The construction site of 2050 will be free of people.
The robots will work in teams to build complex structures
using new dynamic materials. The structural elements will be collected
automatically. Flying overhead, drones will continuously scan the site, inspect
jobs, and use the collected data to predict and solve problems before they occur,
sending instructions to robotic cranes, excavators, and automated construction
workers without the need for human intervention. The supervisor's role will be
to remotely manage multiple projects at the same time, accessing 3D and 4D
images and machine data on site, ensuring construction is progressing to
specification. Several people who access the site will wear robotic
exoskeletons and use neural control technology to navigate and control
equipment and other robots on the site.
Today, this vision may seem ridiculous. But consider the
complex tasks robots perform in today's factory, and it's not hard to imagine
such a future for the construction site. After all, robots do not come to many
areas of life, they are already here.
From automatic checkouts in supermarkets to autonomous
vehicles on the road to voice technology in our homes, digital technologies are
changing how we work, shop, travel and play, how we interact with the world
around us and how we think. commission and build our infrastructure. These
technological changes present significant opportunities for transformational
change in the infrastructure industry. Balfour Beatty believes that the growth
of digitalization and robotics in construction will lead to a huge increase in
productivity in this very large but historically low-productivity sector.
This will improve efficiency, address the skills
shortages faced by countries around the world, and remove the danger of
construction, making Zero Harm a reality.
What is behind these changes? Infrastructure is a political
and economic precedence in many countries around the world. Increasingly
complex projects are being launched to stimulate a sluggish economy, modernize
aging systems, and serve a growing and changing population. With high economic
growth and rapid population growth leading to significant urbanization, the
demand for new infrastructure is projected to skyrocket in the coming decades.
Other new challenges: demographic change; rising expectations of business,
service users and the public; and the need to reduce carbon and waste emissions
creates a dynamic and challenging environment for the industry and those
commissioning new projects.
The adoption and integration of digital and other new
technologies,
such as advances in robotics and artificial intelligence,
will be a game changer for the industry, accelerating the slow and steady
modernization of the sector and providing answers to challenges and
opportunities. we are facing. The benefits of digitalization are clear to
companies like Balfour Beatty who are already using them in their businesses
and the projects they work on. Projects can be accomplished more efficiently
and effectively using the power of cloud computing and advanced mobile
technologies. Building Information Modeling (BIM), in the form of a 3D digital
representation of designs overlaid with 4D graphics and cost information,
combined with virtual and augmented reality technologies, enables seamless
interaction between offices and sites, facilitating the “first time build” approach.
"Drones allow teams to track progress safely, more efficiently and with
greater accuracy by collecting data more frequently than human surveyors.
Telematics tracks how our vehicles are being used to drive economical, safer
and greener driving. And we use data analytics to start predicting and prevent
problems as they occur in the infrastructure, rather than the slower, more
expensive and less reliable “find and fix” model that the industry has relied
on for decades. driving.And we are using data analytics to start predicting and
preventing problems as they arise in the infrastructure, rather than the
slower, more expensive, less reliable "find and fix" model that the
industry has relied on for decades.Telematics tracks how