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Florida-based AI solutions company Levatas has equipped Boston Dynamics’ famous robot dog Spot with ChatGPT and Google’s Text-to-Speech model, allowing the robot to answer questions about past and future missions. Humans can talk to the adapted Spot model using normal language commands, with... View full entry
Pennsylvania-based Advanced Construction Robotics (ACR) has unveiled its latest robot designed to handle rebar on construction sites. Named IronBOT, the system can lift, carry, and place up to 5,000-lb bundles of horizontal and longitudinal rebar. According to ACR, the robotic system requires no... View full entry
Boston Dynamics has released a new video showcasing the capabilities of their humanoid robot Atlas. The one-minute-long YouTube video is set within a mock-up construction site, with Atlas seen assisting a human construction worker on scaffolding. Playfully titled ‘Atlas Gets a Grip,’ the video... View full entry
Rugged Robotics, a Houston-based developer of construction technology, raised $9.4 million in Series A funding. Similar to Dusty Robotics, Rugged offers a robot to automate construction layout. Rugged’s Mark I marks architectural and engineering designs directly onto concrete floors so workers know where to build. The robot is available for commercial use, which the company delivers via layout as a service (a derivative of Robots as a Service). — The Robot Report
The funding round was led by BOLD Capital Partners and Brick & Mortar Ventures, along with Riot Ventures, Morpheus, Embark, Consigli Construction Company, and Suffolk Technologies. This latest capitalization round brings the company’s full funding to around $12 million. Rugged Robotics... View full entry
A New York-based construction robotics startup that makes prefabricated rebar cages for concrete structures has announced that it has secured $8 million in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Tribeca Venture Partners and featured Blackhorn Ventures, Point72 Ventures, New York... View full entry
Foster + Partners has been exploring the use of Spot®, the robot 'dog' that can meander through construction sites to capture and monitor project progress. The architecture firm's involvement comes as part of Boston Dynamics' Early Adopter Program. Foster + Partners' Applied Research +... View full entry
Perth, Australia-based robotics company FBR – formerly known as Fastbrick Robotics – has built its first two-storey house using its Hadrian X block-laying robot, which has been in development since 2015. — Global Construction Review
According to Global Construction Review, "it was the first time the robotic block-laying approach incorporated steel reinforced concrete columns and a concrete floor slab placed atop the structure’s first story." View full entry
After months of testing by multiple general contractors, Boston Dynamics’ Spot the robot dog is being put to use in a real-world scenario, at the Denver International Airport’s multibillion-dollar expansion and renovation project. — Construction Dive
According to Construction Dive, Hensel Phelps employees have used the autonomous machine to perform multiple scans at the airport's Great Hall jobsite. Using Spot Walk, an application developed by Boston Dynamics, the robot can travel the same preplanned route to document project... View full entry
Autodesk Innovator of the Year Amr Raafat has teamed with a robot software company to develop an autonomous laser scanning and layout planning robot that is being used on Windover Construction work sites.
The robot is able to move around on uneven surfaces to predetermined locations to scan indoor and outdoor spaces, as well as to measure and draw plans for walls and spaces that would need to be meticulously measured by a human...
— Construction Dive
This new development allows workers more time onsite for more essential tasks, absolving them of the tediousness that comes with measuring and documenting site conditions. According to Construction Dive, Raafat explained how laser scanning can take up to 16 minutes per space, which can be... View full entry
China’s largest property developer by sales Country Garden is planning to start mass production of construction robots next year to cut costs and raise efficiency, it said on Friday.
The group, which started investing in robotics research and development in 2018, said it aims to have at least one robot at each of its sites across the nation.
— Reuters
According to Reuters, Country Garden Holdings Co. Ltd. has signaled its intention to invest more than $2 billion in robotics each year for the next five years to boost automation in the company's construction, agriculture, restaurant, and property management businesses. To showcase its... View full entry
Ziva is a two-wheeled, image-capturing robot that Casta describes as a temporary closed-circuit TV for jobsites. The robot, which can travel up to 11 mph and has a 12-hour battery life, utilizes cameras and facial recognition software to identify people and vehicles present and if they’re allowed to be in the area — Construction Dive
Developed by British company Casta Spes Technologies, the robot is designed for security surveillance and documentation of construction sites and can autonomously navigate the jobsite. View full entry
Construction software company HoloBuilder Inc. has announced a partnership with Boston Dynamics, maker of mobile robots, to develop SpotWalk, which the firm claims is a first-of-its-kind robotic document capture app for construction sites.
...the robot [can] walk around job sites autonomously and capture 360-degree images that record construction progress, thus creating digital, recordable data of the project over time.
— Construction Dive
According to Construction Dive, Hensel Phelps tested the new technology on a recent project and found its application to be efficient and time-saving. A spokesperson for the contractor said that the robot "removes a time-consuming step while providing accurate construction photos with a high... View full entry
The Australian company promoting the brick- and block-laying robot Hadrian X has entered a series of agreements with housebuilders in Australia and Mexico with a view to getting demonstration homes built.
Fastbrick Australia, a joint venture between Hadrian X inventor Fastbrick Robotics (FBR Ltd) and Australian building supplies company Brickworks Building Products, hopes the agreements will get traction for its “Wall-as-a-Service” concept in the two countries’ sizeable home-building markets.
— Global Construction Review
FBR's Hadrian X robots can build multi-room structures from 3D CAD models with no human intervention. In addition to new contracts with Australian and Mexican entities, the company has also inked deals with builders and fabricators in Saudi Arabia and Austria, among others. A recent... View full entry
According to the team's Kickstarter page, Scribit is a write-and-erase robot that allows you to draw any content sourced from the web—and update it in real time. See the video below for some words from Italian architect Carlo Ratti, the inventor of the new technology: View full entry
The 180-sqm, three bedroom, two bathroom structure was completed in under three days by Hadrian X, a new version of the robot. — Global Construction Review
Designed by an Australian company, Fast Brick Construction, the first version of Hadrian X was unveiled in 2015. Today the robot is capable of building and assessing a house from start to finish. Throughout its testing at the factory, it succeeded at completing a two-course structure, involving... View full entry
