Yorkshire-based start-up Construction Automation has developed a bricklaying robot that has been put to work on its first test project: a three-bedroom house in the village of Everingham.

The company said its Automatic Brick Laying Robot (ABLR) has been four years in development. It can lay bricks, blocks, and mortar, and is thought to be the first robo-bricklayer that can build around corners.

Construction Automation co-founder David Longbottom said the robot will lay around 10,000 bricks over two weeks during the build.

People are still required to operate the machine from a tablet, to load bricks and mortar into the machine, and to tackle lintels, tie bars, the damp-proof course and pointing.

Co-founder Stuart Parkes said the robot promised improvements in productivity, quality, and health and safety. He added: “We use sensors to measure each individual brick and then to line it up, so it is precisely central on the wall. The sensors also align the edge of each brick to produce a perfect finish.”

Parkes has previously designed robots deployed in the nuclear industry and in laying undersea cables.

Last year, Sisk began trials of a robot designed to assist human bricklayers by removing the manual strain of lifting blocks, while robots are also central to the notion of construction using 3D printed concrete.