Construction robots and robot dogs on UK sites: scanning, progress capture and patrols, and what a contractor should test

Yes. Mace and Heathrow used a Boston Dynamics Spot with a Trimble X7 laser scanner, nicknamed Dave, to scan a 1960s cargo tunnel being refurbished; Mace reports a 50% reduction in setting-out time on a job with 18,000 bolt fixings to set out, with the robot running missions, returning to its dock and uploading data. BAM Nuttall trialled Spot with a Trimble X7 on a remote site in Shetland in 2022, controlled over a private standalone 5G network covering a 55,176 m² site, as part of a government-funded 5G testbed with Attocore and BRE. In July 2026 McLaren Construction announced it would deploy Spot robots running FieldAI's autonomy software for 360-degree imagery, point clouds, progress verification, model-to-site deviation analysis, safety compliance patrols and quality assurance, after tests including the refurbishment of an LSE building at 35 Lincoln's Inn Fields. Historic England has also bought a legged robot and a mobile scanner for surveying. All figures are from the contractors' own publications, not Forge results.

Robots in the construction industry fall into two broad groups. Some do a construction task: layout robots that mark setting-out lines on slabs, bricklaying machines, ceiling-drilling robots and remote-controlled demolition machines. Others record the site, and that is where the robot dog sits: it carries the scanner or camera on a repeatable route. This guide covers the second group.

The robot is one capture method among several. The right answer on many sites is a mix: a surveyor for control, a drone for the outside, and a robot for frequent interior scans where it removes repetitive walking.

CDM 2015

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 require the principal contractor to plan, manage and monitor the construction phase and co-ordinate health and safety. A robot on site is work equipment brought into that plan: it needs a risk assessment, site rules for where it may go, segregation from moving plant, a trained operator, and inclusion in the site induction so workers know what it is and what it does. It is not a replacement for any duty holder's supervision.

The golden thread for higher-risk buildings

For higher-risk buildings in England, the Building Safety Act 2022 and the Higher-Risk Buildings (Keeping and Provision of Information etc.) (England) Regulations 2024 require prescribed information about the building to be kept digitally, accurately and securely. Repeat scans of what was built can support the as-built record. Whether and how they form part of the golden thread is for the client, principal designer and principal contractor to decide under those rules, not something a robot does by itself.

Information management

Most UK projects manage information under the UK BIM Framework, based on the ISO 19650 series, in a common data environment. Scans and images from a robot are information containers like any other: they need naming, status and a place in the CDE, or they become another unmanaged folder.

A terrestrial laser scanner or mobile LiDAR payload for point clouds; the scanner's own published accuracy, not the robot's, decides what the data is good for. A 360-degree camera for visual progress records tied to positions. A thermal camera where the job includes checking services, insulation or patrols at night. Lighting for interiors before permanent power. Every payload adds weight against the robot's rating, and scanner payloads are often among the heaviest a quadruped carries.

The output of a site robot is only valuable when it reaches the common data environment, the model comparison software, the issues or snagging tracker and, for patrols, the incident log. Most robots and scanners report into their own software, so someone downloads, renames, uploads and re-keys.

Forge Anvil is the integration software we are developing for this job: putting what the robot captures where the project team already works. On a construction site, the pattern we would scope looks like this:

Which construction systems Forge Anvil connects to (common data environment, reality capture, issue tracker) and how large point-cloud files are handled are scoped per project in the integration review. The general patterns are in our guide to integrating a robot with the software you already run.

Pick one project and one capture task that happens often: weekly progress scans of a multi-level interior, services installation checks, or night patrols. Choose the platform and scanner together from published ratings. Involve the digital construction lead, the site manager, the H&S lead and the surveyor from the start. Agree the measures:

Include an exit condition, for example if routes cannot be kept clear. That is how we structure a pilot programme. Robots for construction are often hired or rented by the week or month; a platform can also come through a demonstration, Robotics-as-a-Service where offered, or supply through Forge where that fits. Grant or innovation funding can sometimes contribute towards a suitable pilot, subject to eligibility and the schemes open at the time; it is never guaranteed and is assessed before a pilot is scoped.