Many technologies in development or being tested will likely forever change the industries they affect. Here are three examples of innovations that seem set to disrupt the construction sector in 2019 and beyond.
1. Improved Safety Equipment
Construction workers know they have dangerous careers, and it’s necessary to use protective equipment such as hard hats and safety harnesses depending on their tasks.
Despite those precautions, statistics from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration collected in 2016 found 21.1 percent of worker fatalities in the private sector happened in the construction industry.
But, safety-related wearables will make worksites safer and potentially reduce the associated fatalities. According to one survey, 82 percent of contractors using wearables in 2017 reported site safety improvements. That’s often because those gadgets collect real-time information and send it to supervisors, allowing them to intervene when necessary.
A clip-on wearable called the Triax Spot-R is part of a trial in New York involving 130 construction workers testing the gadget to see if it cuts down on injuries. The device has a call button to use if a person gets hurt and needs help. After an incident occurs, the Spot-R provides information about colleagues in the vicinity, plus climate details.
Those factors could help construction companies fix the items that cause accidents and determine what went wrong more efficiently than they could without such data.
On a related note, construction workers in Australia are testing global positioning equipment as part of a plan to improve the country’s satellite network. That technology, too, aims to get people the prompt assistance they need to possibly prevent fatalities.
Even if these tests reveal some unexpected shortcomings, they’ll undoubtedly promote the creation of better safety equipment for the foreseeable future.
2. Zero-Emission Equipment
People often associate construction machinery with noise and exhaust fumes. Since policymakers are aware of the emissions the equipment cause, they enforce state-specific requirements that dictate whether people who manage construction equipment need to retire it, make upgrades or purchase new items based on emissions levels.
However, 2019 could be when companies become primarily focused on the possibility of investing in emissions-free products. In Oslo, Norway, a couple of 2019 projects could pave the way for a mainstream transition to nearly silent, emissions-free equipment instead of those running with diesel fuel.
One involves an electric excavator for making a walkway in the city center. The other project is a public kindergarten in a residential area built with the help of an excavator running on both electricity and emissions-free hydrogen.
Although the vehicles that transport equipment to and from those worksites will still contribute emissions, Bellona, the nonprofit organization behind both of these initiatives, is exploring ways to remove those pollutants, too.
Elsewhere, a construction site with Volvo equipment in Sweden achieved a 98 percent reduction in emissions with Volvo’s customer and partner for this effort, Skanska.
There, the construction equipment has battery-electric components contributing to the lowered emissions. It’s highly probable these projects and others like them will reshape people’s views about construction equipment and what’s possible with it.
3. Bricklaying Robots
A common aim of people who work in the robotics sector is to figure out how to automate time-consuming and repetitive processes that require extraordinary amounts of precision. One example of such a task is bricklaying.
Recent accomplishments in using robots to lay bricks captured headlines in 2018, and it appears the same will happen in 2019. An end-to-end bricklaying robot in Perth, Australia, achieved a world first by constructing a home in less than three days.
Civil and structural engineers also confirmed the building met local codes, showing how the innovation is ripe for commercialization. Fastbrick Robotics is the company associated with that feat, but it’s not the only enterprise with such technology. Another model called SAM100, from a company called Construction Robotics, can lay bricks five times faster than a human.
Representatives from the University of Nevada at Reno campus choose the SAM100 to assist with making an arts building. That approach will reportedly lead to the masonry work getting finished in two to three months, instead of the usual four to five required for manual labor.
Statistics collected at the beginning of 2018 indicate more than two-thirds of small to medium-sized construction businesses have difficulty hiring enough bricklayers. The robotic options mentioned above could make meaningful progress in closing that labor gap in 2019 and beyond.
A Fascinating Time for the Construction Sector
The trio of technologies highlighted here emphasizes why there is a lot to be excited about in the construction sector. These innovations could minimize known problems and make the industry safer and more profitable.
