US-based construction robotics startup Buildroid AI is preparing to enter the home world. construction market following successful pilot projects in the United Arab Emirates and supported by $2 million in new funding.
Company executives say the technology is designed to coordinate multiple robotic pallets across entire trade sequences, using BIM-powered digital twins to test jobsite workflows before any hardware arrives on site. Buildroid plans to start its first projects in the US in 2026.
The startup, founded by construction technology veteran Slava Solonitsyn and automation engineer Anton Glance, applies modeling powered by Nvidia Omniverse to evaluate and optimize robotic operations at scale.
Solonitsyn said the approach is intended to address the historically low utilization rates that have hampered previous attempts to automate construction tasks.
“By running thousands of digital twin simulations powered by Nvidia Omniverse before ever sending a robot to a job site, we can identify the workflows that deliver the greatest impact and ensure viable economics from day one,” Solonitsyn said in the company’s announcement.
The start-up’s pre-seed funding round, led by venture capitalist Tim Draper, will support Buildroid’s first US activations under a shared savings model in which the company receives 50% of net efficiency gains and guarantees performance metrics related to performance and quality.
How the Simulation-First platform works
The initial business focus is on the installation of block and partition walls, segments that Buildroid identifies as persistent bottlenecks for general contractors. For this first application, Glance said Buildroid has integrated two types of block-laying robots and an autonomous mobile robot for material handling.
Buildroid’s block-laying robot lays a masonry unit during pilot testing, part of the company’s simulation-based approach to coordinating multi-robot construction workflows.
Image courtesy of Buildroid
Block placement systems can place units weighing up to 40kg and build walls up to 4m wide and 3m high, he said.
Buildroid software uses hierarchical task network scheduling for high-level sequencing and behavior trees for local task execution. The system performs iterative simulation cycles to validate plans based on cost, time, or number of robots.
“Validation occurs through multiple iterations of scenarios aimed at achieving the desired optimization function,” Glance said in an email to ENR.
A central component of the platform is its BIM ingestion workflow. Buildroid has a plugin for Autodesk Revit that converts models to the OpenUSD format along with a YAML sequencing file and additional data.
Glance said the company can operate from LOD300 BIM inputs, but typically increases the detail to LOD400 or LOD500 in simulation, adding physical properties, textures and material attributes to better reflect field conditions. Once deployed, the system relies on a persistent digital twin to manage schedule changes and robot availability.
“If a robot goes offline or jobsite conditions change, the digital twin automatically updates the plan and redistributes tasks to keep the project moving with minimal downtime,” Glance said.
Pilots in the United Arab Emirates provided the company’s first real-world demonstrations. ALEC, one of the largest contractors in the region, confirmed active use of the technology.
“We are piloting Buildroid’s robotic block placement system at one of our sites,” said Imad Itani, head of innovation at ALEC. He added that the company intends to use Buildroid’s BIM-based simulation tools to test robotic workflows virtually and reduce risks before on-site deployment.
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Solonitsyn said the regulatory environment in the UAE allowed for rapid iteration during development, but launches in the United States will require more structured pathways due to state-level licensing and compliance requirements.
“Once we’ve matured our systems enough, we’ll launch into geographies where we have large GC partnerships,” he said.
Buildroid describes its platform as hardware agnostic and says it supports more than 40 types of robots, with plans to open up the system to additional manufacturers. The company is collaborating with vendors to build digital twins of plastering, concrete leveling, concrete polishing and painting robots for future integrations.
Mirada said robots with higher levels of autonomy integrate more easily, but Buildroid works with less advanced machines to improve their performance when needed.
Solonitsyn said the company sees block work as the entry point to a broader roadmap of multi-robot workflows across interior fit-out and eventually larger segments of the construction lifecycle.
“The goal is widespread adoption to increase productivity and operational efficiency in construction worldwide,” he said.
