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 main benefits of using IoT are:

• reducing operational costs
• enhancing productivity
• delivering efficient project management.

Using Smart technologies such as sensors, RFID tags, robots, building information modeling (BIM), and others will help to:

• mitigate potential risks on a construction site
• optimize resource requirements
• avoid accidents and fatalities
• reduce wasted time and money
• know where your assets are
• make sure your machines and fleet of vehicles are functioning well.

The construction industry is using a large workforce to complete repetitive tasks but has yet to fully embrace robotics, automation, and digital technologies to automate and streamline its processes.

Everybody in the industry is talking about IoT and robotics but very few firms are implementing these technologies. Those who have done it have seen a significant improvement in the following areas:

• accuracy and quality
• quicker construction
• higher sustainability, reducing waste and human errors
• project delivery
• budget management.

The IoT and robotics present some security issues that need to be managed carefully when introduced into your processes and more importantly on an ongoing basis:

• weak password protection
• lack of regular patches and updates
• weak update mechanism
• insecure interfaces
• insufficient data protection
• poor device management
• lack of skilled workers.

Do not hesitate to invest in high-quality, secure devices that may be more expensive than cheap ones, coming from low-cost countries, as this will save you a lot of money and reduce risks considerably in the long term.

Benefits of using robotics and IoT

Let’s explore the advantages of robots and IoT in construction and civil engineering:

Real-time information

To improve your processes and quality delivery, you need to measure your activities. This means that you need to get access to the right information, at the right time, from anywhere to understand the reality of your operations. Where should you start?

• figure out what data you need to collect
• select the devices and robots that will allow you to collect the data
• analyze the data
• communicate the necessary changes.

Flexibility and adaptability

Agility is a great competitive differentiator. To be agile you need to automate your processes. Robots and IoT are good tools to help your organization:

• change fast, without human intervention
• analyze information from the field
• make the right decisions.

To manage and maintain your inventory, you may want to introduce location trackers into your robots, assets, and products.

To improve your quality control and site management, you can remotely monitor pressure, temperature, water, gas, and electricity in a timely manner. These measures will help you to maintain your assets and control your costs.

Connectivity and specialized platforms enable you to manage your data and objects easily with integrated business applications.

Productivity and cost-efficiency

Find the appropriate devices that will minimize your efforts and maximize your outputs. To efficiently drive your strategies in competitive environments, you should introduce predictive maintenance processes at the design phase that will reduce cost, time, and money when in use or in construction:

• equipment failures that will require repairs
• unplanned downtime while production lines are slowed.

With IoT and robotics, you can monitor the status of your assets in real-time and analyze your historical data. It will allow you to:

• anticipate repairs or replacement of parts
• reduce downtime on production lines
• diminish emergency repair costs when the construction is in use
• give your customers a better experience

Site security and safety

Security and safety on construction sites are paramount. The construction industry experiences theft, primarily of construction materials, due to a lack of security.

According to the National Equipment Register construction job site theft costs the industry up to $1 billion each year.

You can take simple security measures and use best practices to protect your construction sites but when you have expensive tools and equipment on site, robot drones are the safest tools to monitor security.

Nightingale offers a robotic aerial security service for building customers that provides:

• uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) docking and charging platform
• base station mainenance
• base stations towed, and positioned on protected sites
• drones that can be programmed to fly regular missions.

The drone can inspect difficult-to-reach areas of a construction site, or where dangerous machinery is located, significantly reducing the potential risks of accidents to site workers.

Securing areas on a construction site can prevent unauthorized people from entering a work-restricted area. Drone imagery can help to locate a violation in the boundary of a confined site immediately, preventing illegal entry and potential accidents.

In maintenance work, inspecting sites with drones, rather than mounting electric poles, or walking alongside a busy road, can get images without putting your staff at risk.

Continuous improvement

The real value of IoT resides in data used to train your team on how you work. By making decisions in real-time and leveraging the data you have gathered from across your organization, you can generate substantial improvements in your business.

To continuously improve your operations, use the acronym CREDIT to establish your process, in which you should:

• C collect data that are of the most use to your business
• R research data to improve your decision-making process
• E examine and analyze data to improve your project management
• D divide the data into categories to connect and process them easily
• I implement action immediately after decisions are made
• T transport your data securely to protect your assets and data from one end of the value chain to the other.

Autonomous or self-driven construction vehicles

Chinese scientists say that by 2024 they will build a 590-foot-tall dam, at Yangqu, using AI, autonomous vehicles, and 3D printing without the need for human workers.

If and when it is completed, the ambitious project will be the world's tallest structure built using 3D printing processes. The building method could provide a blueprint for other construction projects, such as road construction.

Autonomous robots in construction reduce manual tasks and secure:

• faster project completion
• safety
• cost reduction.

Robots for building demolition

At the end of the life cycle of a building, you will have to demolish it. Demolition mobile robots are all about:

• safety
• efficiency
• cost savings.

Demolition robots are designed to hit hard small spaces. They are appropriate to break through building materials and are used as breakers, crushers, drills, and buckets to:

• determine the blast magnitude
• pull out big sections of structures
• disintegrate pieces of material
• reduce cost in comparison to using skilled demolition teams
• improve safety.

Exoskeletons or exosuits

Exosuits are very useful on construction sites. They are made of metal, multiplying the muscle strength of the bearer, and duplicating his/her internal skeletal structure.

The exoskeleton will help its user lift heavy objects without effort, reducing potential injuries and improving quality and safety.

Challenges of robotics and the IoT

Companies within the construction support industry are small, which restricts their ability to invest in technologies. Funding programs from governments and collaborative partnerships with IoT and robot suppliers should be put in place to mitigate that risk.

Unfortunately, despite all the advantages of using robots and the IoT in construction, it is not without challenges:

High initial investment

Buying robots and IoT devices can be expensive, but in the long run they are very cost-effective, making the return on investment worth going for it.

Fear of unemployment

Manual workers are afraid to be replaced by robots, as manual processes will be eliminated. Robots and the IoT will assist the workforce but will not replace them.

Repetitive tasks

Robots coupled with the IoT can perform several repetitive tasks or a single task at a time, but they require new programming skills and retraining of the workforce to control them.

Smooth maintenance

It is essential to maintain your robots and devices so they can function efficiently. Maintenance is expensive and must be carefully planned.

The uncertainty of a return on investment, training costs, and equipment maintenance are all barriers to smooth implementations.

Collaboration

The adoption of robots and IoT devices in the construction process involves multiple parties and requires collaboration between several stakeholders.

Standards and processes must be redefined when you introduce robots and the IoT. New processes will require new skills to operate the technologies.

Common best practices need to be redesigned to successfully adapt to the new changes and deliver growth.

Unclear separation of responsibilities amongst stakeholders and legal shortcomings adds to the complexity.

Data security

Information and data exchange are prone to threats raising multiple IT security concerns relating to data privacy and data protection.

Poor operations

To increase efficiency in the supply chain, you need a solid system that is integrated with your BIM and management software.

The system should include IoT and robots to help you to:

• identify your bottleneck processes
• address and resolve issues before they happen
• locate assets or batches on the construction site, in real-time, without human-intensive intervention
• eliminate human errors, which cause rework/waste and can lead to late delivery.

The integration of digital technologies like robots and IoT in your processes will help you to automate and systemize your operations, helping you to implement the right measurements to:

• simplify your operational complexities
• grow and expand your operations geographically
• manage your projects simultaneously in different locations
• meet tight deadlines
• optimize your asset lifecycle management
• optimize your project cycle time
• reduce waste and unnecessary costs.

In conclusion

In the construction industry, the opportunities to use robots and the IoT are endless. For example, it can be used for:

• predictive maintenance and operations optimization in buildings
• asset tracking in construction sites
• monitoring people's performances on-site
• optimizing on-site logistics
• improving security and safety in buildings and on-site
• securing traffic management on-site
• enhancing energy management in buildings and on-site
• fleet and asset tracking on-site.

Automation, IoT, robotics, and civil engineering have changed the way people work and think in the construction industry.

Adoption of automation and robotics technology has:

• improved efficiency
• increased security and safety
• reduced costs
• delivered high quality and accuracy.

Construction is ripe for transformation using digital tech, and companies that don’t act quickly could risk being left behind.

Small and medium-sized companies’ inability to invest in technologies restricts the development of new technologies in the construction industry. To overcome this issue, governments should provide support for these implementations through funding programs and collaborative partnerships.

Standards and processes through the implementation of ISO 19650 are redefining and improving the construction technical environment.

Best practices require redesigning processes continuously to successfully adapt to the new changes and enhance growth.

Legal concerns and security in Information and data exchange are prone to threats, so IT security should be taken very seriously to protect data privacy and data accuracy.

Driving Vision's technology appraisal looks at the best way to insert new technology in your workflows and how to move your organization to cloud computing so you can open new possibilities for your daily planning tasks and make sure your data never leaves the optimally secured data center.

A Driving Vision expert will conduct the interviews online and will discuss with you the report and our findings. Together we will decide the best way to implement the solutions at your pace and according to your budget.

Implementing BIM can be daunting, but Driving Vision is here to help you at the pace you are comfortable with. Get started by getting in touch now