5 Construction Technology Trends to Look Out For

When thinking about the construction industry, you are probably envisioning huge dump trucks, incredibly tall cranes, and strong men lifting heavy things. While that is still mostly true when it comes to this industry, there have been some signs that the sector has finally decided to start using some of the new technologies that have been developed in accordance to modern amazing architecture solutions and gaining traction in many other industries as well. Let us take a look at how they could change the construction industry as we know it today.

Fly like a drone

You would have to live pretty far from civilization not to notice drones slowly becoming present in our everyday lives. They are being used a lot by photographers, news teams, as well as the general public for just plain old fun. Finally, it seems they are making their way into the construction industry as well. In Abu Dhabi, for example, they have launched a trial where they use drones when inspecting construction sites, which is bound to save up time and effort on behalf of many. Drones are also fundamentally changing the way quarries operate. The future of quarrying is driven by data and analytics, and experts from the Institute of Quarrying Australia are recognizing drones as a valuable tool for collecting the data necessary for improving quarry management on a day to day basis.

Print this beam for me, would you?

The general excitement around 3D printing is hard to ignore. The progress that has been made over the last ten years is incredible. Although we still can’t print whatever we want, great strides have been made, in medicine especially, where artificial organs are being successfully printed. 3D concrete printing is also on the rise and sounds like one of the best uses of the technology yet. Of course, we are a long way from printing parts of buildings at home, but the progress seems unstoppable at this point. Replicator technology, here we come!

Rise of the Robots

One of the steps towards greater safety for workers and greater efficiency for employers in most industries is the use of robots. Of course, due to the particular nature of the construction industry, the technology has been found lacking. Recent developments include Schindler debuting their Robotics Installation System for Elevators (R.I.S.E), which is, for all intents and purposes, a self-climbing autonomous robot. It does sound a bit scary, but is definitely there to improve worker safety, as people will no longer have to do this type of work in high-rise buildings.

The nature of reality

Virtual reality, where you use a device with a screen to actually enter rendered physical spaces that can exist in reality or not, has long been thought the province of PC gamers. Augmented reality, on the other hand, is probably best known to the public through smartphone games, such as Pokemon Go. However, both of them have their “serious” uses in industries across the spectrum, including construction. You can use virtual reality to map and check future projects to the finest detail, to actually walk in the buildings before they have even begun being built. On the other hand, AR places an overlay on the existing locations that can show you positions of things that cannot be seen with the naked eye, or show you data or facilities that have yet to be included in the build. The future is quite exciting!

Teach the machine

The future lies in bridging the gap that lies between now and the “real” AI – if the said AI does not decide to get rid of us right away, in a classic doomsday scenario. The current state of AI is far from being all-knowing, but it certainly can help in many industries, including construction. The application possibilities are numerous, from self-driving trucks to algorithms that can optimize projects and schedules, saving huge amounts of time and money. AI could also be trained to react to visual information, taking control of all the cameras available at a construction site, collating all the images, making sure there are no signs of hazardous activities or anything that could put workers in danger. Of course, the examples listed here are just some of the possibilities. Innovative applications are bound to come alongside every new development in this field.