Construction work requires workers, cranes and power tools. But what about advanced technology?
San Diego State University has received a $4.5 million grant to train people for careers in the industry, with a focus on how technology can solve problems. One of the problems is the low productivity in construction work.
“Labor productivity has grown only about 1% annually for the past two decades. This compares to 2.8% average for the entire economy. But if you want to compare it to a sister industry, manufacturing, that number is 3.5%,” said Reva Akhavian, an engineering professor at SDSU and the lead researcher for the National Science Foundation grant.
Akhavian said robots can work 24/7, and can do physical tasks that would be unsafe or injurious for humans. He said robots are making their way into construction work, but there’s a lot more they could do.
“We envision a future of work where robots can lay bricks for example. Or robots can help with overhead installation or things of that nature,” he said.
Robots are already reviewing projects to create construction layouts, which indicate the optimal placement of walls, plumbing and so on. Akhavian said artificial intelligence could effectively take over planning tasks in a worksite office.
“Creating lookahead schedules or maybe adjusting those schedules based on expected delays. Having a better estimate is very important," he said. "Construction is a bid-based industry so it’s very important to have that good estimate. All these things could be influenced positively by AI.”
Akhavian said that humans play a vital role in construction and technology could empower them to do a better job. The local carpenters’ union in San Diego did not comment for this story when contacted for a response.
He said the SDSU training program would ultimately offer a master’s degree.
The program's lengthy name is Smart Construction, Infrastructure, and Buildings through Education, Research, and Cutting-edge Technology. The acronym is SCIBER-CT, pronounced cyber-city.
