BARRIERS TO ADOPTION OF TECHNOLOGIES WITH REMOTE OPERATION AND AUTOMATION ABILITY FOR CONSTRUCTION SITE OPERATIONS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

With the tightening of foreign worker policies, there is a need for the industry to accelerate adoption of technologies in their site operations, to improve site productivity. This study aims to improve adoption of technologies with remote operation and automation ability (R&A technologies) for site operations in Singapore, by identifying barriers to adoption among main contractor firms. The areas of focus are on the use of R&A technologies on site monitoring and structural concrete works. These technologies will enable employees to work remotely and can effectively reduce manpower onsite with automation. The objectives of this study are to (a) research on the available R&A technologies for the construction sector (b) understand perception of the industry on the use of such technologies in their site operations and (c) devise plans to encourage use of R&A technologies onsite.

A survey questionnaire was conducted, in which 40 responses were collected. An in-depth interview was also administered to enable clarifications to be made with regards to the survey responses collected. It was found that the top three barriers to adoption of such technologies are high capital cost, insufficient studies to ascertain the financial returns, and unjustifiable economic performance for implementation on low-cost value projects. Level of influence of entities and professionals were also identified. Based on these findings, solutions were recommended to improve adoption of such technologies onsite. However, it should be noted that the small sample size and broad scope of this study may limit the reliability of the results in application to the construction industry.