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Building the Future: How PaceRobotics is Transforming Construction Efficiency

December 10, 2025

Video Transcript

I'd like to welcome Shrinivas Pai, who is the co-founder and CEO of Pace Robotics.

Shrinivas, welcome to the show.

Thank you.

Thanks a lot.

Well, delighted to have you here, uh, anxious for this conversation, but maybe you can ground us a little bit.

Give us the background.

Tell us a little bit about Pace Robotics.

Right?

So Pace Robotics is a construction robotics startup, uh, based out of Bangalore in India.

So we, we design, develop, and manufacture robots for building finishes phase of construction.

So this is a phase that is happening after your structure has come up.

Uh, so this includes your wall finishing, floor finishing, uh, ceiling finishing, etc. and we have currently developed a robot that can do wall and ceiling finishing tasks 10 times faster than what humans can do.

It brings the labor requirement down by 80%.

So earlier you needed 12 people to do 50,000 square feet of work a month.

Now you can do the same with 2 people.

And based on the labor cost in India, the cost comes down by 3 times, and we are expecting when we go to other parts of the world like Saudi where the labor costs are higher, the cost can come down up to 5x.

So I guess the first question, I think, uh, why do we need, uh, robotics in construction, but it seems, uh, pretty evident from the start, the cost savings is one of the most important.

Yes, so I would still put cost savings as a bonus of what is why robotics are needed because the real need is we don't have enough people.

In construction, and this is the present situation, but in the future, the next generation are not too keen on doing physically hard tasks, which is what construction is known for.

So how do we make construction a much more better, safer work environment which can attract the next generation.

How do we build more with lesser people and how do we bring the essential predictability to our construction process where I can know how much time I, I mean my estimates of time and cost are correct.

So robots can basically speed up the work, but more importantly can do more work with lesser people, which is the current situation.

We, we don't have enough people in construction, but our scale of growth is more than what we have done in the last 20 years.

So maybe talk to me a little bit about that efficiency, right, and, and what robotics are really bringing to the industry, right?

So, uh, as I was talking in the starting, our robots are doing 10 times faster work than manual work.

Uh, for example, a team of, uh, a painter and his helper is able to do somewhere around 200 square feet of work in a day.

Our robots can take you up to 2000 square feet of work in a day.

That is how we are bringing the labor requirement down and cost down.

And, and how scalable is that?

Uh, so, hardware scaling is always a challenge.

Uh, it would also depend on what business model we are looking at, uh, but, uh, we could say if.

Uh, today, just so we are from India, so I've looked at the Indian market more, and if I put India and Middle East together just for the current product that we have just to do the work which we are doing currently in these two markets in Taiwan cities, we'll need close to 20,000 robots.

So that is the opportunity we have today, and India is growing at a pace where in the next 5.

Years we are doubling the real estate what is there today.

So basically I'm saying instead of say 5000 robots I need in India, I'll need 10,000 in India, and Saudi is growing, Middle East is growing.

So 20,000 is the number today.

We are thinking it will go somewhere close to 40,000 just from this particular product, but then robotics opportunities are way more than this product what we have today.

So, uh you referenced a little bit earlier that you're a startup.

How have you validated the robotics model in construction?

Right, so we have currently been, so we are around 4.5 years old, from the time we started our first R&D process on this.

Of these 4.5 years we have spent close to 2 years at construction sites.

We have validated the project with 7 customers, 7 of the largest real estate companies back in India.

We have done close to 1000 square feet of internal trials and close to 30,000 square feet of pilots done with these seven customers.

So, the feedback that we have received from them is that we are already 5 to 7 times faster than manual work.

The quality has been approved.

By each of these 7 customers, uh, and we have also received orders as a result of these pilots.

So that, that in itself is a validation on the benefit that we have been able to show them to our pilot projects.

Great.

Well, we're at Cityscape Global 2025 here in Riyadh.

Maybe you could give us your view of how do you see the Saudi market, the Middle East, uh, market more broadly as an opportunity for robotics, right, right.

So like, like how I started with, uh, the labor cost in India and Middle East markets at around 2.5 to 3 times varying.

So in India is lesser.

India is one of the cheapest labor markets in your larger markets, uh, so.

The moment I take a product from India to these markets, the benefits or the value that I can offer to the developers here is 2.5 to 3 times what I'm offering to the Indian developers, while our costs remain largely the same.

And secondly, also what I heard today from, from one of my colleagues is that whatever we see in Saudi today did not exist.

I mean, 50% of what we see in Saudi today did not exist.

10 years, 15 years back, and what we'll see in the next 15 years is almost double to triple of what is there today.

So that is the opportunity that Saudi offers, and we think without robotics it will be really difficult to achieve the scale that a market like Saudi is trying to achieve.

So we feel robotics is the way forward and Saudi and Middle East is the place to be.

Shrinivas, thank you so much for joining us.

I appreciate the insight and a fresh perspective on robotics and construction.

Right, thank you.

Thanks a lot for your time.

My pleasure to be here.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Vince Molinari welcomes Srinivas Pai, the Co-Founder and CEO of PaceRobotics, a pioneering construction robotics startup based in Bangalore, India. The conversation centers around the innovative solutions that Pace Robotics is introducing to the construction industry, particularly during the building finishes phase, which includes tasks such as wall, floor, and ceiling finishing.

Srinivas provides an overview of how PaceRobotics designs, develops, and manufactures robots that can perform these finishing tasks at a remarkable speed—up to ten times faster than human workers. He explains that this efficiency leads to an 80% reduction in labor requirements. For instance, where 12 workers were previously needed to complete 50,000 square feet of work in a month, only two workers are now necessary. This shift results in a threefold decrease in costs in India and has the potential to reduce costs by up to five times in regions with higher labor costs, such as Saudi Arabia.

Vince and Srinivas discuss the critical need for robotics in construction, emphasizing that cost savings are just one aspect of the equation. Srinivas highlights the current labor shortage in the industry and the challenge of attracting younger generations to physically demanding jobs. He articulates a vision for making construction a safer and more appealing work environment while also enhancing predictability in project timelines and costs.

The discussion delves into the efficiency gains brought by robotics, with Srinivas noting that their robots can complete approximately 2,000 square feet of work in a day, compared to the 200 square feet that a traditional team can manage. He addresses the scalability of their technology, indicating that the Indian and Middle Eastern markets present significant opportunities, with an estimated need for 20,000 robots in these regions, a number that could double in the coming years.

Srinivas also shares how PaceRobotics has validated its business model through extensive trials and partnerships with seven of the largest real estate companies in India. With over 100,000 square feet of internal trials and 30,000 square feet of pilot projects completed, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, confirming that their robots are five to seven times faster than manual labor and meet high-quality standards.

As the segment concludes, Srinivas offers his insights on the Saudi and broader Middle Eastern markets, highlighting the rapid growth and development in the region. He points out that labor costs in these markets are significantly higher than in India, which enhances the value proposition of their robotic solutions. Srinivas expresses confidence that achieving the ambitious construction goals in Saudi Arabia will be challenging without the integration of robotics.

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