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CAREERTIP: Construction Professionals should start treating AI like a new colleague

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Artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t going away and construction professionals need to embrace it and start working with it as if it were a new colleague. Across all industries, including construction, the adoption of AI is rapidly gaining momentum. This is because technology has finally advanced to the point where it can handle the complex and unstructured data involved in construction projects. Experts predict that AI will continue to develop into what they call "composite AI." Construction professionals, however, have some concerns about adopting AI. These concerns include: Regulatory Framework: Construction professionals must ensure that they comply with all applicable laws and regulations. They must also protect themselves, as AI can be programmed with specific guidelines to produce desired outputs. Ethics : There are important legal and ethical issues to consider when using AI. For example, who is liable if something goes wrong? Who is responsible if a disaster occurs as
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NEWS: Scientists can now build structures with swarms of flying drones

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Researchers say technology could be used to erect or repair buildings in difficult spots like disaster zones or in the upper reaches of skyscrapers.



They say the technology could be used to erect or repair buildings in difficult spots like disaster zones or in the upper reaches of skyscrapers. The drones cooperate to deposit layers of material guided by a digital design, adapting their movements as they go. They are fully autonomous while flying but are monitored by a human controller.

“We’ve proved that drones can work autonomously and in tandem to construct and repair buildings, at least in the lab,” said research leader Prof. Mirko Kovac. “Our solution is scalable and could help us to construct and repair buildings in difficult-to-reach areas in the future.” The fleet consists of “BuilDrones”, which deposit materials during flight, and quality-controlling “ScanDrones” that measure their output and help control them.

Throughout the build, the drones assess the printed geometry and adapt their behaviour to meet the specifications to within five millimetres. 


A BuilDrone and a ScanDrone built this 2m-high tower of fast-curing foam (University College London/BRE)


Researchers had the fleet build a 2m-high cylinder made up of 72 layers of a polyurethane-based foam, and an 18cm cylinder composed 28 layers of a bespoke cementitious material.

Co-investigators include Robert Stuart-Smith, Stefan Leutenegger, Vijay Pawar, Richard Ball, Chris Williams and Paul Shepherd, and their research teams at University College London, the University of Bath, the University of Pennsylvania, Queen Mary University of London, and the Technical University of Münich).

The project is supported by Swedish contractor Skanska and UK consulting engineer Buro Happold, as well as UK research organisation BRE.

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