[Grakel]

Mix mortar to the consistency of mashed potatoes and apply gently but thoroughly to two faces of a heavy, but brittle object, then place that brick into a corner with both faces with applied mortar of even thickness touching receiving faces at the same time, no lateral sliding. Press the brick gently into the corner and tap, making sure that it lines up perfectly vertically with a string line and horizontally with the other bricks, then wipe off excess mortar, creating a visually appealing groove, all while standing on a muddy slope. Best of luck, robots.

[XorNot]

https://www.fbr.com.au/view/hadrian-x

Brick laying robots already exist. This isn't a problem that can't be solved, it's a question of making it economically viable.

But the future is pretty obviously going to be skilled machinery operators overseeing the automation.

Even more interesting its once you automate like this the constraints start changing: i.e. it's easier to have a robot lay bricks with epoxy then cement, whereas a non automated work flow would struggle.

There's a Perth based company which has a prototype which basically will layout an entire house on a concrete slab via a boom arm that uses this approach: pallets go in, structured bricks come out.

[Grakel]

Yes, that system is discussed in the article, and it looks like it doesn't work very well. I doubt it can keep up with human labor.

I agree. It will happen eventually, but the bigger point here that is more related to to discussions on HN is that despite a lot of enthusiasm, machine learning and AI are still in the amino acid phase of evolution, and everything still sucks.

[novok]

It doesn't have to keep up with human labor, it just has to reduce the total amount of human labor. And slow today doesn't mean slow tomorrow. The residential dishwasher is a great example of this.

[arcanon]

I mean once the boston dynamics stuff gets good enough… it will. To be frank, I want my Jetsons robot maid.

[imtringued]

> Yes, that system is discussed in the article, and it looks like it doesn't work very well. I doubt it can keep up with human labor.

It works poorly, therefore bricklaying has been automated. The programmers won. The bricklayers won too. It's only Grakel with his weird bet that lost.

[polishdude20]

You can mention these same difficulty of tasks for soda can manufacture or a dozen other how its made videos. And yet, a lot of those processes that are just as complicated as brick laying, have been automated by robots.

[anigbrowl]

Key difference: you deploy a soda can robot in a factory. You have an enclosed environment with all of your inputs nicely set up.

For robot bricklaying, you can depend on the electrical supply. Everything else is a toss-up. I do think it's possible, but you don't choose your working environment or the weather conditions so everything is gonna be a lot more hassle.

[throwawayboise]

And then it starts to rain.