Drone reality capture ramps up to augment construction site workflows

Drone reality capture is quickly becoming standard operating infrastructure on construction sites, not just a marketing tool for milestone videos. At the Canadian Concrete Expo in Toronto, Skender’s Ben Stocker and Maple Reinders’ Adam Caldwell described how drones are now deeply embedded in construction workflows, supporting everything from site documentation and progress monitoring to thermal inspections, utility tracking, and material volume calculations. They noted that larger firms are increasingly running drone programs in-house, while smaller companies are still weighing whether they have the resources to build dedicated teams, even as more projects now include explicit drone budgets. The real shift, they argued, is not flying the drone, but knowing how to turn captured data into actionable outputs. High-accuracy mapping powered by RTK positioning and surveyed ground control points is becoming the baseline, enabling sub-inch site models that can be layered with design drawings, foundation plans, and utilities maps for faster decision-making in the field. Tools like panoramic photography, frequent automated capture routes, and emerging methods like 3D Gaussian splatting are pushing reality capture into real-time, photorealistic site reconstruction. The payoff is operational: crews can track rapid site changes, validate volumes, and avoid schedule delays by using drone-derived measurements instead of waiting for manual reviews.

Major Takeaway: Drone reality capture is evolving from a “nice-to-have” visual layer into a core construction workflow tool, where the competitive edge comes from integrating high-accuracy site data into daily decisions, overlays, and execution speed, not just collecting aerial footage. Read More

Robotics to the Rescue: Can Technology Boost Construction Productivity?

Construction has long been the outlier in productivity growth, and the article frames the sector’s stagnation starkly: while U.S. labor productivity rose 290% from 1950 to 2020, construction worker productivity fell 40% between 1970 and 2020. The piece argues that a new generation of smart machines, especially drones, ground robots, and autonomous monitoring systems, may finally begin to reverse that trend. Drones are already widely used for surveying and planning, with high-end systems generating detailed 3D terrain models through platforms like DroneDeploy. On the ground, uncrewed vehicles are supporting site prep and safety-critical tasks like detecting unexploded ordnance in Germany, while robots such as Dusty Robotics’ layout printer are reducing errors by marking floor plans directly onto concrete with high precision. Four-legged robots like Boston Dynamics’ Spot are being deployed for nightly progress documentation, and autonomous docked drones paired with LiDAR-equipped ground units are creating “living visual twins” of job sites that update in near real time. The article highlights measurable ROI, with DroneDeploy estimating $10,000 saved per $1 million of construction spend and insurers reporting claim values dropping by 40% for firms using continuous reality capture. Still, adoption remains uneven, only about 21% of U.S. contractors use drones, held back by training needs, data interpretation challenges, cost, and the industry’s chronically low tech investment. The future vision is broader autonomy: AI-driven “robo-foremen,” autonomous heavy machinery, and eventually humanoids, but with humans still connecting the dots for quality and judgment.

Major Takeaway: Robotics in construction is not about replacing crews overnight, but about shifting the industry toward continuous measurement, faster coordination, and automation that augments labor, and the real productivity gains will come from contractors who can turn site data into daily operational decisions, not just deploy new machines. Read More

Canadian Shipyard Turns to AI Robotics to Automate One of Shipbuilding’s Toughest Jobs

Vancouver-based Seaspan Shipyards is investing $1.5 million in Alberta’s Confined Space Robotics (CSR) to develop semiautonomous robotic systems for blast and paint operations, one of the most hazardous and labor-intensive tasks in shipbuilding. The robots will carry tools such as needle scalers, laser ablation systems, grinders, grit blasters, and spray-coating equipment, operating inside confined and high-risk spaces traditionally associated with toxic fumes, heavy particulates, and repetitive strain injuries. Custom software will guide path planning and task execution, allowing the systems to handle repetitive surface preparation and coating work with greater consistency and material efficiency. Seaspan framed the move as part of a broader industrial strategy tied to Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy, emphasizing safety, sustainability, and domestic advanced manufacturing expansion. While other global shipbuilders, such as South Korea’s HD Hyundai, have focused on humanoid welding robots to address labor shortages, Seaspan’s initiative targets blast and paint operations, a critical bottleneck in both newbuild and repair programs.

Major Takeaway: Seaspan’s investment signals that shipyard automation is shifting from headline-grabbing humanoids to targeted, high-impact robotics that reduce risk, ease labor constraints, and improve process consistency in some of the industry’s toughest and most overlooked jobs. Read More

About Lucid Bots

Founded in 2018, Lucid Bots is an AI robotics company that is committed to uplifting humanity by building the world's most productive and responsible robots that can do dangerous and demanding tasks.

Headquartered in Charlotte, the company engineers, manufactures, and supports its products domestically, which include the Sherpa, a cleaning drone, and the Lavo, a pressure-washing robot.

Lucid Bots' products are elevating safety and efficiency for a growing number of customers around the world. Lucid is a Y Combinator-backed company, with investments from Cubit Capital, Idea Fund Partners, Danu Ventures, and others. Lucid Bots was recently recognized as the fastest growing robotics manufacturer in the United States.
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