INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGY
Autodesk and the University of Florida open advanced robotics industrialised construction lab
The most advanced robotics lab in the US dedicated to industrialised construction opens its doors this fall semester at the University of Florida, aimed at three converging challenges: Florida can’ t build homes fast enough to stay affordable, an estimated 41 % of construction workers will be at or near retirement by 2031 and hurricane-hit communities wait years to rebuild. In early testing, robots developed by the lab’ s research team point to the possibility of framing a set of houses in a weekend instead of months.
The Autodesk Design and Make Laboratory opens with a US $ 1 million unrestricted donation from Autodesk, announced by EVP & COO and University of Florida alum, Steve Blum, and becomes the new home of Dr. Aladdin Alwisy’ s Smart Industrialized Design and Construction Lab, spanning
UF’ s College of Design, Construction and Planning and Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. The gift builds on Autodesk’ s US $ 1.5 million investment in 2024, which helped launch the University’ s firstof-its-kind Industrialized Construction Engineering( ICon) degree programme, now welcoming its first cohort this fall.
“ The future of construction is in the hands of people in roles that don’ t fully exist yet. Every piece of technology we’ re building goes through rigorous testing and simulation in this lab first, allowing us to refine the details so that when it reaches a real jobsite some day, our work will help people build smarter, safer and faster. This lab gives our students the space to do that work first-hand and to help create the jobs that will come with it,” said Dr Aladdin Alwisy, Associate Professor and Lab Director.
“ The College of Design, Construction and Planning is most grateful for Autodesk’ s tremendous support for the Industrialized Construction programme and the naming of the Autodesk Design and Make Laboratory. This is a unique partnership that will leverage advanced technologies to transform the construction industry and enhance its productivity, safety, quality and sustainability. The work done in the Autodesk Lab will develop new research outputs for the industry and enable our students to be better prepared for the future,” said Dean Chimay Anumba, College of Design, Construction and Planning
What does this mean for Florida’ s housing shortage and construction workforce?
Florida is short more than 121,000 homes and rental units, according to UF’ s Shimberg Center for Housing Studies. Industrialised construction, which moves homebuilding into factory settings using robotics, digital twins and modular assembly, is one of the few approaches that can add capacity faster than the labour pool is shrinking.
Meanwhile, the interest in industrialised construction careers from the next generation is growing. In fact, Autodesk’ s AI Jobs Report found that more than 66 % of students want careers where they make things or work with their hands, up six points from 2024. Meanwhile, Autodesk’ s State of Design & Make report found that 61 % of professionals say new employees with the right technical skills are difficult to find, and another 58 % say the lack of skilled talent is a barrier to their company’ s growth. This lab exists to close that gap, training students for roles across the US $ 2 trillion US construction industry. x
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