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Physical AIby Santi
ESEN
Ground vehicle (UGV/AMR)Commercial productCurrent generation

Dusty Robotics FieldPrinter 2

Layout robot that prints the coordinated, multi-trade BIM model at full scale on the slab: lines, arcs, text, points and QR codes. Dusty unveiled it in January 2024 and announced general availability in October 2024. Per the maker, accuracy is ±1/16″ (±1.6 mm) given accurate surveyed control; a Leica laser tracker on a tripod follows the robot up to 160 ft (49 m) indoors (120 ft, 37 m, outdoors), and it does not print in rain, in wind above 15–20 mph (24–32 km/h) or on slopes steeper than 5.8°.

Year
2024
Origin
United States
Autonomy
L2 · Guided autonomy
Dataset review
2026-11 · Methodology & evidence levels

What it does, and on what evidence

Five mandatory fields on every sheet. A product page proves neither commercial availability nor full autonomy: here we separate what has been documented from what is announced.

1 · Task
Mark the layout of walls, MEP, anchors, penetrations and callouts on the jobsite floor (mostly concrete slabs, also wood, steel or TPO membrane) directly from the model, instead of tape measure and chalk line. It can also measure slab elevation as it drives (Floor Elevation).
2 · Autonomy by task

Does on its own

Once stationed, it drives the slab and prints the selected content, guided in real time by the laser tracker; it stops for objects in its path (three infrared time-of-flight sensors, ~3 ft range), detects drops of 6 in or more with cliff sensors and routes around obstacles the operator has scanned. It keeps printing for ~1 s without tracker line of sight and alerts if the tracker moves.

A person steps in

The customer provides the surveyed control (usually set by a surveyor or the general contractor) and its VDC team prepares and publishes the file. On site, one trained operator makes the slab accessible and clean, sets up the laser tracker and robot (typically in under 30 min), stations on at least 3 non-collinear control points, scans unmodelled obstacles, chooses what to print, swaps batteries and checks the result; it can be driven with a joystick. Cliff sensors may miss narrow openings, so edge protection is still required, and it must not be left unattended on a slope. Positioning uses a laser tracker, not a total station.[Dusty Robotics][Dusty Robotics]

3 · Strongest evidence

Operational use2024-10-11

In the general-availability announcement (October 2024), the maker quotes early-access customers already using it on their jobsites: Mortenson says it completes layout faster than with the first generation, and Performance Contracting, Inc. points to sharper lines and better navigation. These are testimonials released by the maker, with no independently verified productivity figures.[Construction Owners Club, 2024]

4 · Access
Commercial product

Available in North America only, with usage-based pricing (paid per day of use on site plus platform access); no price is published. The equipment (robot, tracker, iPad) is shipped to the customer and returned at the end of the contract.

5 · Lifecycle
Current generation

Second generation, unveiled on 23 January 2024; per Dusty, the first had printed more than 91 million square feet of layout. The support documentation consulted in November 2026 describes it as the current model.

[Dusty Robotics][Dusty Robotics][PR Newswire, 2024][Dusty Robotics]

Spec sheet

Manufacturer maxima under declared conditions; not simultaneous. The test condition is shown under each value.

Weight
10.4 kg
with battery (23 lb); the robot kit ships in a 52 lb case and the laser tracker kit in another of 61–64 lb
Payload
Not published
Operating time
2 h
2–3 h per Milwaukee M18 5.0 Ah battery in continuous use; varies with drive intensity, obstacle density and print frequency. Two batteries are supplied and it supports hot-swapping without ending the print job
Top speed
1 m/s
autonomous travel between print areas with obstacle sensors on (0.6 m/s with them off); prints lines at 0.75 m/s and text and points at 0.5 m/s
IP rating
IP51
“equivalent to IP51” per the maker: protected against dust, not waterproof or rain-safe; damp surfaces are fine without standing water
Temperature range
-15 … 43 °C
whole system (robot, iPad, AT500 laser tracker and radio); 0 to 43 °C with the AT930 and AT930-NRT trackers. Water-based ink operates from −1 to 32 °C and solvent-based ink from −4 to 35 °C

Primary source quality: Manufacturer / operator

Backed by:[Dusty Robotics]

Taxonomy profile

Where the platform sits on the four axes of the reference framework.

Autonomy

Guided autonomy
  1. L0
  2. L1
  3. L2
  4. L3
  5. L4
  6. L5

Autonomous navigation on defined routes with basic obstacle avoidance.

Coordination

Standalone
  1. Standalone
  2. Coordinated
  3. Collaborative swarm

No inter-robot communication; each unit operates in isolation.

Control

primary: Supervised mission
  1. FPV
  2. Teleop
  3. Supervised
  4. BVLOS
  5. RL/VLA

supported: Teleoperation · Supervised mission

Perception

1 sensing modalities
  • Time-of-flight (ToF) sensors

Operating environments

  • Construction site

Sectors

  • Construction

Ideal business case

Multi-trade layout on new-build slabs

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