Who will build the houses in the future? That question was what prompted the Doctor Jan Telensky, a crear WLTRthe robot that can now do construction tasks.
Such an invention requires a human operator and special bricks. Its acronym comes from Wall Laying Terra-Based Robotwhich in Spanish means Land Robot for Wall Construction.
“Walter” is a creation of the British company JT Lifestyle Homeswho set out to help alleviate labor shortage in construction in their country. To do this, they appealed to the great advance of technology, which is reflected in multiple areas. From sports, with Chinese humanoid robots that have already participated in half marathonsto urban transport, with the presence of robotaxis in cities like Austin, USA.
The robot that builds walls
The robot was presented in mid-May 2026 at a construction expo of the United Kingdom. The greatest ambition of its creators is for it to become a solution to the shortage of bricklayers in that European country.
Dr. Jan Telensky, CEO of the aforementioned company, told the agency Reuters what “Walter” works alone. “You just have to supply him with two pallets of bricks and he gets to work,” he indicated with some irony at the end of the sentence, since the device of counting on hands is far away. Instead it has an arm with which it transports the blocks and places them in the corresponding place.
However, not only does it require a human to serve as an operator, but it also needs bricks compatible with its grip.
Some time ago, Telensky – born in the now extinct Czechoslovakia – conducted a survey whose results strongly mobilized him.
“The average age of a bricklayer in the UK was 46, meaning no one is learning the trade. So in 20 years, Who will build the houses if a bricklayer is needed?«, asked.
Faced with that scenario in which he previewed a desperate uncertainty, his concerns led to such a product. They are based on business interests linked to a greater number of affordable housingaccording to its website.
The work of five bricklayers in a single Walter
“Walter” has a performance equivalent to that of five bricklayers and one apprentice per hour.
«What you see today is a robot Yaskawawhich normally makes Mercedes, Porsche and Jaguar, but is now building brick walls. He has all the plans in his head«, he told Reuters at the fair where he exhibited his creation.
Immediately afterwards, the businessman indicated: «the tolerance of the wall is two millimeters. Achieve that with a bricklayer… probably only 1% of professionals are that good.»
Likewise, Telensky was optimistic about hiring the robot operators. “We will not tell them ‘they will be bricklayers’but ‘robot operators building with bricks,» he stated. This difference was highlighted by the possibility of making employees feel like they were playing a video game.
“We can incorporate young people to work in construction because They prefer to work with robots than to do it manually«, he stated after mentioning another survey he conducted. It indicated more positive responses to the question «would you like to be bricklayers working with a robot?», as opposed to «would you like to be bricklayers?»
