Construction productivity has barely moved in decades, while demand for infrastructure, energy projects, and data centers keeps growing. 🚧 During my visit to @GravisRobotics in Zurich, I spoke with CEO Ryan Luke Johns about how the company is tackling this challenge. It's worth to mention that they raised $200M Series A from SoftBank at > 1 billion USD valuation lately! 💰 Their approach is to add an autonomy layer to existing heavy equipment, particularly excavators, helping operators complete more work with the same machines. What makes this especially difficult is that construction robots don't just move through the environment, they constantly change it. Every bucket of soil alters the terrain, and ground conditions can vary from soft dirt to frozen or rocky surfaces. To address this, Gravis uses simulation to model these complex soil dynamics and train autonomous systems to dig efficiently while adapting to changing conditions. Some of the hardest autonomy problems aren't happening on roads or in warehouses, but on construction sites, where machines need to understand and interact with an environment that changes with every move. ~~ ♻️ Join the weekly robotics newsletter, and never miss any news →