University of Florida opens robotics lab for industrialized construction

The University of Florida (UF) has opened a new robotics lab dedicated to industrialized construction, housed within the College of Design, Construction and Planning's Bruno E. and Maritza F. Ramos Collaboratory. The lab is funded by a $1 million donation from Autodesk, which also names the facility as the Autodesk Design and Make Laboratory.

That lab aims to address Florida's severe housing shortage and the impending wave of retirements among construction workers. Industrialized construction, which relies on robotics and advanced manufacturing, offers a path to build more homes faster than the labor pool is shrinking.

The donation follows Autodesk's prior $1.5 million investment in 2024, which helped establish UF's Industrialized Construction Engineering (ICon) degree program. As the nation's first Bachelor of Science in this field, the program welcomes its inaugural cohort this fall.

The core focus of the degree is applying advanced manufacturing principles to building construction, shifting from traditional jobsite methods to precision, technology-driven, and sustainable processes. Students learn digital workflows like BIM, digital twins, AI, prefabrication, and real-time monitoring, and gain hands-on experience with a COBOD BOD3 large-scale 3D concrete printer and a dedicated 3D-printed demonstration building.

The new lab will use Autodesk's donation to purchase equipment, renovate spaces, and provide technical support, equipping students with cutting-edge tools and robotics. Florida currently faces a shortage of more than 121,000 homes and rental units, according to UF's Shimberg Center for Housing Studies.

UF's facility focuses on deployment-ready human-robot systems, where collaborative robots execute high-injury-risk tasks like wall framing and panel assembly, while skilled workers handle quality assurance and complex technical execution. This approach builds on six years of research by Dr. Alwisy, who manages the Smart IDC Lab at UF, and integrates multi-functional robotics, digital twins, and Building Information Modeling (BIM) to advance modular and off-site manufacturing.

Graduate researcher Frank Xie is developing a computer vision system using digital twins modeled in Autodesk Fusion, allowing robots to 'see' a construction design and translate it into real-world assembly. This early-stage work highlights the lab's mission to accelerate such innovations as more students gain access to the space.

Chimay Anumba, Dean of the College of Design, Construction and Planning, said, 'The College of Design, Construction and Planning is most grateful for Autodesk’s tremendous support for the Industrialized Construction program and the naming of the Autodesk Design and Make Laboratory. This is a unique partnership that will leverage advanced technologies to transform the construction industry and enhance its productivity, safety, quality, and sustainability. The work done in the Autodesk Lab will develop new research outputs for the industry and enable our students to be better prepared for the future.'