A bad use for robots: Replacing a human worker that can do the work just as well. A good use: Performing a task that makes human workers' jobs easier, without replacing them.

This Dusty FieldPrint robot by Dusty Robotics is in the good column.

What I've learned by working with contractors is that in residential construction, when the trades don't communicate, problems arise, time is wasted, tempers flare and costs rise. As examples, the framer puts a floor joist right where a toilet main is supposed to go. Or the plumbing crew is running late, so the sheetrock guys do their work and take off, then the plumbers have to blast holes in the sheetrock. These things result in rework and headaches for the general contractor.

In commercial construction, the stakes rise. You've got more people on the job, and all of the trades traditionally do their own layout (i.e., transferring the relevant parts of the architect's construction drawings onto the floor) down on their knees with a tape measure, lasers and chalk or paint. Layout can be a nightmare, and if you get one reference point wrong, you can inadvertently set up a cascading series of errors that all need to be corrected. Now the client's paying 10, 20 guys and gals to stand around, waiting for the problem to be fixed before they can get to their work.

In short, layout errors play a major role in cost overruns and construction delays. It's no exaggeration to say that simple marking errors can set commercial projects back by months.

That's where the Dusty robot comes in. Like the sports-field-painting robot we looked at here, it's a little droid that scoots around and lays down crisp lines. Dusty is loaded up with the construction drawings for all of the trades, and prints them on the floor, all at once.

Its "handwriting" is a font and thus perfectly legible. And it doesn't make mistakes or read drawings incorrectly.

To better understand the deep impact this tiny 'bot has, and how much easier it makes the jobs of the workers, listen to what the workers themselves have to say:

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"Dusty's laying out all the electrical, all the framing, mechanical, plumbing. We can see where everything's at, and collaborate with all the other trades," says Eric Rock, Superintendent. "Dusty eliminates all the rework. It reduces the timeframe of a job by at least a month, if not multiple months. I want it on every one of my jobs."