Built Robotics

Built Robotics Inc. is a San Francisco, California based vehicular automation startup that develops software and hardware to automate construction equipment that was founded in San Francisco in 2016 by Noah Ready-Campbell and Andrew Liang. The company’s primary product is an AI Guidance System that converts regular construction equipment into autonomous robots through a combination of GPS, camera and artificial intelligence technology.
History.
Proof of Concept.
Built Robotics began attracting attention in 2018 as one of several new companies bringing automation to the construction industry, which had been relatively slow to adopt technical innovations compared to related industries.  Commentators noted that a dearth of skilled workers available to fill construction and heavy equipment operator positions, coupled with a need for infrastructure renewal and housing, were likely driving forces behind the industry’s adoption of new technologies.
Built Robotics claims to be among the first of these companies to deploy fully autonomous equipment, starting with three track loaders that could dig, move and grade materials autonomously.  Founder Ready-Campbell, a former Google product manager who studied software engineering and had previously founded another startup, Twice, got his inspiration for Built Robotics from his father, who worked as a carpenter.
CONEXPO.
At the 2020 CONEXPO-CON/AGG Convention in Las Vegas, the company unveiled a fully autonomous excavator, bulldozer and skid-steer loader and demonstrated its systems’ ability to remotely pilot machinery set up on a jobsite in Houston with keyboard commands.
Technology.
AI Guidance System platform.
The company’s primary technology is its “AI Guidance System,” which began development in 2016 and was first brought to market in 2018. The technology was first marketed as a solution in the excavation and grading business to enable excavators and bulldozers to function autonomously.
The company has since expanded its market to other business areas on the functionality that the AI Guidance System can be installed on different types of existing construction equipment, including dozers and skid-steers in addition to excavators.  The technology is generally adaptable to any machine with an electronically controlled hydraulic machine, as the AI Guidance System connects to the heavy equipment hydraulic system through electric-over-hydraulic (EH) systems.
Functionality.
The AI Guidance System in a combination of sensors such as cameras and GPS with software and firmware.  The system software utilizes artificial intelligence technology.
The AI Guidance system is considered to be fully autonomous.  Though it allows the existing equipment to maintain full manual operation capabilities, it adds the functionality for performing certain job site activities fully autonomously, such as digging trenches, excavating foundations, and grading building pads.  However, as with factory robots, human equipment operators must still manage the system’s operation, in this case by using a Built Robotics web-based platform to supervise and control the programs automating the equipment.
Safety.
Safety measures for the autonomous equipment is implemented by geo-fencing to confine operations to a specified area on the work site, accomplished through merging data from multiple cameras, GPS, and other equipment sensors.  Human operators also contribute a failsafe by managing the equipment operation through the platform and using shutdown or take over to manual operations.  Both the machine and the platform contain E-stop or "kill switch" buttons, implemented as a hardwired mechanical stop on the machine and as a wirelessly activated stop on the software platform to enable remote emergency stops.
Patents.
Built Robotics has a number of patents issued by the US Patent and Trademark office, including “Excavating earth from a dig site using an excavation vehicle;” “Obstacle detection and manipulation by a vehicle within a dig site;” and “Checking volume in an excavation tool.”
Company.
Financing.
Built Robotics is currently a Series B startup company, having been financed through two rounds of fundraising from private venture capital funds.  The company has raised a combined total of  $48 million USD through its Series A and Series B financings. Investors who have contributed to the financings include Next47, NEA, Founders Fund, Building Ventures, Presidio Ventures, Lemnos, and other investors.  Notable advisors of the company include Carl Bass, Jeff Immelt, and Justin Kan.
Markets.
The technology developed by Built has been deployed on job sites in multiple US states, which do not require regulatory approval for autonomous equipment used on non-public roads.  In March 2020, the company announced that it would be expanding internationally with the onboarding of its first Australian client, MPC Kinetic.  Notable customers and business partners include Black & Veatch, MPC Kinetic, Mortenson and Sunstate.
Labor Relations.
In March 2020, the International Union of Operating Engineers announced a formal partnership with Built Robotics through which the union will train its members to use the Built Robotics automation platform, citing a steady growth rate in jobs for heavy equipment operators coupled with an industry-wide shortage of workers.