A new laboratory at the University of Florida is aiming to apply robotics and digital design tools to one of construction’s persistent challenges: building enough housing with a shrinking pool of skilled labor. The Autodesk Design and Make Laboratory opened this week in Gainesville, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the start of its first semester of operation. The facility is backed by a $1 million unrestricted donation from Autodesk and is described by the company as the most advanced robotics lab in the United States dedicated specifically to industrialized construction, building homes and structures in factory-style settings using robotics and modular assembly rather than assembling them piece by piece on a traditional job site.
According to the announcement, the lab responds to several trends affecting the construction sector in Florida. The University of Florida’s Shimberg Center for Housing Studies estimates the state is short more than 121,000 homes and rental units. Separately, the National Center for Construction Education and Research projects that around 41% of today’s construction workforce will be at or near retirement age by 2031. Autodesk also points to slow rebuilding timelines in hurricane-affected communities as a further pressure on the industry.
In early testing, researchers at the lab say robots they have developed have shown the potential to frame a set of houses over a weekend, compared with a process that traditionally takes months. Autodesk did not provide additional detail on the scope or conditions of these early tests.
From Research Lab to Degree Program
The facility becomes the new home of the Smart Industrialized Design and Construction (IDC) Lab, led by Associate Professor Aladdin Alwisy, and spans two of UF’s colleges: the College of Design, Construction and Planning and the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering.
The lab builds on an earlier $1.5 million investment Autodesk made in 2024, which supported the launch of UF’s Industrialized Construction Engineering (ICon) degree program. That program is enrolling its first cohort of students this fall, combining construction industry training with instruction in digital design and robotics tools. “Every piece of technology we’re building goes through rigorous testing and simulation in this lab first,” Alwisy said, describing the facility as a space to refine systems before they are tested on an actual job site.
A Collaborative Robotics Approach
Autodesk describes the lab’s focus as distinct from other university construction robotics research in that it centers on collaborative robots, or “cobots,” working alongside people rather than replacing them. In this model, robots handle repetitive physical tasks such as framing walls and assembling panels, while workers focus on quality control and tasks requiring hands-on judgment. Autodesk states this division of labor is intended to reduce worker exposure to some of the more injury-prone tasks on a construction site.
This approach draws on research Alwisy has conducted over six years into human-robot collaboration, including work on multi-functional robots, digital twins, and Building Information Modeling (BIM) for off-site and modular construction. As one example of ongoing student research, graduate researcher Frank Xie is developing a computer-vision system, built using digital twins modeled in Autodesk Fusion, intended to allow robots to interpret a construction design and translate it into physical assembly steps. Autodesk describes this work as early-stage.
Part of a Broader Workforce Commitment
The Gainesville lab follows a $350 million, three-year workforce and education commitment Autodesk announced in June. According to the company, that commitment is intended to give 60 million students and educators free access to its software, train close to one million people in AI-powered workflows, and support more than 200,000 people in earning industry certifications. Autodesk EVP and COO Steve Blum, a University of Florida alumnus, said in a statement that the university’s program addresses both the state’s housing shortage and its construction labor shortage through hands-on, technology-focused training. Dean Chimay Anumba of UF’s College of Design, Construction and Planning said the partnership is expected to produce new research and better prepare students for the industry.
