A Little Help Here? AI Comes to the Rescue of Video-Overloaded Construction Projects > ENGINEERING.com

A big construction project is like a celebrity. It gets a lot of attention. Everyone takes pictures and videos. For stakeholders, it would be nice if all those images could be stored in one place, and be labeled and shared. It would be even nicer if someone could study the collected images and videos and be able to monitor their progress; check on key milestones; spot potential problems, including safety issues; and so on. 

Figure xxx

Figure 1: Smartvid.io spotted workers not wearing safety colors in this photo. It will recognize objects and features at a construction site and label them automatically. (Image courtesy of Smartvid.io).

This may be the initial plan at many construction sites, but the sheer amount of video or pictures taken on a big construction project can quickly get out of hand. So, Josh Kanner, CEO and founder of Smartvid.io, has come up with what he thinks is the best idea of all. Instead of depending on people to pore over all the imagery, why not have the images analyzed by computer? Smartvid.io has developed a “smart photo and video management platform” that uses synthetic vision and deep learning to tell you important things about your project. For example:

  • Safety related: Are people on the job site wearing hard hats or safety glasses?
  • Management: You can monitor quality and track projects. 
Figure 2. A camera on a drone can take a lot of video, all of which can be uploaded to the Smartvid.io platform where AI can apply “smart labels” to detect construction-related objects. (Image courtesy of Smartvid.io.)

Figure 2. A camera on a drone can take a lot of video, all of which can be uploaded to the Smartvid.io platform where AI can apply “smart…

Read more