Apparently already happening...and coming here sooner than those articles suggest....ROBOTS THAT CAN LAY UP TO SIX TIMES AS MANY BRICKS PER DAY AS THEIR HUMAN COUNTERPARTS ARE ABOUT TO REVOLUTIONISE THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY. Construction Robotics, a New York-based firm, has developed a robot capable of laying 3,000 bricks per day. It is called Semi-Automated Mason, or SAM for short. The robot can get through a lot more work than what human builders average, which is 500 bricks every day. The robots have already started taking the place of human employees on sites throughout America. Construction Robots has plans to introduce them to UK construction sites within the next two years. Company president Scott Peters said that he was going to the UK soon to meet companies and arouse interest in SAM. While the robot can pick up bricks and lay them after applying mortar, SAM requires heavy supervision. Human input is still required to set up the robot, help lay bricks at challenging angles, and clear up. Some of the UK’s biggest construction firms are warning that automating the industry in this way will likely result in mass layoffs. telegraph.co.uk

thesun.co.uk