Trimble Ventures Invests in Autonomous Survey System Civ Robotics

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Trimble Ventures, Trimble’s corporate venture capital fund, has invested in Civ Robotics, a San Francisco-based construction tech startup focused on transforming surveying layouts for civil engineering and infrastructure projects. Terms of the investment were not disclosed.

Civ Robotics will be showcased during the Trimble Dimensions+ User Conference held November 7-9 in Las Vegas.

According to Trimble, the investment into Civ Robotics supports Trimble Ventures' mission to invest in early and growth-stage companies that are accelerating innovation, digital transformation and sustainability in the industries Trimble serves, including agriculture, construction, geospatial and transportation. 

"We are focused on investing in companies that are seeking to address important challenges in markets that align with Trimble's mission of transforming the way the world works. Civ Robotics technology supports surveyors and field workers and helps remove the burden of repetitive and risky work," said Aviad Almagor, vice president, technology innovation at Trimble and technology advisor for Trimble Ventures. "Civ Robotics uses Trimble's high-precision GNSS positioning technology and surveying software to improve productivity and increase safety. This is an exciting opportunity to help accelerate innovation in autonomy, surveying and construction."

The ongoing challenge of a shortage of skilled workers within the construction industry leads to more issues with safety and productivity. Civ Robotics attempts to address some of these challenges with CivDot, a new autonomous surveying solution.

CivDot is an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) designed for civil engineering and infrastructure projects such as solar farms, roadways, data centers, power plants and more. The vehicle augments the surveyors’ work, marking thousands of coordinates and delivering layouts faster than traditional methods. CivDot can lay out up to 3,000 coordinates per day with 4-inch accuracy, the company says. The CivDot+ can lay out up to 2,000 coordinates per day with â…“-inch accuracy. Both vehicles are capable of navigating rough terrain. Various tire options are available. 

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"Trimble and our vision are in lockstep towards construction automation with a sharp focus on the highest standards of safety and quality," said Tom Yeshurun, co-founder and CEO, Civ Robotics, which announced its $5 million seed funding round last week. "Through Trimble's latest GNSS technology in our autonomous surveying products, our customers can benefit from an end-to-end workflow."

Apple Co-Founder Joins Trimble Dimensions+ Keynote

Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, will join Trimble CEO Rob Painter on the stage for the Trimble Dimensions+ keynote presentation.

The conference, which is three days of education, innovation and networking with Trimble users, customers, and product experts from around the world, will be in-person for the first time since 2018, running from November 7 - 9, 2022 at The Venetian in Las Vegas. 

Painter will kick off the conference with an inside look at how Trimble's Connect & Scale strategy. He is expected to showcase some of Trimble's technologies to demonstrate their positive impacts on the industries, projects, and people the company serves. 

Wozniak will join Painter on stage, sharing his journey from computer geek to entrepreneur and philanthropist.

The keynote will end with remarks from Almagor, who will provide a sneak peek at some of the emerging technologies being developed at Trimble, including robotics, autonomy, and artificial intelligence.