Urban Machine
About
About Urban Machine
Urban Machine was formed in Oakland in September 2021 by Eric Law, Andrew Gillies and Alex Thiele. The company targets dimensional lumber that is normally downcycled or landfilled after building demolition. Rather than operating as a conventional wood recycler, it deploys a purpose-built robotic processing system at job sites and material-recovery facilities.
The Machine uses computer vision to locate metal, high-speed gantries and patented end effectors to extract nails, screws and staples from multiple faces of each timber, followed by metal detection to confirm the output is ready for reuse. Urban Machine offers the system through deployment and rental arrangements and is developing a distributed operating model for North American construction markets. A Zivid 3D camera supports the perception stack, while the company retains responsibility for the overall robot and reclamation workflow.
Products
Deployments
- Operating use
2024-05-01 - Suffolk Technologies initiated a pilot using The Machine to reclaim lumber from one Bay Area building for reuse in another. - Bay Area construction projects
Source - Customer site
2024-05-01 - Urban Machine reported installed collection racks and robotic lumber reclamation at Napa Recycling’s recovery facility. - Napa Recycling facility
Source
Supply
Supply chain relationships
- Zivid
Inbound - Perception - Urban Machine selected the Zivid 2 M70 camera for fastener detection in The Machine
Source
Team
- Eric Law - Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer
- Andrew Gillies - Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer
- Alex Thiele - Co-founder and Chief Product Officer
Timeline
Events
- 2024-05-01 - Deployment - Urban Machine pilots lumber-reclaiming robot with Suffolk
Suffolk Technologies initiated a pilot with Urban Machine to reclaim lumber removed from one building and prepare it for reuse in another Bay Area construction project. Urban Machine installed collection racks with Napa Recycling so the pilot could measure recovered wood and evaluate a repeatable salvage workflow. The Machine combines AI, cameras and robotic cutting to locate and remove metal fasteners from construction wood waste, helping turn recovered material into usable lumber.
Source - 2023-10-04 - Capability - Urban Machine selects Zivid 3D camera for lumber robot
The Machine uses a Zivid 2 M70 industrial 3D camera. The camera supplies point-cloud data used to locate nails, staples and screws. Zivid reported throughput of up to 16,000 square feet of lumber per day.
Source
Relations
Relationships
- Suffolk Technologies
Lumber Reclamation Pilot Provider - Urban Machine is piloting The Machine with Suffolk Technologies to reclaim lumber from one Bay Area project for reuse in another.
- Napa Recycling
Lumber Reclamation System Provider - Urban Machine works with Napa Recycling to collect and robotically reclaim construction lumber at its recovery facility.
Context
Shared workflows
- AMP
workflow adjacency - Recycling Material Sortation
- ZenRobotics
workflow adjacency - Recycling Material Sortation
- Built Robotics
workflow adjacency - Construction Robotics Companies
- Origin
workflow adjacency - Construction Robotics Companies
- Advanced Construction Robotics
workflow adjacency - Construction Robotics Companies
- Crewline
workflow adjacency - Construction Robotics Companies
- SkyMul
workflow adjacency - Construction Robotics Companies
- Raise Robotics
workflow adjacency - Construction Robotics Companies
- Rugged Robotics
workflow adjacency - Construction Robotics Companies
- Cosmic Robotics
workflow adjacency - Construction Robotics Companies
- Charge Robotics
workflow adjacency - Construction Robotics Companies
- Structured AI
workflow adjacency - Construction Robotics Companies
- Scope3D
workflow adjacency - Construction Robotics Companies
- Monumental
workflow adjacency - Construction Robotics Companies
- AUAR
workflow adjacency - Construction Robotics Companies
- Hardhat Robotics
workflow adjacency - Construction Robotics Companies
- TerraFirma
workflow adjacency - Construction Robotics Companies
- BAUBOT
workflow adjacency - Construction Robotics Companies
- Sitegeist
workflow adjacency - Construction Robotics Companies
- Partner Robotics
workflow adjacency - Construction Robotics Companies
- Gritt
workflow adjacency - Construction Robotics Companies
- TopTec
workflow adjacency - Construction Robotics Companies
- Legend Robot
workflow adjacency - Construction Robotics Companies
- Pace Robotics
workflow adjacency - Construction Robotics Companies
Context tags
- Robot OEM - Stack Layer - Verified against official or first-disclosure product and application evidence during 2026-08-10 enrichment.
- Recycling material sortation - Workflow - Verified against official or first-disclosure product and application evidence during 2026-08-10 enrichment.
- Construction robotics workflow - Workflow - Verified against official or first-disclosure product and application evidence during 2026-08-10 enrichment.
- Construction infrastructure sites - Customer Environment - Verified against official or first-disclosure product and application evidence during 2026-08-10 enrichment.