AI could help address B.C.'s housing crisis. Here's how.

Cranes, forklifts and excavators are being turned into intelligent robots by a team of engineers at UBC, presenting a potential solution to a labour shortage in the construction industry amid the ongoing housing crisis.

Dr. Tony Yang, a professor of civil engineering and lead researcher of the Smart Structures lab, says imbuing machinery with AI is a way to address a key factor that makes it difficult to get housing built quickly.

"We don't have enough skilled workers to construct it fast enough, and the demand is increasing," he told CTV News, noting that a lack of supply of housing is an issue plaguing cities and communities in B.C. and beyond.

While recruiting, training and retaining more workers is one obvious strategy to combat a shortage, Yang says that approach takes time to produce results because it relies on people making the choice to enter the industry and then acquiring the skills necessary to do the jobs.

"We decided to start going a new way and basically building robots to do what skilled workers are doing," he said.

These particular robots, which Yang describes as "the next generation" are able to make decisions and react to their surroundings.

"If a robot is asked to build a wall and senses an unexpected obstacle, it can decide how to navigate around the obstacle and complete its task, without needing a human operator," Yang explained in an interview posted online by UBC.

The robots are also able to read plans for a building, place components precisely where they are supposed to be, and refer back to the plan to double-check their work for quality assurance.

These intelligent robots, Yang says, also have the potential to reduce the number of workers required on a single site, opening up the potential to get more projects off the ground simultaneously.

"Instead of doing the actual work, the skilled workers can actually monitor and supervise more jobs, so we can get more of the work done more easily," Yang explained.

"It's not taking a job away. Instead of carrying to the actual physical work, the people who are on the construction site are now managing many robots. The people doing the managing, they can manage more sites, even remotely."

Worker safety is another thing Yang says robots can help improve. The robots themselves are able to recognize when people enter "danger zones" and stop work immediately to prevent injury.

Robots, Yang also notes, don't get tired or injured after doing heavy lifting or repetitive tasks.

Chris Atchison, president of the BC Construction Association says the industry generally embraces technological innovation – particularly when it can help keep people on job sites safer.

"We lead with safety in construction," he says, adding that any new technology that can help "alleviate wear and tear on individuals' bodies" is seen as a good thing.

"We know we can work alongside technology because we've been doing that for some time now," he says.

He also says there is not a lot of concern that robots will replace humans or cost people their jobs and that he sees great potential in turning over some of the more laborious and dangerous tasks to machines.

"Finding ways that we can utilize technology to enhance productivity is going to be where we arrive at that sweet spot for construction," he says.

"We're never going to replace the need for specific skills, specific knowledge, specific expertise that is going to ensure the safety and integrity of the built environment."

Because of that, Atchison says addressing labour shortages in order to meet housing targets and address growing demand will ultimately require more than robots.

"Finding the skilled and professional workforce that we need to build to an ambitious mandate is going to be a problem for the foreseeable future," he says.

He estimates that between 35 and 40 per cent of the workforce in the province is set to retire in the next decade. It also remains stubbornly male-dominated and is not particularly diverse.

"We need to make some cultural adjustments within our industry to be a better employer of women, new Canadians and youth, an industry that that they want to work in and see their children working in as well," he says.

Atchison also says government decisions at all levels – from municipal zoning by-laws, to provincial legislation, to federal immigration policy – has an impact on how much housing is needed,  how much can be built, and how quickly. 

As for the future of AI-assisted construction, Yang says his team is looking at scaling up the use of technology to create a "next generation structural system" that would see robots assembling pre-fabricated components on site and building modular structures.

"This would drastically change the way the construction industry works. We would see a 15- storey building go from nothing to fully operational (in) seven days," he says.

"You can't do that with conventional construction."