The math behind August Robotics is easy to quote. A four-robot fleet cut a data center floor's drilling cycle from 8 to 9 weeks down to 7 to 9 days. The machines held 99.97% placement accuracy across 90,000+ holes. One hyperscaler took roughly 80 weeks out of its construction program. These are the field numbers from a robot built in partnership with DEWALT, and they landed in a construction market that cannot find enough crews.
One robot, two brands, one CAD plan
August Robotics and Stanley Black & Decker's DEWALT brand unveiled the world's first downward-drilling, fleet-capable robot in January 2026. The unit pairs August's Lionel AMR base with a DEWALT drill rig and ships with both brand marks on the chassis. Twelve robots are now working in the field.
The workflow removes the human layout step. The robot pulls hole positions straight from the architect's CAD plan, marks each location on the slab, drills it, then measures the result independently. Because every hole is checked on its own, error never accumulates across a floor. That is how placement accuracy stays at ±1/8 inch (3.175 mm). The Robot Report followed the rollout and counted 108,000 holes drilled with 99.97% placement accuracy.
Why contractors care
The per-hole cost is where general contractors start paying attention. Drilling cost fell from roughly $60 per hole to about $20. In its first six months, the fleet generated 21,000 hours of labor capacity without a single new hire.
Timing amplifies the effect. Data center construction is the one slice of the U.S. commercial buildout still growing, while warehouse and factory projects stall on high interest rates, materials costs, and equipment delays, as the Wall Street Journal reported in July. The demand side keeps compounding: McKinsey puts data center capital expenditure at $7 trillion by 2030, a figure DEWALT cites in its announcement. As we wrote in July, the race for orbital AI compute capacity is heating up, and this is the terrestrial half of the same constraint.
The funding picture matches the momentum. In May, August Robotics closed a $30 million Series B led by Big Pi Ventures, with Blackbird, Skip Capital, Tanarra, Future Family Office, and GS Futures participating. The capital funds an EMEA hub in Athens, a data and AI research center in Melbourne, and expanded production.