Daewoo Engineering develops real-time AI translator for foreign construction workers

Daewoo Engineering announced Monday that it has developed a real-time AI translator designed to improve communication with foreign workers at its construction sites.

The company built the tool to address communication barriers arising from the growing share of foreign workers in South Korea's construction industry. According to the Construction Workers Mutual Aid Association, foreign workers accounted for 229,541 of the industry's 1.56 million workers in 2024 — about 14.7 percent of the total.

Rather than purchasing an off-the-shelf solution, Daewoo Engineering led the development itself in partnership with technology partner Lotte Innovate to build a system tailored to construction site conditions.

Drawing on Lotte Innovate's AI translation technology, the system reliably recognizes and translates speech in noisy site environments. It incorporates a construction-specific glossary reflecting the slang and technical terms commonly used on site, and allows supervisors to instantly add or edit new expressions as they emerge, making terminology management straightforward.

The translator supports up to 180 languages and applies real-time voice processing to minimize lag. It reduces the risk of mistranslation or omitted information and moves away from the previous practice of relying on a handful of crew leaders to interpret, improving communication efficiency between managers and workers. Daewoo Engineering is currently testing the tool at two smart-safety pilot sites: the Sewoon 633 Office project and the G-TOWN Development new construction site. The workflow is designed around site convenience: once a site manager opens a translation channel, workers can follow along on their personal smartphones during morning briefings and Tool Box Meetings.

The company expects the tool to improve workers' understanding of instructions and help prevent accidents during safety education and other key on-site communications. Managers can also monitor usage and update the construction glossary through a dedicated dashboard.

Daewoo Engineering chairs the Smart Construction Alliance, a Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport-led initiative, and is pursuing a company-wide push to expand AI and data-driven smart construction technology. The company is also advancing the industry's digital transformation through its in-house AI contract document analysis system "Baro-dap AI," communication solution "Baro-letter AI," and an AI-powered landscape design tool.

"This real-time AI translator goes beyond simple language conversion — it is communication infrastructure for securing worker safety and improving construction quality," a Daewoo Engineering official said. "As chair of the Smart Construction Alliance, we will continue to actively deploy a wide range of smart safety technologies on site and lead the way in building a digitally grounded, safe construction ecosystem."