Embracing Innovation

The construction industry has embraced innovative technologies to enhance efficiency, safety, and sustainability. Here are some of the most notable advancements:

• Construction Robots: Robotics, especially in combination with AI, are used in many ways. The most common are demolition robots, which comprise 90% of the construction robot market. Robotics are being used on-site to transport supplies and materials, perform welding tasks, operate machinery from a safe distance, lift heavy objects, and perform security tasks. Increasingly robots will be used for excavating, bricklaying, plastering, drilling, assembling, and 3D printing.
  
  
• Digital Twin Technology: Digital twins in Construction represent a virtual replica of a physical object such as a machine, building, or system, integrating real-world data and analytics to run simulations that predict how a machine or system will perform. In Construction, digital twins typically support asset management and space optimization – analyzing who will use the space, how and when they will use it, and what assets will live there.
  
  
• Building Information Modeling (BIM): Used for planning, design, and development, providing construction professionals with an intelligent digital representation of structures and buildings' physical and functional characteristics. BIM improves efficiency, quality, and safety and promotes collaboration among architects, engineers, real estate developers, contractors, and manufacturers.
  
  
• Drones/UAVs: Using drones enables construction project workers to capture aerial imagery, monitor progress, and inspect hard-to-reach areas. When done manually, surveying a job site can be an extensive task, but drones can survey up to 120 acres of land per hour, representing a 60X improvement in surveying efficiency.
  
  
• 3D Laser Scanners: 3D scanners employ specialized software and a laser probe to map out minute details and create highly accurate 3D renderings that help guide design and Construction. Compared to 2D scanning, 3D scanners can reduce costs by up to 50%.
  
  
• Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR): These technologies have a transformative impact from design through Construction.   AR overlays computer-generated images onto the real world via handheld or wearable devices, enabling collaboration, empowering workers, and improving safety and training.
  
  
• Asset Tracking: The combination of low-cost sensors, GPS, low-power Wide Area communications protocols, and advanced analytics allows costly machinery and construction equipment to be tracked and monitored in real time. This enables asset owners to track usage and costs and perform predictive maintenance. The technology also allows asset-sharing business models. EquipmentShare is a Momenta Portfolio company leveraging technologies to build a nationwide equipment distribution network and then create a technology system that captures utilization data from every machine.