Construction Humanoids Summit

I attended a humanoids in construction summit last week. A room full of humans talking about how humanoids are the future! Ironic right?

It was great. Tables of peers all passionate about change. Inquisitive but also challenging lots of the ideals put forward by the speakers. We collaborated in groups looking at what, how and where the opportunities are. Thank you Vassos for putting the day together - it’s exciting and count me in on having my continued support. Let’s do this. Fast.

The big big takeaway - we need to grab this opportunity now. Other countries are further down the road but we have a window of opportunity to be a leader

George Smithies

Co-Founder @ innDex

It was great to be back at the University of Westminster ( my old uni) attending the first Construction Humanoids Summit, a thought-provoking event.
We heard from world-class academia and industry leaders in construction robotics including Prof Martin Fischer Stanford University and Dr Gilbert Tang Cranfield University

Led by IBE Humanoids, through a series of workshops, we explored scenarios, opportunities, and challenges associated with humanoids on construction sites.

It is clear that while humanoid robotics brings automation and collaborative working, progress can only be achieved alongside not instead of the human workforce.

One key question stayed with me and possibly Justin Stanton -
Should we be designing humanoid robots to mimic how humans work on site today, or should we be starting with a blank slate and re-imagining construction methodologies designed around embodied AI from the ground up?

This seems essential if we are to unlock the true productivity, safety, and quality benefits this technology can offer.

Thank you Vassos Chrysostomou, for creating this important industry collaboration.

This is no longer just a conversation ...

Ola Obadara

Vice President - Chartered Institute of Building

Group Director Property Projects City of London Corporation

It was a privilege to represent the National Federation of Builders at the Construction Humanoids Summit at University of Westminster to discuss with a broad range of industry leaders the challenges and the opportunities that these tools bring to our industry.

The key messages that I took home were:
1. These tools will impact our sites in the near future and their application will increase rapidly.
2. Successful implementation requires a systems approach to reviewing all our construction processes and procedures. Front and centre of this are all aspects of how real humans will effectively use these tools.
3. The nature of our jobs will change on site, but we should not be scared for our own jobs, provided that we learn how to use the tools to make ourselves more effective in our roles. The challenge of all of us is the pace of change that we have to accommodate.
4. There is huge opportunity for the early adopters who wish to understand how their businesses will morph to use these tools effectively to increase productivity, safety and quality and hopefully reduce their delivery costs.

The line up of speakers was fantastic, with thanks to Martin Fischer of Stanford University, Wei Ding of Noble Machines, Agnes Wamagui of Innovate UK Business Connect and a special thanks to Vassos Chrysostomou for pulling the event together.

Mark Wakeford

Chairman of EvoEnergy; Chairman of the National Federation of Builders

Robotics and humanoids aren’t a distant idea anymore – they’re already being tested in real construction settings, raising big questions about:

- Safety and productivity

- Skills shortages

- How humans and machines work together

Looking forward to Moulton College and Northampton College supporting this work and contributing to conversations that connect industry, innovation and future skills.

Massive thanks to Vassos Chrysostomou and the partners and organisers, including IBE Humanoids, Innovate UK, University of Westminster and National Federation of Builders

Not about replacing people. Very much about rethinking how work gets done.

Exciting times ahead

Jacqui Hughes

Head of Digital Innovation - Moulton College

What a fascinating day at University of Westminster for the Construction Humanoid Sumit 2026 - a great reminder that construction is the cornerstone of society whilst highlighting the challenges our industry faces in the coming decades.

Humanoids are in our near future - construction is being reimagined.

Thank you for the invite Vassos Chrysostomou - thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon, with a lot to consider and the future is very much on the horizon.

Rachel Meese-Kendall MA, BA (Hons)

Company Director at Crimewatch Alarms Ltd, Co-Founder at Kendall Construction Limited

Today I spent a very interesting afternoon at the IBE Humanoids Construction Summit in London. The session brought together researchers, innovators, and industry leaders from the University of Westminster, WMG, University of Warwick, Cranfield University, Stanford University, and Innovate UK.

Here is what stayed with me.

Martin Fischer from Stanford landed the most important point of the day simply: reduce variability. Construction has spent 30 to 40 years trying to improve processes. AI and robotics offer a genuine step change, but organisations may have to redesign workflows around repeatability and control. Robots do not fix broken processes. They amplify them.

Agnes Wamagui from Innovate UK set out why the UK opportunity is real and funded. The UK is world-class at robotics research but weak at adoption and commercialisation. Significant public investment is now in place to close that gap, with construction explicitly named as a priority sector.

Noble Machines made the case that in this emerging landscape, the software layer is where the real value will be built. Owning your own semantic intelligence and ontology, not just the hardware, is the competitive advantage that will define the leaders from the followers. We are at the early-computing stage of this technology. The Windows moment for humanoid robots is coming.

Construction is one of the most physically demanding, highest-injury, hardest-to-recruit industries in the country. The opportunity to change that is closer than most people think. Thank you for the invite Vassos Chrysostomou

Brian Moone FCIOB MRICS

Mace Business School Director

AI is already changing jobs, now robots are heading for construction…
But what does that actually mean for bricklayers? Is it a job threat… or the biggest opportunity we’ve seen in years? What we found might surprise you…

This isn’t just about replacing jobs it’s about reshaping the entire industry.

This week we attended the Construction Humanoid Summit at Westminster University to see it for ourselves. Because we’re not waiting around to see what happens. We’re getting ahead of it.

Thanks to Vassos Chrysostomou for bringing us into this eye-opening event
Robots might be coming… but construction is still built by people!!!

Garry Staines

CEO at Site Ready Solutions - MD at GSQ Brickwork

Something completely different today .. 1st Construction Humanoids Summit.
Thanks to Vassos Chrysostomou, full afternoon of insightful challenges .. how to reimagine construction, pushing behavioural and technical boundaries through beneficial adoption of humanoids .. his proposition, UK Construction has the passion and interest to rise to the challenge and take a lead.

David Hall

Passionate about the built and natural environment