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Thursday, February 28, 2019
To get the most out of drones, start with 'low-hanging fruit'
Construction Dive: Starting a drone program is daunting for general contractors both large and small, but there’s never been a better time than now to take the plunge, says William Pryor, enterprise solutions manager at Skycatch, a drone data and analytics firm.
This article is actually directly relevant to my experience! My father is a geotechnical engineering consultant that runs his own firm, and we have spent the past few years experimenting with a Yuneec brand Typhoon H drone for conducting site surveys, taking large measurements, and inspecting difficult to reach or dangerous structures (A drone is a lot cheaper to replace than a human life!). What I find especially interesting is the amount of free and open-source data manipulation tools exist for data manipulation from various tasks conducted via drone. For example, we can create fairly accurate 3d models of sites from a ton of photos with GPS and other positional data from the drone, and take measurements that are typically within an inch or two of accuracy. While that level of error may seem like a lot within our world, consider that these sites are typically measured in acres. Further, we can even compare our data with GIS data and other maps to evaluate the general change to a site from construction, erosion, or even a natural disaster. Drone are such an incredible tool, and I look forward to seeing where the technology goes from here!
I both love and hate the ideas presented here. I love the capabilities of drones, and I appreciate that proper utilization can improve time and money savings, as well as keeping workers from having to enter potentially hazardous locations. I am uneasy about the fact that the surveying programming on a drone could replace the need for a skilled worker. It seems like, as technology advances, there is less use for people who have hard skills and more use for managers. I think we are not far from the point where the majority of construction is automated. It is certainly a cool idea, but first of all, what happens to all the people who are replaced by machines? Secondly, machines can provide data, but not intuition and instinct. Perhaps in big steel construction, that is less important, but I think the human element is vital in most circumstances. It is conceivable that the human element could operate from behind the lens of data, but I am dubious.
2 comments:
This article is actually directly relevant to my experience! My father is a geotechnical engineering consultant that runs his own firm, and we have spent the past few years experimenting with a Yuneec brand Typhoon H drone for conducting site surveys, taking large measurements, and inspecting difficult to reach or dangerous structures (A drone is a lot cheaper to replace than a human life!). What I find especially interesting is the amount of free and open-source data manipulation tools exist for data manipulation from various tasks conducted via drone. For example, we can create fairly accurate 3d models of sites from a ton of photos with GPS and other positional data from the drone, and take measurements that are typically within an inch or two of accuracy. While that level of error may seem like a lot within our world, consider that these sites are typically measured in acres. Further, we can even compare our data with GIS data and other maps to evaluate the general change to a site from construction, erosion, or even a natural disaster. Drone are such an incredible tool, and I look forward to seeing where the technology goes from here!
I both love and hate the ideas presented here. I love the capabilities of drones, and I appreciate that proper utilization can improve time and money savings, as well as keeping workers from having to enter potentially hazardous locations. I am uneasy about the fact that the surveying programming on a drone could replace the need for a skilled worker. It seems like, as technology advances, there is less use for people who have hard skills and more use for managers. I think we are not far from the point where the majority of construction is automated. It is certainly a cool idea, but first of all, what happens to all the people who are replaced by machines? Secondly, machines can provide data, but not intuition and instinct. Perhaps in big steel construction, that is less important, but I think the human element is vital in most circumstances. It is conceivable that the human element could operate from behind the lens of data, but I am dubious.
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