The adoption of the latest technologies by industry ensures higher productivity. Over the last decade, all major industrial sectors have registered phenomenal growth in productivity, while the same for the construction industry has been almost flat.
By nature, the construction industry is fragmented, complex, cost-intensive, and low margin business. It cannot afford massive-scale adoption of the latest technology to improve productivity. However, some nifty techniques are making a foray into the construction industry are disrupting the way it does its business.
Orion flares that are used in large project sites for signaling purposes are increasingly being used in the construction industry. These signaling devices help workers, supervisors, and engineers working in large and complex projects to attract each other’s attention to both regular and emergencies.
For example, a white flare may indicate that an assignment has been completed while a red beacon may indicate a crisis that may warrant rescue and relief operations.
The four most promising technologies that have caused a significant disruption in the sector are as follows:
1. Robotics
The use of robotics to perform routine and monotonous tasks in the construction sector has seen a significant rise in the construction sector in recent years. AM robotic arms, exoskeletons, robots, and robotics are increasingly reducing the role of manual labor at construction sites as they can build structure autonomously — all by themselves.
The high cost of robotics development is the problem in the rapid adoption of robotics by the construction industry. As the industry operates on a thin margin, investments in expensive robotics are not a choice every construction company or individual builder can afford.
However, RaaS (Robotics as a service), much on the line of contract workers, is gaining ground in the construction industry. While this is an affordable and viable option, their integration into the business has been slow because of learning and training needs.
2. AI, AR & VDC
The computers are today much more than mere computing machines. They are capable of thinking and visualizing in more accurate and prolific ways than humans. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) and Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) in the construction industry has increased tremendously over the years.
This has brought an apparent disruption in the way project planning used to be done. What the civil engineers had to do through their meticulous drawings for each stage and aspect of the project execution is now being done by computers with the help of AI, VDC, and augmented reality (AR) technologies.
Now the engineers need to feed their specifications and preferences about the project, and the computer generates hundreds of models and designs.
The human involvement is currently limited to picking the right plans and solutions offered by AI and AR technologies.
3. 3D Printing
This is one of the most exciting technologies that is bound to take the construction industry by storm. 3D Printing offers such breathtaking prospects as printing a skyscraper on-site instead of building it brick by brick.
For the small housing segments, it has already started a massive disruption. Recently, a company called Apis Cor made an entire house measuring 409-square-foot in 24 hours. Similarly, a 3D printer created by MIT can build a 12-ft dome-shaped dwelling in about 12 hours.
3D printing technology opens up the scope for printing complex architectural structures in a fluid, lucid and quick manner.
Besides, it can be used in remote, hostile, and extra-terrestrial environments, to create permanent structures, including homes with locally sourced raw materials.
4. Drones
Drones are immensely useful tools that combine the best of flying and data collection technologies. It can fly over a structure and take high-resolution pictures and videos from all possible angles, which can be used to analyze and manage the project.
It can survey a large area and collect data in the swiftest possible way. Besides, it spares the manual workers, supervisors, and engineers to undertake risky inspections of difficult-to-reach spots in under-construction or even ready skyscrapers.
It saves time, preempts risks to human resources, and provides accurate data and information. Drones are increasingly being used by the construction industry in many top-notch real estate markets.
Final Thoughts
The above-mentioned technologies are bringing disruptions massive disruptions in the real estate sector. Similarly, Orion flares are bringing the latest emergency signaling technologies to the construction sector.