AI and robotic arms flex new tech muscles to boost lagging home construction in Canada [Video]

Ramtin Attar is standing inside an unremarkable warehouse, in an ordinary-looking industrial park near Edmonton’s airport, looking at some robots he believes could be revolutionary for the construction business.

Attar is the CEO and co-founder of Promise Robotics — part of a small group of Canadian companies and researchers working on technology to help homebuilders catch up with innovation in other industries.

In front of him, a set of four robotic arms, like those found in auto plants, are assembling the walls, floors and roofs of houses.

Using artificial intelligence (AI), the arms are reading blueprints and, in a sense, thinking for themselves about what cuts to make, what pieces to nail together and where holes need to be drilled for wires and plumbing.

“So they can sort of on the fly decide what is the tool I need to use, what is the sequence of tasks I need to …