Construction companies in the United States are turning to robots as a way to address one of the industry's most pressing problems: how to build more homes in less time with rising labor costs and a shortage of skilled workers.
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This trend comes in a sector already suffering from weak productivity, as the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) indicates that the productivity of the American construction sector declined by 30% between 1970 and 2024, while labor productivity in the American economy more than doubled during the same period.
The problem is becoming increasingly apparent in the housing market. The National Association of Home Builders’ Building Research Institute estimated that the shortage of skilled labor resulted in the failure to build approximately 19,000 homes for American families during 2024, causing a total economic impact of approximately $10.8 billion annually, due to increased project implementation costs and construction delays.
A robot that translates the blueprint into lines on the ground
One of the most prominent applications of robots in this field is automated planning devices for construction sites, such as HP SitePrint and Dusty Robotics FieldPrinter. These machines do not build walls or install roofs, but rather perform a stage that precedes construction work, which is the accurate transfer of information contained in digital plans to the site.
The HP SitePrint robot, for example, relies on two-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD) files. If the project is designed using a three-dimensional model, the data can be converted into a print-friendly file, then the file can be prepared and sent to the system.
Next, the robot uses a robotic total station to accurately determine its position, moves across the project floor, and prints the required lines and markings using ink.
This process allows for the drawing of interior wall positions, points, curved lines, and other elements that workers need during subsequent construction phases, instead of measuring and drawing them manually.
HP says its Sightprint robot can achieve planning accuracy of up to ±2 millimeters under specific operating conditions, while the accuracy of measuring ground deviations reaches about ±0.8 millimeters. The robot can also handle rough and uneven surfaces and avoid obstacles while moving.
The importance of this accuracy lies in the fact that an error during the planning stage may carry over to later stages of the project. If the location of a wall is incorrectly determined, workers may have to re-measure, make adjustments, or redo part of the work, which means additional time and cost.
HP indicates that automating planning processes can increase productivity up to 10 times compared to manual methods for certain tasks, and presents use cases where specific projects have achieved cost reductions or significant accelerations in planning execution. However, these figures represent results or estimates related to specific tasks and projects, and do not imply that the overall cost of building a house will decrease tenfold.
Where do robots fit into the labor crisis?
The main advantage of these systems is that they do not need to completely replace the construction worker in order to achieve economic benefit. The robot can perform repetitive tasks, such as drawing hundreds of lines and points, while workers take on tasks that require field experience, decision-making, and dealing with unexpected circumstances.
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