AI has grabbed the public’s attention with recent developments in large language model applications like Chat GPT, but it’s showing itself to be a game-changing tool for physical industries like agriculture, transportation, and construction.
AI streamlines design
The construction industry is always looking for ways to improve efficiency and safety. Architects and designers use 3D modeling software to create life-like structures, such as housing, office buildings, or infrastructure. And now, AI and ML are being incorporated into this process to optimize the ease and efficiency of design.
The latest 3D modeling software can help more efficiently create constructible models by identifying the right design items, detecting clashes in designs, and narrowing down design options for later stages of a project early on to eliminate having to redo design work. Ultimately, this means that the solution can assist architects and structural engineers in making safer and more sustainable design choices.
Similarly, in renovation work AI and ML can help classify objects in giant point clouds stemming from 3D scans of an existing structure, eliminating tedious tasks and getting to constructible models easier and quicker.
AI enables safe and efficient construction
AI is also used in autonomous surveying technology to capture data precisely and in real-time – this data is uploaded to a shared platform, enabling transparency and ensuring accurate and collaborative monitoring and measuring of the project’s progress.
AI is also able to reduce danger on-site and optimize processes for safety by helping to keep humans out of dangerous situations. For example, AI-enabled cameras can be used to spot and assess dangers on a job site, assigning priority and risk scores so that contractors can more effectively identify and manage high-risk jobs. Similarly, in some of the more precarious construction environments such as tunnels, AI-powered machines can replace human workers, performing repetitive tasks that require no human creativity or need to be performed under the dirty or dangerous circumstances that contractors want to keep their personnel out of.
AI makes it easier to maintain assets
Once a project is complete, its maintenance is essential to ensuring its longevity. AI can support here in tracking, reporting and monitoring the asset. For example, a precise digital replica of the physical asset, known as a digital twin, can be created using scanning technology. The product of this scan – called a dense point cloud – is aligned to the physical asset and can be run through AI so that maintenance managers can be notified if minor differences are detected in how the structure ‘behaves’ in real life compared to the model.
Similarly, AI can be used for predictive maintenance.
By combining data from multiple projects, asset owners can develop maintenance processes that are based on a giant pool of data with AI and ML helping to make sense of it all. Thus, AI ensures assets are well-maintained, helping to avoid costly repairs by detecting potential issues well in advance.
The transformative potential of AI in the world of work is widely understood, but most currently associate it with automating office workflows. Fewer are aware of the potential to transform the physical world. From automating repetitive or dangerous physical tasks to providing accurate project insights to make better predictions, it’s proving to be endlessly exciting for the construction industry in making the lives of contractors easier, safer, and more efficient.
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