GoKawiil
Tech News
San Francisco startup PitPro Automation has installed a robotic tire-changing system in a Calgary tire shop, using two cube-shaped robots on a track with sensors and robotic arms to locate and store lug nuts. The company says the machine can complete a full tire swap in about 15 minutes, and it plans to expand into standardized chain stores and the broader Canadian market.
Homebuilders facing a shortage of roughly 1.2 million homes and hundreds of thousands of unfilled construction jobs are turning to robotics, but the real progress is coming from targeted tools like error-checking systems, trade-coordination software, and factory-built modules rather than humanoid robots on job sites. NAHB data shows residential construction productivity has grown just 16% since 1993, far behind the broader economy's 50%-plus gains, while labor shortages cost builders about $11 billion annually and add two months to build times.
Former Opendoor CEO Eric Wu has emerged from a year-long break to found a new company, now out of stealth since May, that builds AI-powered voice assistants for construction and field workers. The tool acts as a hands-free coach guiding laborers through tasks, aiming to address a labor shortfall the industry group Associated Builders and Contractors pegs at roughly 349,000 missing workers this year.