Fastbrick Robotics says it can replace all construction jobs for low-rise buildings globally with just 150,000 of its robots.

The Perth company commissioned research into what its addressable market looked like and concluded that 140,000 to 150,000 Hadrian X robots could make all of the low-rise buildings estimated to be constructed around the world this year.

Of those, 90,000 to 100,000 relate to demand stemming from the brick and block construction sector, with the balance associated with alternative construction methods.

The research assumed a total low-rise construction market of about 30 million buildings to be built this year using 330 billion standard bricks.

Fastbrick (ASX:FBR) wants to own at least 2 per cent of that within the next five years, building 600,000 low-rise buildings a year.

The company expects that the reduced cost of using its robots over human labour, faster delivery time, safety and quality will allow it to “provide strong competition to alternative construction methods”.

It lists concrete tilt-up panel, timber frame, veneer construction, modular construction methods, and traditional manual brick laying as methods it can replace.

Construction of the robot started in the March quarter and is almost done.

A Fastbrick spokesman says they haven’t had any blowback from unions concerned about job losses.

“With this machine, the idea is that we’re streamlining the construction process. In terms of blow back from unions, the idea is to be able to work with the trades, and facilitate the process,” he told Stockhead.

“The tech is still under development for the moment. Our prototype is nearing completion, that’ll be in this quarter.”

Once the first Hadrian-X is built, the company will test the dynamic stabilisation technology before factory testing, then launching ‘build-1’ of the first outdoor construction later this year.

Fastbrick shares were up 2.6 per cent at lunchtime to trade at 20c.

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