Social Good Engineering Magazine: GineersNow Social Innovation GineersNow Engineering Magazine Issue No. 001 | Page 27

Photo Source: Rakenapp
CIVIL ENGINEERING
Drones in the
Construction Site
by Dion Greg Reyes
M
ost construction sites
are safe when all safety
procedures from the
textbook are followed.
But when there is
already an impossible
way to gain acces in
some portions of the
construction to check for safety, the pres-
ence of drones will be a life-saver.

Well, the primary purpose of
drones in construction is its ability to
access parts that humans cannot easily
do or spot. Since safety is very much
upheld in the site, drones are of big help in
monitoring dangerously perched scaffolds,
evaluating harness equipment, and assess-
ing ladder placement for a worker above it,
among others. Being small and agile, they
can also go into hard-to-see places inside
the buildings, where small workers could
fit but may deem to be unsafe.

Other than the safety of con-
struction workers, drones are also useful
in maintaining the time frame and budget
of the project. Since it can help prevent
incidents that are harmful, the project can
make use of full-time workers that aren’t
involved in circumstances that will alter
the duration and cost of the project.

In this regard, Japan, through
Komatsu, is already exploiting the drones’
potential especially that the country is now
facing a declining population. They have
come out with a service called Smart Con-
struction, which allows workers to connect
to a cloud where drones and artificial
intelligence assisted controls will be able to
report their success. It’s meant to improve
the overall efficacy of any construction
company that is using workers and drones.

Countries like Australia and
Kenya have also began construction appli-
cation of these drones.

Drones, other than in construc-
tion, also find its purpose in surveying.
They can provide up-to-date 3D maps and
progress reports via sending pictures right
from the drone.

The use of drones in engineering
has indeed stepped up. It will be no won-
der if all construction sites will be filled
with flying machines later on.
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