Session notes
AI & Robotics for Construction: key points from Session 08
Summary of AI Mavericks Session 08, held online on 23 September 2026 with Prof. Dr. Michael Leung, Co-Founder of EMEKO Robotics. These are notes from the recording, not a verbatim transcript. Each point links to the moment in the video.
Published 4 October 2026
Quick facts
- Session
- AI & Robotics for Construction, AI Mavericks Session 08, online
- Date
- 23 September 2026, 5:00 PM Qatar time
- Speaker
- Prof. Dr. Michael Leung, Co-Founder, EMEKO Robotics
- Recording
- Session 08 on YouTube
Key points
- Why construction is hard to automate (4:11): Michael Leung contrasted a stable factory floor with a construction site, which is complicated and changes all the time, so automation there is a bigger challenge.
- Tile-laying robot (16:54): A tile-paving robot lays a tile in about 56 seconds, against two to three minutes for a mason to get a tile as flat, level and aligned, so about three times as fast.
- Scan, model, plan (20:04): The robots work from a digital model: the site is scanned and modelled, and the work is planned on the computer before the machine starts.
- Retrain, not remove (24:25): He said people need to be retrained and reskilled to work with robots; the point is not to cut all the staff.
- What still needs people (32:54): Fine finishing and decisions when site conditions change still need human judgement, for example for a curtain-wall cleaning robot hanging from a roof.
- Robots watched by humans (52:54): Asked whether a person or AI monitors a painting robot, he said it is human in the loop: the computer plans the whole path and a person supervises.
- Lease rather than buy (1:02:23): For clients that want to start small, he said they tend to lease robots with training and ongoing service, which turns the cost into operating expense and needs no capital investment.
- Intelligent hoist and transporters (1:06:43): He described a construction hoist that talks to a transporter robot, so materials such as cement bags or tiles can be delivered to the right floor automatically, even overnight.
- Insurance and injuries (1:10:57): Insurance is taken out for the robotics work. He said the aim is to reduce injuries, for example from steel rebar tying, which causes back, knee and hand injuries.
- The crew for tile laying (1:14:04): A tile-paving robot needs a minimum of three people: a skilled operator who models on the computer, an experienced mason for fine adjustments, and a lower-skilled worker to mix the grout.
Watch from the key moments
- Why construction is hard to automate - from 4:11
- Tile-laying robot - from 16:54
- Scan, model, plan - from 20:04
- Retrain, not remove - from 24:25
- What still needs people - from 32:54
- Robots watched by humans - from 52:54
- Lease rather than buy - from 1:02:23
- Intelligent hoist and transporters - from 1:06:43
- Insurance and injuries - from 1:10:57
- The crew for tile laying - from 1:14:04
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