Skanska Uses AI on a $435M Hospital Site | AI for CRE PLOT Daily From the AI for CRE Collective Tools Community Events Team Training Partner Subscribe Commercial Housing Construction Infrastructure All stories Covering how technology is changing the physical economy Partner Tools Community Events Team Training News ← News Skanska Uses AI on a $435M Hospital Site Skanska is testing computer vision and robotic layout technology to connect digital plans with construction progress on a major Florida hospital project. By Editorial Desk · Aug 31, 2026 Skanska is testing AI and robotics on one of its largest active healthcare projects, using technology to compare what workers are actually building with the project’s digital plans and schedule. At the Lee Health Fort Myers project Skanska is piloting Buildots, which uses 360-degree site captures and computer vision to track construction progress against the BIM model and project schedule. The contractor is also using Dusty Robotics on the upper floors of the development, turning parts of the building information model (BIM) into full-scale layouts printed directly onto the floor for construction crews. Together, the two systems create an intriguing link between the digital model and the physical jobsite. Dusty helps translate the model into instructions that trades can build from, while Buildots captures the resulting work and checks how closely construction is progressing against the plan. For a $435 million hospital project , that gives Skanska another way to spot potential problems before they turn into expensive delays. AI Watches the Build Buildots effectively gives project teams another set of eyes on the jobsite. Workers capture the site using 360-degree cameras. Buildots then uses AI to compare those images with the project’s BIM model and schedule, identifying what has been installed and how actual progress compares with what should have happened by that point. Overall, Skanska says the Buildots pilot is giving the Lee Health team objective information about construction progress, and helping it identify potential schedule risks earlier. That is a different type of AI deployment from many of the tools entering construction. Rather than summarizing documents, searching specifications, or generating administrative work, Buildots is analyzing the physical state of an active site. Its underlying question is extremely practical - what has actually been built? Buildots describes its wider platform as comparing site captures against BIM and schedule data - to track installation progress, production rates, and sequencing risks. On a complex hospital project, the appeal of that kind of visibility is obvious. The Lee Health development includes a five-story, 416,000-square-foot hospital, a 125,000-square-foot medical office building, a central energy plant, more than a dozen operating rooms, and extensive specialist medical spaces. Hundreds of systems and trades have to come together in the right sequence, and - if one part of the build falls behind - the effect can quickly spread into work scheduled to follow it. Computer vision gives the project team a way to check progress using what is physically visible on-site, rather than relying entirely on manual reporting and periodic schedule updates. Printing the BIM Onto the Floor Skanska is also using Dusty Robotics’ FieldPrinter on the hospital’s upper levels. Dusty takes information from a coordinated BIM or CAD model, and prints the construction layout directly onto the floor . At Lee Health, Skanska says it is being used for drywall, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and other trade layouts - helping teams position MEP systems, medical equipment, and structural components according to the coordinated design. In practice, that means workers can arrive on a floor and see where elements are supposed to go, without manually translating every part of the digital model into tape measurements, points, and chalk lines. AI-generated photo illustration: AI for CRE. That is particularly valuable on healthcare projects, where mechanical and electrical systems can be dense, and specialist equipment often has tight installation requirements. To clarify, Dusty is not doing the same job as Buildots. One pushes information from the digital model into the physical site - the other brings information from the physical site back into the digital construction-management process. It’s that very combination which makes the Lee Health deployment particularly interesting. Closing the Gap Between Model and Site Construction teams have been using BIM for years to coordinate buildings digitally before and during construction. One of the biggest challenges remains keeping that digital version closely connected to what is happening on-site. Even a perfectly coordinated initial model still has to be interpreted and built correctly. And, once work begins, project managers also need an accurate picture of whether construction is keeping pace with the schedule. Skanska is using technology at both of those points. Dusty reduces the manual work involved in translating coordinated designs onto the floor. Buildots then gives the project team a more automated way to see how the resulting construction is progressing. That creates the beginnings of a feedback loop between what was planned, what crews were told to build, and what actually exists on the site. It’s easy to imagine that loop becoming even tighter as the technology develops. If the system identifies that a particular installation is falling behind schedule, project teams can intervene earlier. Over time, the same data could also feed scheduling systems, workforce planning, procurement decisions, and other construction workflows - without waiting for somebody to manually record every change in progress. With this setup, the BIM model starts to become more than a design and coordination resource. It can also serve as the reference point against which the live project is continually checked. A More Physical Role for Construction AI The Lee Health project is scheduled for completion in Q4 of 2027, giving Skanska plenty of time to assess whether the Buildots pilot improves how the team tracks progress and manages schedule risk. If it does, the use case could prove highly transferable. Large hospitals, data centers, life-science facilities, and other technically complex developments all involve huge numbers of coordinated components and tight construction sequences. The more complicated the project becomes, the harder it is for teams to maintain an accurate view of what has been installed, and what is falling behind. Systems like Buildots can give teams a much clearer picture of that progress, by analyzing regular site captures against the project plan and schedule. Combined with robotics that can take coordinated digital information directly onto the jobsite, it creates a much tighter connection between the original digital plan, and the physical building that’s actually taking shape. Skanska’s Lee Health project is a fascinating example of where construction AI could be heading - away from tools that only help teams process information, and toward systems that can observe the jobsite itself, and help keep the physical building aligned with the digital plan. 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