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FORTUNE.COM // DECEMBER 2019
building bridges, roads, or homes—is dirty,
physical, and dangerous. The sector is among
the leaders in workplace fatalities, with 965
job-site deaths in 2017, according to the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Investors think technology can fix some of
the construction industry’s downsides. Last
year they pumped $3.1 billion into tech start-
ups focused on everything from construction-
scheduling software to factories that churn
out prefab housing to robots like SAM.
“In the last three years, there’s been a big
transformation,” says Scott Peters, cofounder
of Construction Robotics, based in Victor,
N.Y., and maker of the SAM and MULE
robots. “Most people understand change
is needed.”
But with low profit margins, high risk, and
tight timelines, the construction industry is
notoriously cautious. Adding new technology
requires contractors to rethink how they do
their work, and that adds to the cost and risk.
“If there’s an accident, who is at fault?”
says Jose Luis Blanco, a partner at McKinsey.
“No one wants to be the first one when it
goes south.”
The push to use robots is, of course, still
in its early days. Although the
technology exists for certain kinds
of construction work, it isn’t there
for electrical work and carpentry,
which require more finesse. Price
is also a major stumbling block.
The robots sold by Construc-
tion Robotics, for example, cost
$75,000 to $500,000.
Even if construction executives
favor new technologies, getting
everyone else on board, from
foremen to frontline workers, can
be difficult, says Peters. Masons,
for instance, had some misgivings
about the SAM bricklaying robot
when it was unveiled at a trade
show in 2015 because some of
them feared losing their jobs. “You
got some people who were super
excited and other people who were
scared to death,” Peters says.
MULE has had a warmer
welcome from the International
Union of Bricklayers and Allied
Craftworkers. Its robotic arm can
quickly lift tools, stones, and concrete panels
of up to 135 pounds, eliminating physical
strain on human workers.
“SAM is a little bit different,” says Bob Ar-
nold, the national director of the union’s arm
responsible for job training, “because they feel
that it’s replacing them, and, in a way, it could.”
Despite those mixed feelings, the union
started training its members to use the ma-
chines. Over the past three years, Construc-
tion Robotics has deployed its technology on
165 job sites in three countries.
Other companies are also trying to gain trac-
tion with their construction-focused robots.
Hadrian X, by FBR in Australia, builds walls
for a complete home in a single day using
bricks that are 12 times as large as traditional
ones. Meanwhile, Toggle, in New York, makes
five-foot-tall robots that can lift heavy steel re-
bar used in concrete construction and manipu-
late it, while humans handle the final touches.
A host of Bay Area startups are also getting
in on the act. Doxel builds autonomous robots
and drones with 3D vision and artificial intel-
ligence that roll around and fly over job sites,
inspecting how much plumbing work has
been done and whether it was done correctly.
Technology from
Built Robotics
enables heavy
vehicles like
backhoes to drive
themselves—and,
theoret ically, to
get better at it
over time.
COURTESY OF BUILT ROBOTICS
