be used at the managerial level, not with skilled labor – at least not yet.

Buildots Sends in the Robotics

Again, we all knew this day was coming, but it was assumed robots would be taking jobs away. Instead, construction robotics will be helping project managers assess to be more efficient.

Buildots is making construction robotics a reality with artificial intelligence and deep learning. 360º cameras are affixed to project managers’ hardhats to collect video footage and assess progress by analyzing the footage.

There are multiple tasks for a project manager to handle: examining designs, checking the schedule, measuring, verifying, etc. With so much to do, they don’t get to check on all given areas as much as it may be necessary.

But with the Buildots platform, all the collected data is taken from the hardhat cameras and compares it to the design and construction schedule.

Every detail, no matter how small, is analyzed separately and checked against the original plan. It flags any potential problems and tracks progress. The platform utilizes deep learning models and algorithms to transform the data into insights for the construction project. While humans can do this on their own, construction robotics makes the process more efficient.

Buildots noticed while creating the AI architecture that in a typical apartment, there are more than 50 outlets. There could be 1000 installed on just a few floors. The hardhat cameras are able to photograph all the outlets at different angles and analyze them.

The data from the first few weeks of the project showed thousands of different instances of the outlets in varying angles and light conditions. A human surveying this on their own would have a tough time applying the same standard for all – but not artificial intelligence.

What’s more is that with each additional set of data, the models are constantly being retrained. They’re overfitted for each project.

The Future of Construction Robotics

If construction robotics can be utilized for the efficiency of outlet installs, it could certainly do more up and down the board. The same model could be applied in other industries as well. It’s more efficient and saves money as well – which is always a good thing in construction.

But it’s important to remember: no jobs are lost here. Existing job performance is enhanced. These are the wonderful things that could happen if robotics is embraced in the construction business.

But sometimes it does affect jobs. Read on to learn about 3D printing used to construct houses. While amazing as it is, there are certainly human jobs being lost in the process.