Image: Some of Built Robotics’ 40 employees (Built Robotics)
A San Francisco company is developing a new smart technology that can retrofit ordinary construction diggers, turning them into autonomous machines.
Built Robotics, founded in 2016, fits earthmovers with an artificial intelligence (AI) guidance system that combines GPS, cameras and lidar (light detection and ranging), with a software application that enables machines to operate on their own.
According to Built Robotics, its package can be installed on standard excavators and bulldozers from any equipment maker.
Now it has raised $33m (£26.9m) to fund development of the technology.
Customers can buy the conversion boxes, then pay for their use whenever a machine is switched to autonomous mode.
The company says its robots, which are designed to carry out basic digging and earthmoving tasks, have so far worked for more than 7,500 hours without an accident.
Noah Ready-Campbell, the company’s chief executive, said: “My dad was a carpenter and contractor, so I grew up around construction. In high school I worked for him renovating old houses, then went to work at Google after college.
“When I first started Built, he told me I’d better learn to operate equipment before I tried to automate it, so I rented a Deere 135G excavator and dug a pond in my family’s back yard. Soon after, I met Andrew, my co-founder, and six months later we got our first prototype up and running.”
