Autonomous construction safety incentive mechanism using blockchain-enabled tokens and vision-based techniques

Abstract

Current incentive mechanisms for construction safety highly rely on intermediaries and massive paperwork, which lay a foundation for opportunistic behavior and poor performance in the long run. As a solution, this study introduces an automatic incentive mechanism that rewards contractors with Fungible Tokens (FTs) and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). Visual data of construction sites is processed through a computer-vision module, which reports safety performance. These reports are evaluated in a network of smart contracts, using a decentralized oracle network (DON), and token-based rewards are determined and distributed accordingly. Users can redeem their FT rewards or NFTs through an interactive front-end portal. The proposed method is successfully implemented through a synthetic case study to prove its feasibility. The proposed decentralized application (Dapp) provides a transparent, traceable, and immutable incentive mechanism that improves trust among stakeholders, and can be used as a template and expanded to fields beyond construction safety.