[VIDEO] Robot bricklayers could be coming to UK with new startup

Monumental’s robot bricklayers can work as fast as a human stonemason and could be the answer to the UK’s construction skills shortage

A new startup has secured over £20m in funding to bring their design for robot bricklayers to more construction sites.

Monumental, an Amsterdam-based startup has announced a new $25m funding round to expand rollout and the team working on the robot bricklayer designs.

The robots use AI similar to that of self-driving cars

Previous attempts at creating bricklaying robots have produced expensive, bulky machines that could only lay a single type of brick or brickwork pattern and were marketed directly at construction companies, who would hesitate over six-figure prices for a single machine.

Monumental’s robot bricklayers are hardier and more compact, with rubber tyres that allow them to traverse construction sites with ease. Using artificial intelligence originally designed for self-driving cars means that the robots can navigate sites independently.

The robots have been built with more affordable hardware, which is reflected in more affordable prices.

The bricklaying robots can also lay more than one brick pattern, which will boost individuality in housing developments and may make contractor services more appealing to developers.

The robot bricklayers work in teams of three

One robot picks up bricks and another mortar, which they both bring to the bricklaying robot.

The bricklayer lays bricks and mortar autonomously and has two tower cranes to reach the top of a building from the ground floor.

The process does require a human for the pointing and smoothing the mortar, as well as fixing wall ties that anchor bricks to the building’s structure. To address this, Monumental currently sells brick laying services to construction companies rather than the robots themselves.

This comes with a human bricklayer to oversee and perform functions the robots cannot and services charges (by the brick laid) are comparable to that of a single human bricklayer.

The UK is facing a severe shortage of bricklayers

Whilst still much cheaper than previous robot bricklayers, Monumental’s robots still cost around $25,000(just under £20,000).

However, in light of skills shortages across the US, UK and Europe, anecdotal interest in the robot bricklayers is promising.

“One of the biggest surprises for us, is that we thought we would have to be slightly cheaper [than human masons],” said Salar al Khafaji, the company’s co-founder and CEO. “It turns out no one cares.”

Monumental’s robot bricklayers could complete jobs even faster than a human team, suggests al Khafaji, if deployed as a swarm of robots on a single job. The shortage of available human bricklayers means contractors may not be able to do the same with a human team.

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