Better tools amplify human skills instead of attempting to replace them.

This always has seemed like a good goal to have. There is some work where automation makes sense, but I don't think replacing is always the right goal. https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/17/reverse-centaur/#reverse-...

Think I'd put money behind a separate machine, but one that just delivers you the brick at hand height, rather than a continual bend-down/place/pick-up cycle. I would say "Brick Butler" or if a startup... Brcklr, the device is free, but the bricks have DRM and post instagram stories as you lay them.

Nice, also build a management interface so they can see the workers brick per hour stats.

Add in GPS, keep all the data and later sell the database to insurance companies so they can charge higher rates for construction that happened too fast.

Yeah, that seems like the best plan. It might not improve the speed of bricklaying, but it would certainly be an improvement on the bricklayers' quality of life.

It does sound like a mason that can lift 5 bricks at a time is more productive than a machine that can lay bricks 5 times faster in a synthetic benchmark.