Randek

A perfectly framed wood home is built—precisely as designed, in record time, and without drama, delays, or injury—by a team of two robots. This is the ZeroLabor Robotic System, the first multifunctional application of mass-produced robotics with the ability to produce framed buildings. The first one was installed by Norwegian forest products company Moelven at its volumetric plant in the Vämland region of western Sweden in 2016, and the plant saw productivity quintuple without any increase in staffing.

Swedish company Randek, which makes high-performance machines and systems for prefabricated house manufacturing in 36 countries and developed the world’s fastest wall line for Toll Brothers in 1992, is bringing its robotics revolution to U.S. production home building: Menlo Park, Calif.–based end-to-end modular construction company Katerra recently purchased three ZeroLabor units, to be delivered next spring.