can drones be useful on construction projects?

For the last few years drones have been used by the military to drop bombs and carry out surveillance missions. The pilots are usually based thousands of kilometres from the war zone – returning home to their families at the end of their missions.

But now drones are playing a bigger part in everyday life. From conducting anti-poaching and anti-smuggling operations, monitoring and tracking criminals and traffic control. Paparazzi have now found this the ultimate tool for ‘gate crashing’ celebrity events and taking photographs.

In construction drones have also been used to take pictures of projects. But what of the future?

Well check out this website: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/design/2013/02/the-drones-of-the-future-may-build-skyscrapers/

This might seem a bit far-fetched at this stage. But think of this - if a drone can carry a few hundred kilograms of bombs, why couldn’t it be used to lift structures weighing several hundred kilograms on project sites. Some construction projects already make use of helicopters to erect structures in remote and rugged countryside, or on top of buildings. Why not use drones instead?

Check out this website where experiments have been conducted with drones to evacuate wounded soldiers from the battlefield. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0208hgn

But does it have to be restricted to lifting heavy objects? Maybe drones could be used for other tasks like painting elevated structures. Think of the maintenance work on bridges like the Golden Gate Bridge and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Could drones do some of this work?

Drones can certainly assist with surveillance work on projects – getting to places like roofs to check for potential problems.

But maybe there is more to this. Instead of the design engineer travelling from his office to perform quality checks he may just be able to fly his drone around the project – honing the camera in to ensure the construction is meeting the quality standards and specifications. Next time there is an interface or design problem on site, instead of waiting for the engineer to visit the project, the engineer can view the problem operating a remote camera from his desk, while at the same time modifying his drawing in real time to solve the problem.

Maybe projects in the future will have to employ air-traffic controllers?