Artificial Intelligence Helps Reduce Construction Injuries

Veteran masons and other construction workers have tricks and techniques that help reduce the amount of stress on their bodies. However, these techniques are not always easily explained to new workers, who are at higher risk for injury. Researchers from the University of Waterloo are utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to help novice workers reduce wear-and-tear injuries and boost the productivity of skilled construction workers. The researchers used motion sensors and AI software to track the previously unidentified techniques expert bricklayers use to limit the loads on their joints, which can be now passed on to apprentices in training programs. "The people in skilled trades learn or acquire a kind of physical wisdom that they can't even articulate," Carl Haas, Ph.D., a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Waterloo, said in a statement.