Close to 60 years later a start-up operation called Construction Robotics, based near Rochester, New York, came up with a software-programmed device that could build an entire brick wall. CR branded their creation SAM (for semi-automated mason), and in SAM: One Robot, a Dozen Engineers, and the Race to Revolutionize the Way We Build, Waldman chronicles the long hours, endless frustrations and arduous struggles it took to come up with a version of SAM that was viable. That meant a machine that was easy for contractors to operate and could function effectively in an outdoor environment (construction sites were terrible places for robots).

As he tells the story of SAM, Waldman supplies brief histories of the construction industry and robotic arms. He also highlights the almost primal connection we have with brick that we dont quite have with steel and glass.

Clay resonates, Waldman says. Around the world, across religions, mythology has it that God fashioned mankind out of clay. Like us, bricks are of the earth; like us, bricks breathe; and like us, each brick is imperfect but also good enough. Even in the 21st century, he adds, [b]ricks strike a sociological nerve, presenting a familiar, comforting fabric in our lives. Bricks make schools feel school-like and churches church-like.

The economics of construction with brick, however, are under pressure. Starting in the 1890s, with the introduction of steel as a construction material, [m]asonry went from fundamental from essential to just a veneer, Waldman writes. One result was an 80-percent reduction in the use of brick in buildings. Another was that masonry became more of a specialized trade.

While masonry accounts for only four cents of every construction dollar, building in brick is still a big business. Ten billion dollars worth of bricks are installed annually in the United States, Waldman informs us. Of all the surface area on the exteriors of all the non-residential buildings in the country, a quarter is covered in brick.

Although bricklaying remains a significantly unionized industry with many masonry firms clinging to their traditional way of working and union-negotiated level of pay, some union leaders have pushed for technical innovation as a way to save costs and bring some relief to an aging work force (the average mason is 55 years old).

This was where Scott Peters, the head of Construction Robotics, sought his opportunity.

Scott wasnt trying to replace humans, Waldman writes. [H]is aim was to combine forces, and save men their jobs by marrying man and machine. By creating a bricklaying robot, he aimed to eliminate lifting and bending and repetitive-motion injuries in humans; to improve the quality of walls; to finish jobs faster and safer and cheaper. SAM, it should be said, still needed close human supervision even when working well. It also needed to be manually supplied with bricks and mortar.

Waldman immerses you eyeball-deep in the technological and logistical challenges Scott and his team faced, while also taking the marketing side of things into account. Peters initially embraced a corporate theory of minimal viable product, which meant he booked construction gigs before SAM was completely ready. The idea was that customer feedback would suggest improvements to SAM.

Scotts gamble, Waldman writes, was certainly bold. It was also somewhere between ridiculous and insane.

Waldman is clearly exhilarated by the story hes telling, and his zest comes through in the books best turns of phrase, whether hes critiquing the appearance of an early iteration of SAM (It looked, frankly, like a hot dog cart) or noting the way that in the choreography that is construction [o]ne changed note altered the whole tune.

That said, SAM poses some stumbling blocks for the lay reader. An index and glossary would have come in handy to help keep track of all the acronyms and specialized vocabulary Waldman uses. You can, perhaps, intuit the meaning of a sentence like Kerry turned an electric drill into a slump meter with a digital readout, and made a viscometer from a Sawzall and a spade bit. But to fully understand the books details requires constant Googling. Elsewhere, Waldmans word choice can seem off for instance, when he talks about an early version of SAM being disfigured and overhauled. Might he mean dismantled or disassembled?

The books incidental pleasures include Waldmans visit to the annual World of Concrete trade show where Construction Robotics introduced SAM. Details on the U.S. Brick Olympics and International Brick Collectors Association offer quirky surprises, too.

All in all, SAM reveals a world that surrounds us but mostly eludes our notice and thats quite a feat.

SAM: ONE ROBOT, A DOZEN ENGINEERS, AND THE RACE TO REVOLUTIONIZE THE WAY WE BUILD

By Jonathan Waldman

Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster, 267 pp., $28

Michael Upchurch is the former Seattle Times book critic.

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Jonathan Waldmans SAM documents the quest to invent a robotic bricklayer - The Boston Globe