Enhancing Building Construction Practices through the Application of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics

Abstract

The study ascertained how to enhance building construction practices through the application of artificial intelligence and robotics. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. This study was carried out in Enugu State, Nigeria. The population was made up of 297 respondents which comprises of 57 building technology lecturers and 240 final year-students of building technology in the University of Nigeria and Enugu State University of Technology respectively. Due to the manageable size of the population, the entire population was used as the sample. A 29-item Questionnaire was used in answering research questions. The questionnaire was structured on a five point likert response options of Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Undecided (UD), Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD). The instrument was validated by three experts. The Reliability of the instrument yielded a coefficient of 0.782. This shows that the instrument was reliable. Data collected was analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer research questions. Decision on research questions were taken based on real limits of numbers. Thus, mean rating of 3.50 and above were considered as agreed, while items with mean rating below 3.50 were considered as disagreed. The study found that application of artificial intelligence and robotics will improve the building construction practices in Nigeria in several ways including: AI-driven systems can perform tasks with unmatched precision and speed, significantly accelerating construction processes and robots can perform tasks with unmatched precision and speed, significantly accelerating construction processes. The construction stakeholders and companies should prioritize investment based on areas where AI and robotics can have the most impact on their company’s unique needs.