Calgary can't build homes fast enough, and Promise Robotics thinks robots might be part of the answer. The local AI and robotics company just opened a 60,000-square-foot facility in the city's northeast that uses automated systems to manufacture prefabricated homes. It's the company's second robotic homebuilding operation in Canada, and the timing matters—experts say Calgary needs to crank out 9,000 more homes every year beyond what's currently being built just to get affordability back to where it was before the pandemic.

Promise Robotics doesn't expect builders to buy their own robots. Instead, its Factory-as-a-Service platform lets homebuilders tap into the company's automated production lines without the massive upfront costs of setting up their own manufacturing. The facility at 11575 Stonehill Drive NE has been churning out homes for Mattamy Homes Alberta Division since summer and can complete prefabricated units in a few weeks. CEO and co-founder Ramtin Attar says they're focused on industrial-scale solutions, not just pilot projects.

The company won a Gold Game-Changer award in CMHC's Housing Supply Challenge and is now expanding across North America. Alberta's Minister of Jobs, Economy, Trade and Immigration Joseph Schow showed up to the facility's opening, calling it "an important part of the solution to building more homes, faster." Promise Robotics is targeting both big developers and smaller builders who want to scale up without building their own factories.