BLACKSBURG, Va., March 17 -- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University issued the following news release:

Each year, the construction industry builds $2.1 trillion worth of structures in the U.S., and more than three-quarters of those projects face delays, according to the Associated General Contractors of America.

One solution could be robots.

Virginia Tech researchers, in collaboration with Procon Consulting, are developing a coordinated team of robots, drones, and technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) sensing and computer vision designed to enable continuous, remote monitoring of construction sites. This coordinated effort - named by researchers Multi-Agent Robotic System for Inspection On Site, or MARIO - could n...