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FORTUNE.COM // DECEMBER 2019
TECH
Ekso Bionics makes robotic vests that support
a worker’s arms for jobs like drilling or install-
ing piping overhead. It also sells a robotic arm
that makes it easier for workers to use heavy
tools, reducing fatigue and injury. And Dusty
Robotics makes small autonomous bots that
roll around construction sites and mark lines
on concrete floors that indicate the location of
walls and infrastructure, based on construc-
tion documents.
Few companies are trying anything as
ambitious as San Francisco startup Built
Robotics. It sells autonomous technology for
bulldozers and other heavy equipment. The
tech can enable a Caterpillar tractor, among
others, to move dirt and lift pallets of wood—
all without anyone in the cab.
The “brains”—a combination of sensors,
intelligence, and cameras—are affixed atop
the vehicle’s cab inside what looks like a car
luggage carrier. Software engineers must work
with on-site contractors, who pay a monthly
fee for the technology, to program the autono-
mous guidance system for specific jobs.
Geofences—which tell the computer the
physical boundaries of a job site—and remote
kill buttons keep the vehicles from going
awry. Over time, with the help of machine
learning that analyzes their work, the vehicles
are supposed to get smarter.
Mortenson, a large contracting firm, is us-
ing Built’s autonomous technology on tractors
that move dirt and build roads at five wind
farms in rural Texas, Kansas, and eastern
Colorado. Covering 100 square miles or more,
the wind farms are ideal places for testing
such new technology, says Eric Sellman, a
Mortenson vice president.
“The robots keep getting better and better,
and smarter and faster,” he says.
This technology, Sellman says, makes job
sites safer by letting construction crews stay
clear of danger while they focus on other
tasks, such as planning. Workers are also as-
signed to oversee the bulldozers, often moni-
toring several machines at once, and then
verifying whether they’ve done a good job.
Sellman hopes that robots will ultimately
become a recruiting tool, encouraging more
young people to pursue careers in construction.
“There isn’t any rule book yet on how
robots and people will work together,” Sell-
man says. “But we know we need to start
teaching our people the skills now to prepare
for a future where we work differently and
work smarter.”
ROBOTS CEMENT THEIR PLACE IN CONSTRUCTION
Startups are working to automate different jobs within the building industry. Here are a few examples.
EKSO BIONICS
Its vest supports workers’ arms and
backs to provide superhero strength,
reducing fatigue and injury. A separate
robotic arm makes heavy tools seem
weightless.
BUILT ROBOTICS
A system of cameras, GPS, sensors,
and A.I. turns bulldozers and other
heavy equipment into autonomous
vehicles that can dig without human
operators.
F B R
This company’s Hadrian X robot has a
mechanical arm mounted on a truck
that builds walls faster than humans,
with bricks that are 12 times as big as
traditional ones.
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