DroneDeploy has launched Progress AI, an agentic artificial intelligence solution that it says automates progress tracking using jobsite drone and 360 camera data to create reports in minutes.
Before we dive into this new technology, let’s cover some basic terminology.
What’s the Difference Between Generative AI and Agentic AI?
Unlike generative AI, like ChatGPT, agentic AI programs can autonomously perform tasks on behalf of the user, drawing from databases, networks and user behavior to improve their performance over time.
It has the “agency” to make decisions, take actions, solve complex problems and interact with external environments beyond the data upon which the system’s machine learning models were trained, according to IBM.
What is an AI Assistant vs. an AI Agent?
AI assistants are reactive, performing tasks at the user’s request; whereas, AI agents are proactive, working autonomously and using multistep AI applications to achieve a goal by any means available.
Last month, Benetics launched the “industry’s first AI voice assistant,” allowing users to log tasks, capture photos, report completed work, flag issues, track materials or assign follow-ups – all by voice.
DroneDeploy calls Progress AI “the industry’s first voice agent,” allowing teams to ask natural-language questions about site conditions using voice or text.
For example, a superintendent could ask, “How much did our drywall partner get done this week?” Progress AI will surface the facts directly from the previous night’s site capture, according to James Stripe, chief product officer at DroneDeploy.
How Does Progress AI Work?
Progress AI is powered by DroneDeploy's proprietary visual intelligence dataset, delivering high-resolution, survey-accurate visuals for the construction, energy, infrastructure and agriculture sectors. The AI model is trained to detect started and substantially completed work, track changes and quantify progress with human-level accuracy, continuously improving as more data is captured.
Leveraging advanced vision-language models – a step beyond traditional large language models (LLMs), Progress AI interprets visual data from drone flights and 360 walkthroughs to create “95% accurate” progress reports automatically. It can read text and understand what it sees to provide jobsite insights with accuracy, contextual awareness and speed, putting an end to manual updates, walkthroughs and field reports.
"With Progress AI, all project stakeholders can get a complete view of progress across every floor, every trade, in minutes, not hours," said Stripe. "Beta customers have already used Progress AI to track project milestones, validate pay apps and reduce trade conflicts without adding headcount or complexity. We expect these capabilities to scale rapidly as the solution rolls out across more project sites."
Key benefits include:
- Fast progress data: Within minutes of uploading 360 panos or processed aerial maps reaching completion, progress data, including percent complete by trade and location, is available.
- Accessible via voice or chat: Ask the agent any question about the project and it will tap its photographic memory of captured site conditions today, last month or two years ago.
- Lower cost than other progress tracking tools: DroneDeploy says Progress AI is “priced to scale and guarantees ROI on projects of every size, from tenant fit-outs to billion-dollar data centers.” It is ideal for superintendents, project managers and executives, VDC managers, operations leaders, owners, developers and capital project teams.
- Built on vision-language AI: Trained on billions of square feet and millions of acres of real-world data, Progress AI visually understands installed work, location, sequence and site changes with field-level context.
- Simple to use: BIM and schedule are not required. Once users walk or fly the site as usual, AI takes care of the rest.
“From progress validation and pay app reviews to trade scheduling and risk detection, Progress AI delivers objective, unbiased assessments of work-in-place. It replaces fragmented opinions with verifiable facts – direct from the jobsite,” the company says.
Progress AI is available for early access now through October, when it will be formally available as an add-on for all DroneDeploy Aerial and Ground customers.
