Construction Humanoids · Part of The Humanoid Group
Construction Robotics News, October 2026
Contractors report wider use of jobsite robots, investors are backing them, and printed apartments and robot-laid brickwork are now finished projects. These are the numbers and moves worth knowing before you plan a site.
Caterpillar teams with FieldAI on jobsite inspection and digital twins
· Partnership
Caterpillar announced a collaboration with FieldAI, whose robot-agnostic autonomy models turn jobsite data into insights. Early uses include autonomous safety inspections and digital twins of jobsites and facilities, built with NVIDIA computing. The release names no machines or sites, and FieldAI says it has deployments at hundreds of sites worldwide.
Why it matters: Equipment makers now treat inspection robots and site digital twins as part of the fleet. Contractors already scanning sites with robots should ask which data formats and machines the new tools will connect to.
Gravis Robotics raises $200M to make heavy equipment autonomous
· Funding
Gravis Robotics, an ETH Zurich spinoff founded in 2022, raised $200 million in Series A funding from SoftBank. It sells retrofit hardware and software that let excavators and other machines from makers such as Caterpillar, Hitachi, Volvo and John Deere work autonomously, with live 3D scanning of the dig and detection of people.
Why it matters: Retrofit kits can bring autonomy to machines a contractor already owns instead of waiting for new fleets. Ask how much of the work is supervised and which equipment brands are supported before pricing a pilot.
Monumental's brick-laying robots have now worked on more than 100 homes
· Deployment
Amsterdam-based Monumental runs a three-robot system that places bricks and mortar using cranes, grippers and computer vision, working as a subcontractor on live Dutch projects. It reports brickwork on over 100 homes plus a school, a hotel and canal walls, after a $32 million round in July led by Khosla Ventures.
Why it matters: Bricklaying robots are being sold as a service, not only as machines. A contractor short of masons can try one wall package without buying equipment, as long as quality checks are agreed first.
PERI finishes what is billed as Europe's largest 3D-printed apartment block
· Milestone
PERI 3D Construction printed ViliaSprint², a three-story, 12-apartment social housing block in Bezannes, France, using a COBOD BOD2 gantry printer. Walls and load-bearing structure were printed on site. The shell took 34 printing days instead of the 50 planned, with three site operators rather than the six a conventional shell needs.
Why it matters: Printing is reaching multi-family housing, not only single homes. Part of the gain came from design: curved walls used about 10 percent less concrete, so bring the printer operator into design early.
Tilbury Douglas starts a humanoid robot trial on live construction sites
· Deployment
Contractor Tilbury Douglas is trialing a humanoid robot, named Douglas, on live construction sites. It navigates on its own to capture 360-degree imagery, drafts progress reports and supports health and safety reporting. The company says it is the first tier one contractor to do this and expects to save about 40 hours a month.
Why it matters: The first humanoid jobs on site are data collection, not heavy lifting. Robot Finder on The Humanoid Group can simulate a walking route through your own site plan before you trial anything.
Brokk launches the 130+ demolition robot with a stronger breaker
· Launch
Brokk introduced the 130+, a compact remote demolition robot with a redesigned hydraulic powertrain, a new BHB 175 breaker and SmartPower+ control. The company says the new breaker delivers 20% more hitting force and 40% higher impact frequency than before, and that the machine has not grown in size.
Why it matters: Compact demolition robots are gaining breaking power without growing, which matters for interior strip-out through narrow doors and lifts. Check floor loads and attachment lists against the new specification before comparing quotes.
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