Humans have landed men on the moon, programmed cars to drive themselves, and put the knowledge of our entire civilization in your back pocket. But no one from MIT nerds to Army Corps engineers has ever built a robot that can lay bricks as well as a mason. Unlike the controlled conditions of a factory line, where robots are now ubiquitous, no two construction sites are alike, and a day's work involves countless variables bricks that range in size and quality, temperamental mortar mixes, uneven terrain, fickle weather, and moody foremen.

We've landed men on the moon and programmed cars to drive themselves, but no one-- from MIT nerds to Army Corps engineers-- has ever built a robot that can lay bricks as well as a mason. Twenty-five years ago, on a challenging construction job in Syracuse, architect Nate Podkaminer had a vision of a future full of efficient, automated machines that freed men from the repetitive, toilsome burden of laying bricks. His daughter's boyfriend, an engineer, recruited an unconventional team to build the Semi-Automated Mason: SAM. Waldman unfolds the heated showdowns between meticulous scientists and brash bricklayers to bring readers inside the world of the renegade company revolutionizing the most traditional trade. -- adapted from jacket