Equipment maker plans to integrate automation technology into its lift platforms
JLG Industries, a global manufacturer of mobile aerial work platforms and telehandlers, announced Jan. 5 that it has acquired Canvas, a San Francisco-based construction robotics technology company known for robotic solutions for installing and finishing drywall. Terms were not disclosed. The acquisition includes Canvas’ core technology which drives the 1200CX drywall robotic platform.
«Robotics and automation will play an increasingly important role in the future of construction, especially as the industry looks for practical ways to deliver greater efficiencies, improve productivity and enhance consistency on job sites,» says Shashank Bhatia, access segment chief technology officer at McConnellsburg, Pa.-based JLG, a division of Oshkosh Corp. «This acquisition strengthens our technology roadmap and accelerates our ability to deliver solutions that create real, measurable value for customers in the field.»
CEO Albert and the Canvas team will become JLG employees but will continue to be based in San Francisco. Canvas’ technology combines robotic precision with the skills and expertise of trained tradespeople who operate its drywall robotics platform. The system streamlines interior finishing workflows by automating fit-and-finish tasks, reducing rework and delivering consistent quality while minimizing physical demand.
Bhatia says Canvas’ technology will be used to advance the company’s robotic capabilities and autonomy, including pairing with JLG lift access equipment to support a range of interior construction applications. These new processes will be designed to assist skilled workers by taking on repetitive, physically demanding tasks to allow crews to focus on higher-value work.
«We actually started communicating with them in 2017, the year Canvas was founded,» Bhatia explains. «Their technology was always good, bit we were not aligned at that time. Their go-to-market strategy was to be a general contractor. In 2021, I talked to [Canvas CEO Kevin Albert] again and that’s when they were working on the 1200CX product that could do a level-5 finish,» he says. «In 2024 we saw a glimpse of it, and I really liked it. My mind was churning into ‘how can I use this in our current products?’ For us, [products like the 1200CX] fit so well in our vertical product line.»
Bhatia says the combined company is looking to innovate tasks such as drywall installation and finishing, still largely done by hand by single laborers, into activities that equipment can enhance the same way a hydraulic excavator can replace hundreds of shovels in the hands of human workers.
«The future of the job site is going to move from enabling work to executing work,» Bhatia says. «Helping the operator do the work. You could definitely see a case where the best place for the operator is to be on the ground with a swarm of robots being controlled by operators on the ground that are doing the work at height.»
