How Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence Is Changing The Future Of Workers In The Construction Industry
At this point, you’ve probably read a couple of articles about how virtual reality and artificial intelligence are changing the future of the workforce and the construction industry. While those two technologies have been quietly changing things for some time now, it feels like we’re hitting a tipping point where everything is accelerating faster than ever; for example, Hypertunnel recently completed world’s first entirely robot-constructed tunnel. And that’s great news for anyone interested in getting into the construction industry as a whole, or working specifically with VR or AI. I'll explain into how these technologies are reshaping an industry that has largely stayed the same for many years.
Virtual Reality Is Transforming The Construction Industry
Virtual Reality headsets, like the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Meta Quest, are bringing an unprecedented level of realism to the construction industry. Not only are these new technologies bringing new tech talent into the industry, but they’re also helping construction workers do their jobs better. VR allows you to “see” what a building would look like before you build it. So, instead of just having to imagine what the finished product will look like, you can use VR to put yourself in the finished product and actually see it. VR is a crucial tool for any industry where you have to build something and hope that it works the way you intend it to. That’s because VR allows you to test that something works the way you want it to before you build it. Once you’ve used VR to test a design, you don’t have to rely on your imagination anymore. You’ll actually know what it’s like to walk through a building, use a piece of machinery, or ride in a car. Knowing the staffing shortages in Construction, the ability to train workers on machinery, heavy equipment or providing the opportunity to virtually walk through a Construction site and evaluate safety standards, could speed up the training process and have more workers trained and ready to enter the workforce.
Artificial Intelligence In The Construction Industry
Unlike virtual reality, artificial intelligence isn’t new. The first computer program that programmers would consider AI was created in 1951. And AI has been used in the construction industry for decades. But AI has really come into its own in the past few years, due in part to the increase in cloud computing. More and more data is being fed into the computers that run AI, and that data makes AI smarter, this is arguably the reason Tesla is valued so high, they have vast amounts of automated driving data which in turn feeds the AI to make it 'smarter'. Now imagine that same technology applied to construction: AI could scan blueprints and spot structural problems or safety hazards that humans don’t usually see. Eventually, after being fed enough information AI could offer solutions to problems at site that humans have not previously thought of. AI has been used in construction for a long time, but it’s only recently become powerful enough to make a real difference.
How VR and AI Are Changing The Future Of The Construction Worker
As VR and AI technology continues to enhance the Construction industry, jobs in Construction will become more appealing to people that enjoy the technology aspect who don’t currently consider construction as a career option. For example, OpenSpace, a company that uses hard hart camera mounted technology to track project progress and safety, conducted a recent case study that demonstrates an AI use case to help improve the reliability, safety and schedule of projects at site. With the labour shortage in Construction, creating jobs where the shift changes from labour-intensive to digitally centered positions allows for GC's and Developers to take advantage of new technologies, improve safety, whilst tapping into a talent market not typically utilized by the industry.
AI Helps Find Hidden Problems In Buildings
One of the most exciting applications of artificial intelligence in construction is AI-powered visual recognition. That means that AI can analyze photos of buildings and look for problems like faulty wiring, roof leaks, and structural damage. Before AI, construction workers had to manually inspect every inch of the buildings they were renovating. This meant that construction workers had to find time to inspect every inch of a building. If a worker missed a problem, the issue could easily go unnoticed until another inspection or post construction, months later. With AI-powered visual recognition, workers could regularly upload photos of a building as construction progresses. AI could then spot problems and flag them for the construction workers to address. DPR Construction, A top 10 ENR GC utilized Unity and HoloLens to allow workers to experience BIM models virtually on the job site with the end result of less re-work.
Bottom Line
The construction industry has been around for thousands of years, and it has changed very little during that time. But now that computers are taking over more and more tasks, construction is on the cusp of a major transformation. Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence are two technologies that are currently transforming the construction industry. Both are giving construction workers more information than they’ve ever had before, which will let them do their jobs better. With more information, workers can spend less time performing menial tasks and more time working on creative solutions to problems. And that means that construction workers will be more efficient than ever before, as well as creating further interest and Construction Tech jobs that provide another entry point into this core industry.