Chris Staal – EC8 | Rethinking Plasterboard Installation With Robotics | Ep 20
NZ Innovation & Export PodcastShow Notes
What if one of the most labour-intensive parts of building a house could be digitised and largely automated? Chris Staal from EC8 explains how his Hamilton team developed its own measuring technology, software, robotics and delivery systems to pre-cut plasterboard before it reaches site. From roughly 50 measuring-tool prototypes to robotic heads crashing into each other and a rubber mat solving a stubborn dust problem, this episode is a practical look at what real-world innovation actually takes.
Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 1:19 Automating Plasterboard 5:30 How the Startup Began 11:00 Building the Measurement System 17:46 Solving Production Speed 21:27 Unexpected Engineering Breakthroughs 26:08 Building the Software Platform 28:07 The Logistics Challenge 30:54 What Builders Think 34:33 Patents and Protecting the Technology 35:46 EC8's Business Model 39:18 Turning EC8 Into a Technology Platform 40:48 International Expansion 43:11 Funding Hardware Innovation 46:07 Lessons From Five Years of R&D 47:53 What Keeps a Founder Going 49:50 Contacting EC8
Follow EC8 here: YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@ec8743 Website - https://ec8.co.nz/
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