The construction robots are coming!

In 2025, the EIC will launch the Pathfinder Challenge: “Towards autonomous robot collectives delivering collaborative tasks in dynamic, unstructured construction environments.” This Challenge invites you to pioneer new frontiers in construction robotics—rethinking how machines operate, collaborate, and adapt in the complex environments of tomorrow.

Construction automation is evolving. Paradigm 1 focuses on incrementally automating existing machines and processes, building on established technologies. Paradigm 2, however, reimagines construction from the ground up, developing new machine topologies and collaborative strategies—both human-machine and machine-machine.

At the scale of buildings and infrastructure, mainstream industrial robots often operate beyond their intended capabilities. To advance construction robotics, we need bold, innovative thinking—challenging conventions while integrating the best of existing technologies. While Paradigm 2 drives radical transformation, it can still build upon the foundations laid by Paradigm 1, ensuring a balance between disruption and continuity.

Just as a collective of autonomous robots can achieve more than a single machine, this challenge can only be addressed when a range of diverse disciplines collaborates closely as a team. Even better: when collaboration extends across projects within a synergistic Portfolio, as we achieve through the EIC Pathfinder Challenges.

The construction robots are coming. Will you be the one to lead the way?

Call open: 28 July 2025
Call close: 29 October 2025
Budget: €30m
Up to €4m per proposal (or more if justified)

Read more about this Challenge in the EIC Work Programme 2025 (pages 41-45) and in the “Challenge Guide”