Robots get funded, geotech meets live data, concrete goes round

Construction robotics drew big money this week: ICON's multi-storey 3D printer, Origin's wall-finishing robot and All3's legged site robots. Hexagon is buying the geotechnical software maker Rocscience to feed live sensor data into engineering models, a Dutch start-up got €100M to recycle demolition concrete into new concrete, and a new EU project wants reclaimed building parts to get a 'beautiful' second life. Our focus: what BIM really is, and why it is not yet a digital twin.

• ICON, the US pioneer of 3D-printed houses, raises $200M to build multi-storey printers (ICON press release (via Pulse 2.0))
• Origin, a US start-up founded in 2025, launches a wall-finishing robot with $20M (Origin press release (via Pulse 2.0))
• All3 plans to send four-legged robots to a Koblenz housing site in 2027 (Stacker for The Infinite Loop by Nebius (branded content))
• Hexagon, the Swedish measurement-technology group, buys geotech software maker Rocscience for $535M (AEC Magazine)
• SL Materials (NL) gets €100M to turn demolition concrete into new concrete (International Cement Review (CemNet))
• EU project REVAIL wants reclaimed building parts to get a 'beautiful' second life in renovations (Eurac Research)
• SBB builds a digital twin of the whole Swiss rail network (Axiom (CAD/BIM blog))