A California-based start-up company has launched an artificial intelligence (AI) platform that uses HD photos and LIDAR scans to analyse important data from a construction project - both inside and out.

Enabled by a $4.5 million investment round, Doxel scans construction sites every day to monitor how things are progressing, tracking what gets installed and whether it’s the right thing at the right time in the right place.

The process entails sending a drone over a construction site and/or sending a rover inside of a construction site after the workday is complete to capture photos and 3D scans of the entire project. The data is then processed with the start-up’s AI.

Using Doxel’s deep learning technology, the AI is able to perform a number of analyses automatically, specifically for quality, budget and scheduling. By comparing the scans and images to the building information modelling (BIM) of the project, the AI is able to detect discrepancies between how something was actually installed and how it was meant to be installed.

The software also cross-references installed quantities against the numerous line items in a project’s budget, providing real-time insight into how much has been spent for a day’s work. The quantities are also cross-referenced against schedules, so that project managers know where the project stands in relation to each day’s planned activities.

A project manager can rely on the information that Doxel provides at the end of the workday, and then use that information to inform the next day’s activities. If an item has been installed incorrectly, that project team can address the issue before too much time elapses.

Doxel CEO Saurabh Ladha told Engineering.com: “Doxel is basically an AI software solution to increase productivity in construction. Using autonomous robots and AI, we monitor every inch of a project, inspecting quality and measuring progress in real time. So, project managers can react in minutes, and not in months.”