Augmented Reality in Construction

Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that allows digital overlays to be superimposed on the physical world in real time. This allows users to experience virtual items as though they are appearing in the user's real-world setting and vice versa, enhancing the user’s experience by blurring the line between the digital and physical environments. AR has improved safety training for construction workers and allowed them to be alerted of hazards on site. It has also allowed for some tasks, such as site inspections, to be almost entirely automated.

Although AR is itself an innovation in construction, there is room for further improvements in the technology. These include automatically prompting workers with suggestions to rectify issues found on site, live translation of written instructions between languages as required to accommodate workers of various backgrounds, detailed MEP overlays to inform system installers of the correct location/configuration, and combination with 3D camera systems/BIM/drones to allow for fully virtual 3D design on site (among many others).