In late 2022, Gravis Robotics emerged from a decade of research at ETH Zurich's Robotic Systems Lab, founded by a team of roboticists who recognized a critical gap in one of the world's largest yet most stagnant industries: construction. While global demand for infrastructure and building projects was skyrocketing, the sector faced declining productivity, an aging workforce, and severe labor shortages. The founders saw that traditional construction methods were failing to keep pace, and they realized the solution lay in transforming existing heavy machinery into intelligent, autonomous systems rather than replacing the entire fleet.
Gravis developed a groundbreaking retrofit autonomy platform that turns ordinary excavators, loaders, and other earthmoving machines into robots through their proprietary Gravis RACK - a rooftop sensor suite combining LiDAR, cameras, GNSS, and learning-based control systems that "feel the soil" through hydraulic data. Paired with Gravis Slate, an intuitive tablet interface, the technology enables seamless switching between autonomous operation and augmented remote control, boosting productivity by up to 30% while dramatically improving site safety. Within just three years, Gravis has deployed its technology across seven countries, partnering with industry giants like Holcim, Taylor Woodrow, and Develon, and securing $23 million in funding to accelerate its global mission of bringing autonomy to the trillion-dollar earthmoving industry.