Are Developers Ready For Construction Robots?

Perhaps you have heard that the commercial real estate industry is finally escaping its hidebound IT legacy. Perhaps you have seen or use some of the apps, IoT or analytics platforms aimed at the space. Perhaps you should speak with Altus Group Vice President Ross Litkenhous about the industry’s adoption of construction robots. He estimates the industry will begin to see mainstream adoption of these robots within ten years. “If it was a technology that was going to be rolled out in any other industry but commercial real estate I would say within the next five years,” he tells GlobeSt.com. But because it’s CRE I will say ten because we seem to still lag behind everyone else.”

It is not just acceptance that is needed for this technology but also a better understanding of it, Litkenhous says. In a recent survey for the company’s Real Estate Development Trends Report some 66% of respondents felt that the next technologies with the potential to make a significant, disruptive impact on development would be construction robotics as well as intelligent building design using artificial intelligence. At the same time, however, 65% of the respondents believed that 3D printing is going have to little to no impact on the development sector. The problem? Those two technologies go hand-in-hand, Litkenhous says. “Some robotics technologies not only use robots but also 3D printing — the robots are actually manipulating the 3D printing to build components that go into the buildings themselves.”

“What that tells me is that there’s a lack of understanding and education as to the capabilities of what is on the market now.”

This is unfortunate because the survey of 400 C-level development executives reported that their three biggest challenges were project cost escalation, trade labor shortages and the development approval process. While robots can’t help with the latter they can help keep costs down and smooth out labor shortages. “Construction companies are going to have to get smarter and that includes using technology such as robotics to help solve some of their problems,” Litkenhous says.

Perhaps the most iconic product for this market is SAM, short for Semi-Automated Mason, which is made by Construction Robotics in Victor, NY. SAM can lay about 3,000 bricks in one eight-hour work day, far more than a human worker. SAM is designed to work alongside masons doing the heavy work, not replace them, the company executives say.

Robots can be deployed in other aspects of construction including insulation and fireproofing, Litkenhous says. “Even rebar manipulations in building bridges; there are robotics companies out there who have successfully developed robots able to manipulate and tie the rebar.”

An example is TyBot by Advanced Construction Robotics, which can, as the company says on its website “tie rebar intersections continuously, day or night, rain or shine, without breaks or injuries.”

Clearly these companies are making traction and perhaps Litkenhous would be willing to shorten his timeline of mainstream industry acceptance but he also foresees a downturn in the medium term, which will loosen tight labor markets somewhat and which will keep firms from making huge investments in technology.

There is one tech area, though, in which Litkenhous expects developers to be early adopters: augmented and virtual reality that supplements quality data with the goal of allowing a developer to live inside of a project so he can feel the weather, see the traffic, smell the smells and hear the sounds associated with the building. All of this before you actually pour money into building a foundation. “We are starting to see some of this on the retail front and I think it will advance faster in development than putting robots on a construction site to throw up a building.”