There are many companies pushing the limits of the possibility of robotics in construction. One such company is Construction Robotics. Construction Robotics (CR) was founded in 2007 with the goal of developing affordable, leading-edge robotics and automation equipment for the construction industry. Construction Robotics’ first and flagship product is SAM100 (Semi-Autonomous Mason), a bricklaying robot for onsite and prefabricated masonry construction. SAM is designed to work with a mason, assisting with the repetitive and strenuous task of lifting and placing each brick. The mason continues to own the site setup and final wall quality, but with improved efficiency through the operation of SAM.
SAM can be thought of as a mobile prefabrication lab for brickwork. Builders can use SAM to build walls offsite or bring SAM on-site to get prefab quality while reducing shipping costs.
SAM in conjunction with CR’s 3D brick mapping software streamlines the building process from digital design to fabrication. The software automatically corrects for any variation in the as-built dimensions, allowing masons to resolve problems before beginning production. Complex and custom patterns can easily be executed by SAM.
SAM is constantly capturing and uploading a variety of data points, including the number, size, and placement of each brick, the date, time, and temperature, the mortar slump, bed gap, ambient RH, and more. CR’s software provides a real-time feed that allows for the monitoring of daily progress from anywhere and at any time, with detailed analytics displaying SAM’s performance.