“AI-powered” and “20 foot robots” are not phrases that should be used in the same sentence. Also, surely leasing an autonomous robot for $20k a month is more expensive than leasing a regular machine and hiring a worker or two to operate it. Construction workers aren’t paid anywhere near $240k a year, and you’ll need someone with an emergency stop button watching the autonomous robot anyways.
the robot doesn’t need sleep, won’t get sick, and could (assuming they actually want to be competitive with human labor) require fewer safety precautions on the site (just make the entire area where the robots are as being hazardous and ensure that things won’t fall out of it) allowing for a roof to be constructed before the walls then building the walls underneath it.
You’ve never worked construction, at least not on the GC level. You’d be flabbergasted by how much human input and decision-making there is in any building. Constant discussions about constructibility, safety, value, coordination, and on an on. A lot of these discussion lean on experience of the construction team. Robots can’t replace experience of construction workers period. There’s far too many variables that robots or people who have never been “in the field” can’t account for.
Some parts of construction have been helped by automation (see layout robots, CNC cabinetry fabricators, etc.) but that’s drop in the bucket of a massive industry. The human element will not be removed from construction.
They keep trying that but they are not working out. Like all those pancakes concrete house printers. Just failing
