AI and image recognition software help construction sites in Europe flag errors or delays.

Buildots launched in 2018 to turn construction sites into digitized environments using computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI). Projects are ever-expanding and often just a handful of managers are responsible for their supervision. A small error or delay can jeopardize the critical path for the project to complete on time and within cost. However, Buildots’ technology can help manage all that complexity and detail. (MIT Technology Review)

High stakes

According to McKinsey, the construction industry loses $1.6 trillion annually to on-site mismanagement. The most plausible reason – it’s humanly impossible to control the sheer volume of data on a large construction site – something is bound to fall between the cracks and not be noticed until it’s too late.

Buildots, a British-Israeli startup, was inspired by the way many high tech factories used AI to finetune their processes. Why not for construction?

The firm developed an image recognition system to analyze video footage and automatically throw up areas needing attention.

How it works

The construction managers need to upload the most recent construction schedule and designs into the platform.

Buildots thereafter automatically analyses and maps all files. It then produces a detailed digital construction program that the system will henceforth track.

Buildots installs GoPro cameras on the hard hats of workers and managers that capture details of the site as they walk around it.

The company’s proprietary algorithms automatically analyze all these video feeds and pinpoint the current status of each activity. The algos juxtapose this alongside the target completion schedule to highlight the differences.

According to Roy Danon, founder and CEO, the Buildots system can monitor the status of as many as 150,000 objects several times a week.

UK construction giant Wates is using the platform at some of its sites already.

“It captures data without the need to walk the site with spreadsheets or schedules,” says Glen Roberts, operations director at Wates.

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