Sam: One Robot, a Dozen Engineers, and the Race to Revolutionize the Way We Build

A true story of innovation, centered on a scrappy team of engineers--far from the Silicon Valley limelight--and their quest to achieve a surprisingly difficult technological feat: building a robot that can lay bricks.

Humans have landed men on the moon, programmed cars to drive themselves, and put the knowledge of our entire civilization in your back pocket. But no one--from MIT nerds to Army Corps engineers--has ever built a robot that can lay bricks as well as a mason. Unlike the controlled conditions of a factory line, where robots are now ubiquitous, no two construction sites are alike, and a day's work involves countless variables--bricks that range in size and quality, temperamental mortar mixes, uneven terrain, fickle weather, and moody foremen.

Twenty-five years ago, on a challenging construction job in Syracuse, architect Nate Podkaminer had a vision of a future full of efficient, automated machines that freed men from the repetitive, toilsome burden of laying bricks. (Bricklayers lift the equivalent of a Ford truck every few days.) Offhandedly, he mentioned the idea to his daughter's boyfriend, and after some inspired scheming, the architect and engineer--soon to be in-laws--cofounded a humble start-up called Construction Robotics. Working out of a small trailer, they recruited a boldly unconventional team of engineers to build the Semi-Automated Mason: SAM. In classic American tradition, a small, unlikely, and eccentric family-run start-up sought to reimagine the behemoth $1 trillion construction industry--the second biggest industry in America--in bootstrap fashion.

In the tradition of Tracy Kidder's The Soul of a New Machine, SAM unfolds as an engineering drama, full of trials and setbacks, heated showdowns between meticulous scientists and brash bricklayers (and their even more opinionated union), and hard-earned milestone achievements. Jonathan Waldman, acclaimed author of Rust, brings readers inside the world of the renegade company revolutionizing the most traditional trade.

Author: Jonathan Waldman
Publisher: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
Published: 01/07/2020
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.30w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9781501140594


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 09/16/2019
Kirkus Reviews 10/15/2019
Library Journal 11/01/2019 pg. 103
Booklist 11/01/2019 pg. 9

About the Author
Waldman, Jonathan: - Jonathan Waldman studied writing at Dartmouth and Boston University's Knight Center for Science Journalism, and worked in print, radio, and TV before landing in books. His first book, Rust: The Longest War, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and winner of the Colorado Book Award. His writing has otherwise appeared in The New York Times and McSweeney's. Visit him at JonnyWaldman.com or email him at JonnyWaldman@gmail.com.