The Tough Tech problem we are solving
Concrete is the world's most common building material, yet building with it is slow, labor-intensive, and carbon-heavy, accounting for about 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Concrete is shaped by casting it into a mold, or formwork, and strengthened with a separate reinforcement structure. Building these two structures is inefficient and quickly becomes prohibitively expensive for custom geometries, leading to overbuilt structures, slow build times, and limited design freedom.
About our solution
Apidae Forms addresses this challenge with a modular block system that robots assemble into a single structure serving as both reinforcement and enclosed formwork. By replacing separate rebar and formwork with one robotically built system, the technology makes it practical to construct optimized, material-efficient concrete structures, including custom geometries. A spinout of MIT now deploying with precast concrete manufacturers, Apidae Forms projects its system will speed up construction while substantially lowering embodied carbon.