THE FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY
The robots are coming
Jenny Turner, e-commerce manager at Powertools2U, talks to RCI about the future use of Artificial
Intelligence and its impact on the construction industry
As with everything else, Artificial
Intelligence (AI) is currently
working its way into the
construction sector, and in
particular, when it comes to roofing, the
jury is out whether it’ll be of huge
benefit or not.
Research by RubberBond suggests
that there are three main areas where
AI will be beneficial to the sector, and
one area where it’ll be negative.
Let’s start with the negative. Research
suggests that 600,000 jobs could be lost
from the current 2.2 million positions
because of AI integration by 2040, with
some calculating that the building site
will be completely human-free by 2050.
This hits home more when you look at
the specifics. For example, labourers will
be hit the hardest seeing their current
number of employees dwindle from a
healthy 127,220 to just 7,520. The same
can be said for bricklayers (72,760 to
4,300), plasterers (47,500 to 2,810), roofers
(43,830 to 2,590) and floorers (25,580 to
1,510), all seeing huge declines across the
board, and all predicted to happen in the
next 20 years.
This will be down to the
advancement in robotics. Machines
such as shingling robots, which will
impact on roofer numbers, are currently
in advanced stages of production and
can already drastically reduce both
the time it takes to construct a house’s
able to reduce damage to the overall
site too. Using its algorithms, it will
be able to understand and also predict
complex information, such as the
weather. As an example, if it’s predicted
to rain, the AI will alert the site staff,
so that factors such as potential water
infiltration can be addressed before the
weather arrives.
Finally, another good way that AI
can be beneficial is by actually helping
to design buildings rather than just
aiding the building process. AI can
do this by answering questions that
an architect would only be able to
answer after extensive deliberation
and assessment. The architect will
soon be able to ask their clients a list of
simple questions relating to how they
would like their new space/building
to look and function, and then put this
information into the AI system, along
with the physical requirements of
the building. The algorithm will then
produce several designs that fit in with
the clients’ requirements, saving the
architect time.
So, what are your thoughts on
the implementation of AI on the
construction site? Is it a good or bad
thing, or is it simply an inevitability?
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covering, as well as the obvious risk of
injury involved with such a role.
A similar situation will hit the
bricklayers, with bricklaying robots that
can build around five times as quick
as the most efficient and experienced
bricklayer could.
But what about the benefits of
implementing AI onto the building
site? The first of the benefits is the
biggest and most important, safety.
Implementing AI into the sector would
drastically reduce the number of
injuries on the building site, but it’ll do
so in a way you may not have thought
of initially. Yes, if robots are introduced
in place of a human worker, then of
course, injury will be reduced, but what
about AI aiding someone on the site?
For example, body movement and
form can be scanned and accessed
by AI. This means that if a worker is
using a tool or a piece of machinery
incorrectly by having poor form, the
AI can flag this and show the worker
how to correct it. Another feature is
being able to scan facial and object
recognition. If a worker is not qualified
to use a certain tool, the AI will signal
this to security staff on-site, again
preventing possible injury to someone
who might not know exactly how to use
a certain tool properly.
Not only will AI be able to prevent
harm to workers on-site, it’ll also be
28 www.rcimag.co.uk November 2018
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