Robots constructing homes may sound like science fiction. Yet a Toronto-based startup aims to make this futuristic idea a reality within the next year, leveraging advances in automation, advanced manufacturing, cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI).

Promise Robotics was launched in 2019 by founders Ramtin Attar – a former technology lead at a multinational technology company – and Reza Nasseri, the chief executive officer of Landmark Homes.

The technology company, which also has operations in Edmonton, seeks to bring emerging technologies to the home building industry to address the industry’s biggest challenge: meeting the rising demand for housing amid a growing shortage of affordable homes.

“Our vision is really centred around using new technologies enabling the industry to be better,” says Mr. Attar, CEO of Promise Robotics and former head of technology pathfinding at Autodesk, the world’s leading provider of software for architecture, engineering, construction and manufacturing.

“At the core … we are dealing with an industry that is the second least digitized, yet it has such importance to our lives.”

While finance and manufacturing have embraced computer technology, radically altering their operation, the construction industry has fallen behind using emerging technologies, including robotics and AI.

“When we measure it at the industry level, it’s really lagging in terms of productivity, and when you add other considerations like affordability … We felt the industry was ready for disruption,” Mr. Attar says.

In particular, productivity in construction has fallen behind other industries, a 2017 report by McKinsey Global Institute found. It notes the industry’s labour-productivity growth averaged 1 per cent annually over the past 20 years. By comparison, manufacturing productivity grew by 3.6 per cent.

The report goes on to argue that by embracing new technologies, the construction industry could add US$1.6-trillion – 2 per cent of the global economy – to the US$10-trillion in economic activity it generates.

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