Technology is slowly but surely revolutionizing every part of our modern world, from gaming to social media, from farming to programming. But what about construction? Though it has taken longer for the construction industry to find the right technology for the jobs, construction is now ramping up in speeds and innovation, from safety to training to machine learning simulations. But what are the biggest technologies that are changing the face of the construction world?
Automatic Asphalt Laying
Asphalt laying is a complicated process that will likely involve a large amount of human influence for a long time due to the intricacy needed. From ensuring that an area is correctly prepared to ensuring that the complex test of bitumen viscosity is done safely and methodically, it’s an area that technology has found difficult to improve. However, success has been found in one specific part of asphalt laying: the laying itself. Using a series of sensors and a fuzzy control element, several kinds of robots have been invented to automatically lay asphalt and even add paving slabs, allowing the process to be performed far more efficiently than before. This robot also frees up construction worker’s time whilst on-site for them to do more technical jobs.
Virtual Reality Simulations
Operating heavy machinery in the field is something that needs an awful lot of training beforehand to ensure the safety of not only the workers on the site but also nearby pedestrians and the build project, as incorrectly piloted machinery could lead to damage. This is where virtual reality comes in. Getting training in the machinery can be difficult, time consuming and expensive for people to be fully trained in the real thing, but VR simulations allow for a far less expensive training procedure. With VR, workers are able to use a cockpit that looks like the real thing, and operate the machine, say, a crane, as they would in the real world. However, VR allows for them to make mistakes with zero risk of danger, as well as without having to take up a machine just for training purposes. This is allowing people to be trained long before they have to use it properly on-site.
Machine Learning
For some people, seeing artificial intelligence meshed with construction work may seem strange and unexpected, but in fact machine learning is one of the most useful things for the construction world thanks to the processing of big data. Over decades of construction, surveyors have collected vast amounts of data on every project that has been completed. By using a machine learning algorithm to scan through every project to see where the strengths and weaknesses of the project lay, a program could easily spot where mistakes may be made before the project has even started, meaning that workers can keep an eye out for where these mistakes may occur and correct them. Combining this kind of program with a series of sensors across a build site and it may even be possible for a data-fed algorithm to spot any mistakes itself, or even to suggest methods of making the build site safer and more secure.
Seen above are just some of the many ways that technology can and will push the construction world to greater and greater heights as more is invented to help people complete huge builds. We will see an increase in safety, training and automation, making the construction of beautiful projects a breeze compared to the labor it was before.
