Concrete Analysis | Use of robotics in property development will lead to new risks industry might not be fully prepared for

Hardly a day goes by without another headline in the press in China announcing the latest development in “proptech” – from drones to artificial intelligence to robotic building tools. Machines have been around for a long time, but they are rapidly becoming very sophisticated and able to undertake increasingly complex tasks.

When things go right they can save time and money on construction projects and can even drive up build quality. However, a big question that surfaces time and again is what if something goes wrong?

Although the failures of advanced robots might seem the stuff of science fiction, there are various scenarios to consider for those involved in construction projects. For example, when is the operator rather than the robot responsible for an error? If a defect has occurred it will still need to be demonstrated that the robot, rather than any operator using the robot, is at fault – and that may not be easy.

Who is responsible if inappropriate required inputs are used by the robot? For example, if the robot is laying bricks and a type of cement is specified that is different to the types that the robot has been tested with, who bears responsibility for this?

Who has designed the robot’s health-and-safety features and are they sufficiently integrated with site rules? Who is responsible if the robot has been hacked? Are the consequences something that the supplier is responsible for, or perhaps, a third party cybersecurity firm?

Who is responsible if defects result from a failure to maintain or repair the robot? Is the supplier responsible, or has a third party been engaged to do this?

And then there is the question of whether any liability attaches to an architect or engineer who has specified the use of a robot on the project. Has the defect, in fact, arisen because the robot should not have been used in the first place?