News Strabag tests autonomous asphalt laying system in Austria Strabag has tested autonomous machines that can lay asphalt on a section of Austria’s A9 motorway between Graz and Slovenia. The units use satellite navigation and are able to recognise…
News Acciona robot creates floor layout ‘six times faster than humans’ Spain’s Acciona has trialled the use of an autonomous robot at the design layout of a hospital project in Portugal. According to the company, the machine was able to complete…
News Robotic factory to make 160 ashlar blocks a day for Turin-Lyon tunnel Webuild is setting up France’s first robotic ashlar-block factory to line the inside of Lot 2 of the Turin-Lyon high-speed rail tunnel. The company said the plant’s intensive automation will…
News Robotic micro-factories for housebuilding? April’s 21CC podcast The April episode of the 21CC podcast is out, featuring a play by Swiss high-tech manufacturer ABB to promote site-based robotic micro-factories for UK affordable housing. High-tech companies down through…
Innovation Robot builds dry stone walls all by itself A team at Switzerland’s ETH Zürich university has unveiled an autonomous excavator that can build dry stone walls from randomly shaped boulders and concrete rubble. It picks rocks from a…
News Broad Construction to build Australian robotics and manufacturing centre Australian contractor Broad Construction is to build a Robotics and Advanced Manufacturing Centre in the campus of a Queensland university. Technical and Further Education Queensland (TAFE) is working on the…
Innovation Hadrian bricklaying robot upgraded for US market Australian construction robotics company FBR has begun testing the latest iteration of its Hadrian X bricklaying robot. The machine now takes the form of a three-axle truck with a 32m-long…
Innovation Ferrovial adopts site “stakeout robots” for outdoor civil work Ferrovial has joined a number of construction firms using “stakeout robots” on its projects, including for outdoor civil works. The rolling machines draw full-scale plans on the surface or floor…
News US company successfully tests robot system to install solar panels American robotics and technology company Sarcos has completed a pilot project that uses robots to install photovoltaic panels. During the field trial, an autonomous vehicle with a Sarcos robotic arm…
Innovation Rebar robots team up to cut installation time in half Advanced Construction Robotics has followed its rebar-tying robot, Tybot, with the launch of Ironbot, a robot that can lift, carry and place nearly 2,300kg bundles of rebar in a transverse or longitudinal orientation.
News Hilti announces partnership with robotic company Canvas Liechtenstein-based equipment maker Hilti has announced a partnership with American construction robotics company Canvas to develop an automated drywalling solution. Hilti, which had a revenue of $6.5bn in 2021, will…
Innovation Grant funds study into human-robot collaboration in construction Five professors in Purdue University’s Polytechnic Institute have received $150,000 from the National Science Foundation for a year’s research on human-robot collaboration on construction sites. The researchers aim to create…
News Top five construction robots in 2022: doing our dirty work Construction robots moved on at pace in 2022. And – quite rightly – new robots’ focus was on the work that we don’t want to do, freeing up human resource…
News ‘Fleet of robots’ begin work on world’s largest printed community in Texas Construction has begun on the 100-home Wolf Ranch community in Georgetown, Texas, which is being printed by a“ fleet of robots”. The project was designed by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels…
News HP launches site printing robot HP has launched a site printing robot that marks up plans on construction sites, generating significant productivity gains.