SAM

From the author of Rust: The Longest War, a work of narrative non-fiction that chronicles the effort of an American robotics company to revolutionize the building industry with a brick-laying robot known as SAM.

One of the oldest industries in the world, masonry and brick-laying are an underestimated and underappreciated part of our society.

SAM short for semi-automated mason is a robotic bricklayer being used to increase productivity as it works with human masons. Able to lay three times the number of bricks than a human, SAM is already being used in various jobs. This is the story of the team behind the technology and the start-up company they founded.

Waldman has been awarded a prestigious Scripps Fellowship in Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado, and holds a master's from the Knight Center for Science Journalism at Boston University.