The world of robotics is having its own revolution while everyone’s paying attention to chatbots, which means you might be caught by surprise in a few years when autonomous construction machines start putting up structures in your neighborhood. These are some of the coolest examples.
4
HK1500 by SuperDroid
A lot of construction work is simply hauling equipment or tools from one part of the work site to another, often through tricky terrain. The HK1500 might look like an overgrown RC car, but this six-wheeled robot packs a ton of technology. It can be directly controlled or work autonomously. There are numerous sensor option depending on how autonomous you need it to be and where it has to operate.
The bot has an internal storage bay, as well as rails where custom payload options can be mounted. It has a payload capacity of over 200lbs, and can even pull loads if needed. SuperDroid also states that the HK1500 can be set up to do site security, but I’m sure plenty of human construction workers wouldn’t mind having the physical stress of hauling their gear over rough terrain taken over by this cute little buggy.
3
Built Robotics Autonomous Construction Vehicles
Built Robotics has taken multiple traditional construction vehicles and turned them into fully autonomous systems. Using its technology, these machines can now excavate trenches and install solar piles (the deep steel poles needed to mount solar panels) with little if any human intervention. In this video you can see one of their excavators in action.
What’s really cool about this solution is that the company is offering to convert existing construction equipment and turn it into robots. So companies don’t have to replace the expensive equipment they’ve already invested in, they can just upgrade it to 21st-century cutting-edge standards.
2
Fastbrick Robotics Hadrian X
In what’s undoubtedly a cheeky reference to Hadrian’s Wall, the Hadrian X is a bricklaying robot. This system has been in the public eye for a few years, but early in 2024 it completed its first outdoor test build, and late in 2024 the robot set a “home in a day” record, as you can see here in this promo video.
This system knows exactly the number of bricks it needs, because it uses a CAD model as reference. It also doesn’t use traditional mortar, but instead a construction adhesive that glues each brick to the next. Park this robot next to the site, and it will relentlessly pick, place, and secure each brick until the entire house’s outer walls are done. Of course, this is just one small part of building a house, but imagine how cheap and plentiful houses could be if we had similar systems for the different phases and aspects of the build.
1
Construction Robotics SAM100
The SAM or Semi-Automated Mason is also a bricklaying system, but unlike the Hadrian X, this bot is designed to work alongside human construction workers. SAM has actually been around for more than eight years as of this writing, so there’s a decent chance it’s already working somewhere near you, or helped put together a building you’ve used or seen.
The SAM is mainly designed to alleviate the physical strain on masons, and I like the idea put forward by Construction Robotics that this would allow older, experienced masons to keep doing their job for much longer. According to the company, SAM can improve productivity three- to five-fold and free masons up to focus on quality control instead of actual bricklaying.
This is just a small taste of what’s to come and what’s already happening. All over the world we have housing supply issues, housing cost issues, and a looming construction worker shortage that has to be filled somehow to make up for the housing deficit in the USA. I think robots are likely to go a long way to helping more people find and afford somewhere to live, and that’s pretty exciting!
Before long we might be seeing robots in every walk of life, growing our food, treating us in hospitals, or just being awesome.
