The Construction Industry and Augmented Reality: How Can the Industry Move On?

We are all humans, and if there’s one thing we all know about humans is that they can be resistant to change. We like to embrace routine and use familiar processes, we don’t like to experiment and we don’t like to get out of our comfort bubble. But what happens if there’s something that’s just too good? The answer is – it gets adopted. Look at the Internet. Everyone was skeptical at first, but nowadays everyone uses it, including the groups that resisted it the most. The same will happen to Augmented Reality, especially in a niche that can benefit hugely from it – the construction industry. So let’s look at this in more detail.

AR and Construction Crew Training:

There has been an increased focus on training in all industries, and construction is no exception. Gone are the days where people would just observe senior employees to gain expertise. Companies already fund seminars and contribute to staff training. What role can augmented reality play in training? In short, training applications can help staff train in a cost-effective and yet highly realistic way, and allows professionals to work in life-size projects that look and feel real, responding to the employees’ actions in a meaningful and realistic way.

So Why is AR Not Mainstream Yet?

With this in mind, one has to ask what’s the problem and what’s preventing the construction industry from truly and quickly adopting AR in a mainstream way. Well, the truth is that the cost can be prohibitive to smaller companies, and the AR wearables are prone to damage if you cut corners with your budget. If you want high quality gear that is both resistant and will not bother you with constant errors, you’ll have to spend quite a bit which can be a problem if your accounting department is looking at its ROI (and we all know bookkeepers really like their “return on investment” indicators.”) However, costs are getting reduced by the month, and there are some smart helmets and smart glasses coming out soon that may fix this problem… some options already in the market such as DAQRI Smart Helmets can be a smart choice already, so things are starting to look up.

What Should I Research if I’m a Construction Professional?

With these developments in mind, one has to ask what terms you need to search daily or monthly in order to stay on top of these lightning fast progresses. Indeed, by the time you’re reading this article, some adoption problems may be fixed or some revolutionary tech could already have launched. Having this in mind, we have to let you know that the most promising area when considering AR and construction is “3D Sensing”. 3D Sensing can revolutionize the construction industry and merge both the real world and blueprints, details, plumbing, electricity, AC ducts, elevators… you name it… all in one single interface you can look at whenever you need extra details. The future of both 3D Sensing and AR Wearables looks bright, so if you want to research this topic further, we encourage you to keep these terms on top of your head.