Controlling image acquisition robots in construction sites

Abstract

Systems, methods and non-transitory computer readable media for controlling image acquisition robots in construction sites are provided. For example, a first image corresponding to a first point in time and a second image corresponding to a second point in time may be obtained. The first image and the second image may be analyzed to determine whether a change occurred in a particular area of a construction site between the first point in time and the second point in time. It may be determined whether a higher quality image of the particular area of the construction site is needed. An image acquisition robot may be controlled based on the determination of whether a change occurred in the particular area of the construction site and the determination of whether a higher quality image is needed.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A non-transitory computer readable medium storing data and computer implementable instructions for carrying out a method for controlling image acquisition robots in construction sites, the method comprising:
 obtaining a plurality of images captured in a construction site, the plurality of images comprises at least a first image corresponding to a first point in time and a second image corresponding to a second point in time, the second point in time differs from the first point in time;   analyzing the first image and the second image to determine whether a change occurred in a particular area of the construction site between the first point in time and the second point in time;   determining whether a higher quality image of the particular area of the construction site is needed; and   in response to a determination that a change occurred in the particular area of the construction site and a determination that a higher quality image is needed, causing an image acquisition robot to acquire at least one image of the particular area of the construction site.   
     
     
         2 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises basing the determination of whether a higher quality image of the particular area of the construction site is needed on an analysis of at least part of the plurality of images. 
     
     
         3 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises basing the determination of whether a higher quality image of the particular area of the construction site is needed on an analysis of an electronic record associated with the construction site. 
     
     
         4 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 3 , wherein the method further comprises:
 analyzing a progress record to identify a progress to at least one task related to the particular area of the construction site; and   basing the determination of whether a higher quality image of the particular area of the construction site is needed on the identified progress to the at least one task.   
     
     
         5 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 3 , wherein the method further comprises:
 analyzing a financial record to identify at least one financial transaction related to the particular area of the construction site; and   basing the determination of whether a higher quality image of the particular area of the construction site is needed on the identified at least one financial transaction.   
     
     
         6 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 3 , wherein the method further comprises:
 analyzing a project schedule to identify at least one scheduled task related to the particular area of the construction site; and   basing the determination of whether a higher quality image of the particular area of the construction site is needed on the identified at least one scheduled task.   
     
     
         7 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises basing the determination of whether a higher quality image of the particular area of the construction site is needed on an analysis of an electronic record associated with the construction site and an analysis of at least part of the plurality of images. 
     
     
         8 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the second image is an image captured using an image sensor permanently fixed to a first location in the construction site. 
     
     
         9 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the second image is an image captured using a wearable image sensor worn by a person in the construction site. 
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the second image is an image captured using the image acquisition robot from a first location in the construction site, and causing the image acquisition robot to acquire the at least one image of the particular area of the construction site comprises causing the image acquisition robot to acquire the at least one image of the particular area of the construction site from a second location in the construction site, the second location differs from the first location and is configured to provide higher quality image of the particular area of the construction site. 
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises, in response to the determination that a change occurred in the particular area of the construction site and the determination that a higher quality image is needed, updating an electronic record associated with the construction site based on an analysis of the at least one image of the particular area of the construction site. 
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
 analyzing at least part of the plurality of images to determine a type of the change that occurred in the particular area of the construction site between the first point in time and the second point in time; and   in response to a first determined type of the change, causing the image acquisition robot to acquire the at least one image of the particular area of the construction site.   
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
 analyzing at least part of the plurality of images to select at least one image capturing parameter; and   in response to the determination that a change occurred in the particular area of the construction site and the determination that a higher quality image is needed, causing the image acquisition robot to acquire the at least one image of the particular area of the construction site using the selected at least one image capturing parameter.   
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
 analyzing at least part of the plurality of images to determine a type of the change that occurred in the particular area of the construction site between the first point in time and the second point in time;   in response to a first determined type of the change, causing the image acquisition robot to acquire the at least one image of the particular area of the construction site using a first image capturing parameter; and   in response to a second determined type of the change, causing the image acquisition robot to acquire the at least one image of the particular area of the construction site using a second image capturing parameter, the second image capturing parameter differs from the first image capturing parameter.   
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
 analyzing at least part of the plurality of images to select a first image acquisition position; and   in response to the determination that a change occurred in the particular area of the construction site and the determination that a higher quality image is needed, causing the image acquisition robot to move to the first image acquisition position and capture from the first image acquisition position the at least one image of the particular area of the construction site.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
 analyzing at least part of the plurality of images to determine a type of the change that occurred in the particular area of the construction site between the first point in time and the second point in time;   in response to a first determined type of the change, causing the image acquisition robot to move to a first image acquisition position and capture from the first image acquisition position the at least one image of the particular area of the construction site; and   in response to a second determined type of the change, causing the image acquisition robot to move to a second image acquisition position and capture from the second image acquisition position the at least one image of the particular area of the construction site, the second image acquisition position differs from the first image acquisition position.   
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
 causing the image acquisition robot to acquire an image of a second area of the construction site, the image depicts no part of the particular area of the construction site;   analyzing the image of the second area of the construction site to determine whether to acquire the at least one image of the particular area of the construction site; and   in response to a determination to acquire the at least one image of the particular area of the construction site, causing the image acquisition robot to move to a particular image acquisition position and capture from the particular image acquisition position the at least one image of the particular area of the construction site.   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the acquiring of the image of a second area of the construction site by the image acquisition robot is performed from a second image acquisition position of the construction site, and the method further comprises analyzing an electronic record associated with the construction site to select the particular image acquisition position and the second image acquisition position. 
     
     
         19 . A system for controlling image acquisition robots in construction sites, the system comprising:
 at least one processor configured to:
 obtain a plurality of images captured in a construction site, the plurality of images comprises at least a first image corresponding to a first point in time and a second image corresponding to a second point in time, the second point in time differs from the first point in time; 
 analyze the first image and the second image to determine whether a change occurred in a particular area of the construction site between the first point in time and the second point in time; 
 determine whether a higher quality image of the particular area of the construction site is needed; 
 in response to a determination that a change occurred in the particular area of the construction site and a determination that a higher quality image is needed, cause an image acquisition robot to acquire at least one image of the particular area of the construction site. 
   
     
     
         20 . A method for controlling image acquisition robots in construction sites, the method comprising:
 obtaining a plurality of images captured in a construction site, the plurality of images comprises at least a first image corresponding to a first point in time and a second image corresponding to a second point in time, the second point in time differs from the first point in time;   analyzing the first image and the second image to determine whether a change occurred in a particular area of the construction site between the first point in time and the second point in time;   determining whether a higher quality image of the particular area of the construction site is needed;   in response to a determination that a change occurred in the particular area of the construction site and a determination that a higher quality image is needed, causing an image acquisition robot to acquire at least one image of the particular area of the construction site.