Demographic trends in Europe are posing a challenge to the construction sector, which is facing labour shortage, and an ageing existing workforce. This can be addressed through the integrated adoption of breakthrough technologies, e.g. autonomous vehicles, collaborative robotics, additive manufacturing, smart wearables, digital twin, and artificial intelligence, which can help to get construction tasks done with more efficacy, while at the same time making the sector more attractive to young people, and improving the safety, productivity, quality and environmental impact of construction projects.

BEEYONDERS will take a leap forward in the design, development, and integration of these breakthrough technologies in real construction scenarios, bringing together the capabilities of European stakeholders, thus also demonstrating how the dependency on technology import from outside Europe can be reduced. Solutions will be developed for supporting the integration of autonomous and tele-operated, ground and aerial robotic platforms and heavy equipment in harsh environments. Innovative additive manufacturing solutions will be developed for resource optimization and for protection of biodiversity in maritime works. Safety, wellbeing, and training of workers will be improved through the development of exoskeletons, advanced wearables, and learning resources supported by XR technologies. A Digital Twin enriched with AI-based layers for decision-making will support seamless integration and management of all Project technologies. These will be tested and validated in 6 demonstration case studies covering different project typologies: tunnels, earthworks for road construction, buildings, maritime infrastructures, and road maintenance. BEEYONDERS impact will be evaluated both from the point of view of users acceptance (e.g. benefits for aging workforce, attraction of young workers, contribution to gender balance in construction) and environment.

Our tasks:

• Development of Key Performance Indicators framework for impact assessment 
• Development of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Cost (LCC) models which will be used for circularity assessment of the implementation of new breakthrough technologies
• Impact assessment of the technologies in 6 pilot projects across Europe