Kicking Off Our Construction Robotics and Advanced Equipment Calls, Here is Why We are Going to Be Talking About Robots More than Ever

When they first launched, many of the products these companies featured may have somewhat resembled high school science fair projects and the path to commercialization seemed fairly doubtful. A recently published book entitled, SAM, by Jonathan Waldman, chronicles the efforts of sector pioneer Construction Robotics to find commercial success for their Semi-Autonomous Mason (SAM). Unfortunately, the book also offers a pretty harsh picture of why innovation is so challenging in an industry that is highly fragmented and has been characterized by short term-oriented organizations with little human or capital resources for R&D. Despite those challenges, buoyed by a sea of venture capital and investment by manufacturers and materials companies, many of this recent crop of robotics companies are starting to show real success.

Canvas: A Case Study In the Road To Commercialization In Construction Robotics

Founded in 2017 by veterans of Boston Dynamics, MIT, and Stanford, Canvas has raised more than $17 million from Silicon Valley venture funds including Endeavors, Obvious Ventures, Brick & Mortar Ventures, and Grit Ventures. Though founded in 2017, Canvas only recently began making its activities public, revealing that it had tested its drywall finishing robots on a host of projects and forming alliances with leading firms like Webcor that have, themselves, developed a strong infrastructure to support development efforts working with startups like Canvas. Representatives from Canvas and Webcor will be joining us on our Robotics and Advanced Equipment Call next week to help us understand better where Canvas is in its development, where the robotics sector, in general is in regard to the industry, and how companies like Webcor are benefitting both the startups and themselves through these types of partnerships.

Canvas is just one of many cases we'll examine throughout the year, as we look to understand how autonomous and smarter construction equipment and tools, robotics, and also 3D Printing companies are all advancing the safety, quality, and productivity of the industry. Many of the companies have already presented, and their demos have been catalogued, but the sector is moving quickly. Companies are adding to product lines, forging alliances with industry partners, and taking advantage of the increased dollars being funneled to the industry to enhance their products. If they aren't already on your job site, odds are getting better every day that they will be soon.