One Big Circle, the Bristol-based ‘intelligent video’ firm, and UWE Bristol have secured funding as part of a consortium to create an innovative AI system aimed at keeping construction site staff safe at work.
Dubbed Computer-Vision-SMART, the system will harness the latest real-time image and machine-learning technologies to detect, recognise and track hazards on building sites. 
It will be able to identify different areas of risk level and then alert nearby operatives via IoT (internet pf things) enabled devices to take appropriate mitigating action.
The objective is to ultimately ensure safer working practices and achieve a ‘zero-harm’ target.
The consortium, which partners One Big Circle and UWE’s Digital Innovation and Enterprise Department with Northampton-based Winvic Construction, a main contractor specialising in the design and delivery of multi-sector construction and civil engineering projects, has received the funding from Innovate UK, the government’s innovation agency.
The success for One Big Circle, based at Bristol’s Engine Shed innovation hub, comes hot on the heels of it securing a final place in a Network Rail-backed SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative) competition to create safer environments in railway stations.
The two projects are part of the growing company’s bid to establish itself as leader in ‘industrial intelligent video’.
The firm has also developed and launched a AIVR (automated intelligent video relay) product to automatically capture video from onboard operational trains and vehicles and deliver data rapidly online to ensure safe and efficient working practices and maintenance.
One Big Circle founder and director Emily Kent said: “As specialists in intelligent video and integration, our purpose is to provide digital video and AI solutions to real-world challenges, especially in industrial environments, thereby increasing safety and enhancing operations.
“The power of a collaboration such as the Computer-Vision-SMART group means we can steer our digital video and computer vision expertise according to industrial need, working closely with others who are also experts in their own fields.
“We have been successful with this approach in highways and rail already and are very excited about working alongside Winvic and UWE in delivering this advanced capability for the first time in the construction industry.”
UWE associate professor and principal investigator Olugbenga Akinade said the project would enable the university’s Big Data Enterprise and Artificial Intelligence Lab to employ its expertise in computer vision and sensor fusion technologies to improve safety on construction sites.
“The project is pivotal to our strategy to push the frontiers of construction research and to address industrial needs using innovative digital technologies,” he said.
“The Innovate UK Smart grant provides us with a unique partnership opportunity with Winvic and One Big Circle to address a unique gap in the construction industry.
“We are convinced that CV-SMART will deliver a step-change which will enable us to explore the socio-technical overlap of behaviour-based safety on construction sites.
“The project will further mature our capabilities in delivering high impact research and to establish UWE Bristol as a business-facing university.”
Winvic technical director Tim Reeve said utilising intelligent digital technologies in construction to deliver projects more rapidly, cost-effectively and safely was a passion of Winvic’s.
“This forward-thinking health and safety initiative is truly ground-breaking. There is a clear gap in this area of construction safety, where social and technical efforts can successfully converge, and with the solution that has been conceived will come better opportunities than ever before to reach our zero-harm aim,” he said.
“It’s a very exciting time in the world of digital transformation, and our achievements over the next two years will generate a significant leap forward for safety across the whole of the construction industry.”
The project will run for two years. Its first deployment will be at Mercia Park in Leicestershire, where groundwork is already underway.
