New project aims to solve labour shortages in construction, manufacturing

A new project using mixed reality and artificial intelligence is being developed to help tackle labour shortages in the construction and manufacturing industries by making it easier to pass on specialist skills.

The project M.AI.ESTRO, short for Mixed-Reality AI-Enhanced Skills Transfer & Robotic Optimisation, is being led by the University of Malta and is currently in its conception stages.

Mixed reality blends the physical and digital worlds and is increasingly being used in industrial and educational settings.

The project was announced on Monday by Junior Minister for Research and Innovation Keith Azzopardi Tanti, during a visit to Construct Furniture in Luqa.

“We want to use research and innovation to create quality jobs and keep Malta at the forefront in a globalised world,” he said.

“This is a project that not only addresses a real challenge in our labour market, but also revolutionises the way we train our workers.”

M.AI.ESTRO is expected to take three years to complete and forms part of the national strategy under Malta Vision 2050. The government is investing over €100,000 in its development over the next three years. 

The project is being led by Prof. Alexei Dingli from the Faculty of ICT, who said the technology could help reshape the future of work.

“There will be a lot of change in the world of employment thanks to all the new technology,” he said.

“If we manage to do this, we will give a blueprint for the way other manufacturers can move forward.”

In its first phase, the system will use augmented reality to record skilled workers performing tasks. This footage will then be analysed by AI through imitation learning - a process that allows the system to replicate expert behaviour and explore ways to optimise it.

New employees will later be trained using the same system, gaining the necessary knowledge without needing to physically interact with the machinery.