A New York-based robotics company has created the world’s first commercially available brick-laying robot – available to order now for $500,000, or £330,000. The bricklaying machine is called SAM, or semi-automated mason.
He added that the company has ambitions to expand and that if a British contractor is interested in buying SAM, his firm will find a way to deliver.
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Construction Robotics has been developing the brick-laying robot for eight years. After trialling SAM at several real-life construction sites in the US, including an ongoing Clark Construction contract at the Lab School in Washington DC, where SAM is currently on site (scroll down for video, below), the company believes the robot is developed enough to be sold.
Podkaminer added: “Of course, SAM will continue to be improved, but we are finally at a stage where she is working very effectively and efficiently.”
The machine will be available to purchase in two weeks
The company was established for the purpose of advancing the construction industry with robotic automation, and picked the repetitive task of brick laying as the place to begin.
According to Construction Robotics, a mason working with the latest iteration of SAM can lay up to four times the amount of bricks than they could working alone.
Podkaminer believes there will be great demand for SAM as the US, as with the UK, has experienced sharp increases in the cost of brick installation in recent years due to a shortage of skilled bricklayers.
SAM can be programmed to form a variety of different bonds, and create extremely complex patterns using different colours of brick. However, her creators say that she is most effective on long stretches.
Skilled bricklayers will therefore remain more effective on shorter stretches and will be need to carry out quality control on the work completed by SAM. At present SAM will not be replacing bricklayers on site, but will be acting a member of a team.
Podkaminer explains: “Your mason monitors wall quality, while SAM does the heavy lifting. Masons that haven’t worked with SAM are hesitant at first, but once they learn and work with the robot they, and realise it won’t take there job they are very open to it.”
According to Podkaminer, and reports in the Washington Business Journal, SAM has been well received on the Lab School site, with bricklayers taking pride in working with the robot.
He reports that one mason in his 60s has said that this will allow him to extend his career.
The commercially available robot follows news earlier this year that an Australian inventor had built a robot he claims is capable of building the brick shell of a house within two days.
Mark Pivac, an aeronautic and mechanical engineer, who created the robot named Hadrian, is currently in the process of commercialising his operation.
