DEWALT and August Robotics Launch Downward-Drilling Robot
DEWALT and August Robotics announced a fleet-capable concrete drilling robot. We review the pilot data, CAD inputs, and deployment checks.
DEWALT and August Robotics announced a fleet-capable downward-drilling robot on January 20, 2026. The system targets repeated concrete drilling on data-center projects.
What DEWALT announced
The mobile robot combines DEWALT drilling hardware with August Robotics' navigation and fleet software. It drills floor anchors for server-rack stops and supports for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems.
DEWALT reported results from an ongoing hyperscaler pilot:
- more than 90,000 holes drilled;
- 99.97% location-and-depth accuracy;
- up to ten times the speed of manual drilling; and
- 80 weeks removed across ten data-center projects.
These are company-reported pilot figures. They should not be applied to another site without a time study and quality plan.
The January announcement said commercial availability was expected in mid-2026. It did not give an order code or a confirmed shipping date.
Drilling and control data
August Robotics lists a 1/8-inch location accuracy, maximum 1-degree hole drift, hole diameters up to 1-1/2 inches, and depths up to 14 inches. The platform supports rebar cutting and automated dust extraction.
Drilling points can be loaded from CAD or CSV data through a tablet interface. Multiple robots can share the workload through the fleet system.
Engineering checks before deployment
- Coordinate control: lock drawing revision, units, datum, and floor transform before releasing drill points.
- Hole specification: verify diameter, depth, allowable drift, and anchor requirements for each point set.
- Rebar and embedded services: define detection, approval, and stop-work rules before drilling.
- Dust control: validate extraction performance and filter service intervals for the actual substrate.
- Traffic separation: define work zones, obstacle rules, emergency stops, and manual recovery.
- Fleet data: preserve the source file, robot log, completed-hole record, and exception list.
- Acceptance test: sample hole position, depth, diameter, and verticality before scaling the fleet.
Why it matters for automation teams
The control problem extends beyond robot motion. Drawing control, coordinate transforms, site access, dust extraction, and quality records determine whether the drilling result is repeatable.
That same boundary appears in robot cells. Our guide to engineering a palletizing cell beyond the robot arm covers the surrounding controls. For the facility side, see data-center controls after the AI infrastructure boom.