The combined use of drones and artificial intelligence should significantly accelerate construction projects and make construction errors in buildings visible earlier.
Artificial intelligence and drones monitor construction projects in real time
First, self-sufficient drones fly and drive off a construction site, both from inside and outside. They document their environment with high-resolution photos, laser scans and via object recognition.
A single drone should be able to cover an area of around 30,000 square meters within a week. It follows a given path and can also climb stairs. That makes it particularly suitable for indoor use. However, the real innovation lies in the software that combines and interprets the drone data.
Deep learning software evaluates drone data
The collected drone data ends up in the AI software of the Silicon Valley start-up Doxel. The software compares the current status with the target status of the construction project and makes the results available to the parties involved via a smartphone app. That should simplify project management and speed up construction. The project manager should be able to plan a construction day solely along the drone data.
Also, the system can use image analysis to detect construction errors at an early stage and warn the site manager. The software compares the scans and images with the digital construction plans. In future, site managers could react to errors “within minutes instead of months,” says Doxel managing director Saurabh Ladha.
Doxel receives around 4.5 million US dollars in advances from investors to further develop the company. The well-known venture capitalist Andreessen Horowitz leads the list of investors.
According to Doxel, the system is already in use on several construction sites. The following video shows a demonstration of the AI software-drone combination.