Technology that harnesses artificial intelligence to monitor construction workers and help companies improve their productivity is set to go mainstream this year.
That’s the claim from an IT firm offering a “computer vision” solution that analyses video footage from security or specialised video monitoring cameras and processes it using specialised algorithms.
It has predicted that more construction firms will take advantage of the technology as cloud computing resources increase, prices fall, and the number of suppliers in the market increases.
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The Easyflow CV software developed by Agmis can determine whether or not workers are wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) as well as identifying certain worker actions.
The company has claimed it can recognise hard hats, safety goggles, high visibility vests, protective boots and other required safety equipment. It can also recognise if workers are wearing protective harnesses when working height.
If the software detects a PPE violation, it can notify site safety officer in real time. Infringements are stored in a database with corresponding video footage.
“In layman’s terms, if you can film it you can analyse it and make use of this data for better business operations,” said Simas Jokubauskas, Agmis’s head of products.
The firm claims the technology can also be used to identify the duration of manual work cycles. For instance, when constructing scaffolding, the firm says its software can identify the start of building a particular section and when builders move on to the next one.
Jokubauskas said: “Computer vision companies were known to produce ‘one-fits-all’ solutions. However, the ability to customise them for particular business needs is of key importance for most practical application. With the maturing of technology itself and a more developed eco-system of CV developers, in 2019 we will see an advent of highly flexible CV frameworks affordable for small and medium construction enterprises.”
