The team behind the project at Canvas aims to revolutionize the construction industry with robotics.
Canvas currently focuses on installing drywall at large commercial construction sites larger than 10,000 square feet (3,048 square meters). Once that process is perfected, VentureBeat reports, the company aims to further develop its robot so as to allow for painting and spray-on insulation.
Canvas' founders claim that its robots operate faster than a human without a machine. While most robotics companies sell or rent their machines, Canvas' robots are operated by trained workers from the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades.
"[Canvas] is creating meaningful Union career opportunities, helping introduce previously untapped communities to the trades, and making the work itself safer and reducing the strain on the body," District Council 16 Business Manager, Robert Williams III, a third-generation Union painter, said in a press statement.
Plans for expansion
For now, the company only operates in the San Francisco Bay Area, though it aims to expand into other cities. With the ongoing pandemic and social distancing restrictions, the robotic and AI worker market has seen a boom in recent months.
Canvas' new investors, who have helped them raise $19 million, include Innovation Endeavors, Obvious Ventures, Brick & Mortar Ventures, and Grit Ventures.
In other robot news, Hyundai is reportedly in talks to buy Boston Dynamics, and ABB has developed a "next-gen" robot that can be used across a wide variety of industries for the so-called fourth industrial revolution.
Source: https://interestingengineering.com/automated-drywall-robot-works-faster-than-humans-in-construction
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