New advances in automation, data collection and the perils of too many pilot projects were the top line ideas at the first day of the 2021 ENR FutureTech conference. 

The dog-shaped Spot robot from Boston Dynamics will be available next year with a Trimble laser scanner and GNSS antenna built in, for an out-of-the box autonomous reality capture on jobsites.

Tool manufacturer Hilti is launching a semi-autonomous overhead drilling robot to aid overhead drilling, which is one of the most strenuous tasks in the building trades.

Construction software giant Autodesk has doubled down on a commitment it made two years ago, when then-new CEO Andrew Anagnost said it was a construction software company first, so making its tools work in an automated construction workplace is its future.

Researchers from the University of California at Berkeley and Harvard University have developed a working prototype of a robot that realigns its body to maneuver through tiny cracks to gather data.