Gypsum industry news

US: USG has announced a strategic partnership with construction robotics company Canvas. The agreement intends to bring together USG’s expertise in building materials and Canvas’ experience in on-site robotics, notably in gypsum wallboard finishing. The companies hope to address industry issues such as labour shortages, schedule and budget overruns, quality inconsistencies and productivity and safety issues through their collaboration.

Canvas introduced its wallboard finishing machine to contractors in 2022. It can apply both level 5 and level 4 wallboard finishes. In contrast to manual application, the robot applies a single layer of joint compound over wet tape and telescopes to around 4.5m to do the vast majority of the work at height. It also reduces repetitive motion injuries and captures the majority of the dust produced by sanding.

Jonathan Hughes, USG’s Vice President of Estimating at Daley’s Drywall & Taping, said “As an early adopter of the Canvas machine, we see three clear benefits of the system: 1) it makes work safer for our tapers by eliminating dangerous dust, minimising repetitive motion injuries and reducing accidental falls; 2) the finish is amazing and consistent; and 3) the machine makes the work much faster, improving our productivity metrics and making us much more competitive.”

In March 2023 Canvas said that construction equipment manufacturer, Hilti, would now produce its robotic machines.

UK: The European Space Agency, University of Glasgow and others are using France-based Saint-Gobain's Bantycock, Nottinghamshire, quarry to test new drill bit designs for their Drill for Extensive Exploration of Planetary Environments Using Robots (DEEPER) project. The project aims to develop tens-of-metres-long spoolable drill 'strings' to help in the search for water on Mars. Researchers will use their prototypes to drill directly into the mine's gypsum deposits. Saint-Gobain said that the hydrated mineral gypsum provides a similar geological profile to that of Mars.

Gypsum wallboard production by Saint-Gobain subsidiary British Gypsum at its nearby Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire, and East Leake, Nottinghamshire, gypsum wallboard plants relies on Bantycock gypsum.

Denmark: Gypsum wallboard cutting robot producer Kobots is preparing to seek external investment via UK-based equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs. The supplier is seeking to raise Euro1.4m to fund international expansion. The company launched its Amigo robot in 2020. It was developed by Danish carpenter Peter Hartvigsen to automatically cut drywall using measurements entered in a phone app.

Amigo robots are currently delivering on a 40,000m2 gypsum wallboard cutting contract for the Lighthouse housing development in Copenhagen. The supplier says that its equipment eliminates the dustiest task in gypsum wallboard preparation for construction work. It has already secured a partnership with Australia-based James Hardie.

Developer Peter Hartvigsen added “Any company that has had a demo of Amigo has either purchased or leased the robot.”