Promise Robotics, D.R. Horton ink deal for 1,250 homes

Promise Robotics was founded in 2021 and says it has integrated robotics, AI, software, and manufacturing systems to connect the homebuilding workflow, from design translation and production planning through automated manufacturing and onsite installation. Its Factory-as-a-Service model is designed to let builders tap advanced production infrastructure without owning or running it. The company is starting its FaaS facilities in Edmonton and Calgary in Canada and Phoenix, and it operates its own crews for what CEO Ramtin Attar calls a tight feedback loop.

Attar described the construction industry as large but fragmented, unlike automotive manufacturing, and said the workforce is split between businesses managing land, consumer houses, and seasonal trades. He said the company takes a distributed manufacturing approach, using microfactories, and has spent years developing a foundational model and systems around construction. Its software works with its own cloud-based simulations and KUKA industrial robot arms but is robot-agnostic, and incorporates computer vision, large language models for initial prep of data flows, and a domain-specific reasoning model.

The D.R. Horton deal follows that groundwork. Brad Conlon, senior vice president for strategic growth and innovation at D.R. Horton, said the integrated platform gives the builder a new capability to improve cycle times, increase production capacity, and bring greater consistency and predictability. Attar called the agreement a starting point and said the company needs to earn each customer's trust and execute, offering builders a journey to scale across many parts of the market.