Australian engineer develops robot that can build house on two days

An Australian engineer has developed a robot that lays 1,000 bricks an hour - fast enough to construct a house in about two days, or nearly 150 houses a year.

The robot works by creating a 3D computer-aided design (CAD) laying programme of a house or structure, then calculates the location of every brick and creates a programme that is used to cut and lay the bricks in sequence from a single, fixed location.

The robot uses its 28-foot-long arm to put bricks in place and secures them with mortar, 'Popular Science' reported.

The robot, Hadrian, works for 24 hours straight, with its manipulator arm placing bricks fast enough to construct a house every two days, or about 150 houses a year.

Carried by truck, the robot is powered by either a generator or local power sources.

Mark Pivac of Fastbrick Robotics, which developed Hadrian, said that paying for labour from skilled human bricklayers adds tens of billions of dollars to home construction costs each year.

The new robot can lower costs by replacing human workers.

According to 'PerthNow', the robot will be commercialised first in Western Australia, then nationally and then globally.