This article is part of a blog series, in which we discuss how the Internet of Things (IoT) and robotics will grow, as well as the benefits and challenges of using them in the construction industry.
The GMI report on IoT in Construction Market Size says that the market was valued at USD 14.8 billion in 2023 and is estimated to register an annual average growth rate of over 14.1% between 2024 and 2032. A Grand View Research report says the global construction robot market is expected to grow significantly between 2023 and 2032 from $150.4 billion to $504.9 billion.
Robotics is everywhere and is used in various applications in the construction industry to perform repetitive and mundane tasks to improve productivity and quality, reduce manual operations, generate fewer errors, save costs, and enhance safety in tough environmental conditions.
Companies in the construction industry have started to embrace various IoT solutions.
Connecting and coupling robots with Building Information Modeling (BIM) like sensors, communication devices, and wearables to the cloud and analytics engines, is boosting automation in construction organizations of all sizes.
The implementation of the IoT solutions helps to get real-time information, facilitating the decision-making process.
Companies using IoT solutions in the construction industry transform their businesses.
Developing urbanization worldwide contributes to an indisputable prospect for the growth of robotics in the construction industry. Here are some ideas where robots can be used.
Examples of innovative robots that have been developed in the recent past are described below:
Washington State University (WSU)
The University in collaboration with the Trimble Technology lab is developing a program - the "Cougar Cage" fund - that matches private donors with worthwhile projects pitched by students, faculty, and staff.
Since its launch in the spring of 2021, this competitive platform has helped a dozen WSU-led projects from ideation to implementation, awarding a total of $750,000 over three years.
Nestor Perez-Arancibia developed bee-sized robots by creating a hybrid battery that uses both electricity and liquid fuel. He plans to develop a swarm of robotic insects, with 50 of them able to crawl and the other 50 able to fly. This would be especially useful to survey any kind of terrain on construction sites.
Fastbrick Robotics
This company is constructing eight houses in Western Australia, by using its Hadrian X robot which works fast and accurately.
Advanced Robotics Construction (ACR)
This American company developed TyBOT and IronBOT to carry out the repetitive and backbreaking tasks of rebar installation using artificial intelligence and robot vision. The robots are working consistently and predictably, much quicker than the traditional methods.
ACR provided its robotic services for the highway project in Florida for $598 million, 15 to 20 years sooner than with a traditional method. The project connects US-19 to I-275 and the Bayside Bridge to I-275 in Pinellas County. It gives drivers a tolled option to commute several miles up and over dozens of traffic signals.
Robots in the construction industry reduce repetitive and mundane tasks in a controlled environment, to automate, and streamline your processes.
The acronym APPRECIATE will help you to memorize the top use cases for IoT for getting the best Return on Investment when choosing what to implement in your business.
IoT will allow you to monitor your assets by offering automatic notifications when the assets change location, helping you track multiple assets.
Getting real-time data from IoT devices will improve the accuracy of collected data, compared to traditional methods, as they are not prone to human error. For example, reporting the weather conditions, such as humidity and temperature, will reduce defects and eliminate waste.
IoT in inventory management is very useful as you can scan with RFID tags automatically to calculate stock levels. You automatically record the location of items and the date and time of movement. It helps you to prevent theft.
Companies in the construction industry tend to specialize in one type of project: residential, commercial, or infrastructure.
By using the IoT and incorporating sensors on different internet-connected devices, you can understand your processes better and open the possibilities to diversify your offering by analyzing your strength. You may also automate your processes and offer new products and support to your clients to increase your competitive edge and profitability.
With IoT devices, you can evaluate different activities, environments, or operational performance, and analyze the data to generate useful observations, helping you to prepare custom messages for individual customers' needs.
Real-time information collected from processes, devices, or employees via sensors has revolutionized design-process management and site management by providing visibility.
Engineers and Architects using BIM software create digital structures before the asset is physically built. Reusing previous project data helps them to detect and reduce issues during the initial design phases and eliminate expensive reworks during the construction phase.
These data sources include enterprise resource planning systems, emails, RFIDs, 3D models, and other construction-related information. Other data can be collected such as weather, labor, traffic, and non-integrated systems within the general contractor and subcontractor organizations.
IoT plays an important role in listening to clients and improving the customer experience. You can use adequate devices to collect client data from multiple points of contact. This data is consolidated, analyzed, and personalized to satisfy your client’s needs.
A building’s entire lifecycle is responsible for approximately 39% of global energy related to CO2 emissions being wasted due to building mismanagement. The construction industry is also well known for its poor records on health and safety issues.
In the construction industry, IoT solutions can transform prefabrication and modularization into smart factories. Process workflows, software, data, and physical equipment will have to be integrated to determine the key data points that will drive optimization and then deploy sensors, cameras, drones, etc. to collect data.
IoT-enabled devices will deliver real-time data on the performance of the production process, using the cloud to minimize the need for data to be processed in a remote data center, and AI to transform big data into meaningful observations.
Improving productivity in the construction industry worldwide is a priority as poor productivity is a compelling threat, due to the increase in global urbanization.
The implementation of IoT technologies will help the industry to address these challenges.
Bouygues Construction Matériel, a subsidiary of the global construction group Bouygues Construction, has implemented an asset-tracking product that ensures construction sites have compliant equipment. The company has deployed long-range and low-power connectivity with sensors on more than 20,000 pieces of equipment across construction sites in France. Each site gains insight into productivity by tracking geolocation to optimize equipment use and monitor the state of site equipment.
According to the Forbes Insights survey, most executives report that IoT is creating new business lines. Construction companies can share and reuse data from previous projects to provide their clients with innovative ways of engaging them in providing value-added services.
The digitalization of the construction industry is a major opportunity for investors, innovators, thought leaders, and professionals.
In architecture, urban planning, and design, the increasing digitalization of human interactions with machines will exponentially increase the volume of construction output.
IoT will help to find new business opportunities to sustain growth by simplifying complex object manufacturing issues to uncomplicated design alterations.
Cloud-based collaboration solutions allow all stakeholders in a construction project to easily exchange information with each other. It helps to manage cost and time, increase productivity levels, improve performance, and schedule collaboratively to efficiently manage your workforce and enhance health and safety.
All stakeholders of the project share the same data, so they work from the same page with one single source truth. Using a common data model in the cloud enables data to be converted into actionable information and applied to other solutions.
Smart devices and equipment capable of communicating with each other in real-time about potential hazards, malfunctions, and even job-site challenges, without the need for human intervention, improves the health and safety of your workforce.
For example, vehicles on the job site can be equipped with onboard sensors to detect hazards and other environmental conditions and proactively alert drivers via networked applications. We could even imagine that IoT-enabled equipment could shut down operations completely if emergency safety measures were needed.
You may think that robots will replace humans and that this is bad for employment, but we believe that new skills will be developed such as data analysis, data science, and software engineering to leverage the advantages of physical automation in construction.
Existing labor can concentrate their effort on monitoring robots.
The trend of digitization, automation, and the increased use of the Internet of Things have boosted the Industrial Revolution 4.0. The construction industry is reluctant to incorporate these innovative technologies into its common practices, despite the drastic developments demonstrated by other industries.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is built upon the Digital Revolution where technology and people are connected.
Construction organizations that are using robots and IoT have: - increased business agility - improved operational efficiency - gained a competitive advantage - increased overall productivity - improved customer experience.
Construction firms using robots and applying IoT technology get a serious competitive edge: - boosting their efficiency - increasing their revenue - offering the right services or products to their clients - delivering projects on time and budget.
There is a downside to IoT: a high initial investment in purchasing and maintaining robots, which can deter a lot of companies from entering the market.
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