THE construction industry in the Philippines has long struggled with slow adoption of advanced technology and a critical shortage of skilled labor. The country’s severe labor deficit, driven by a widening skills gap, leaves many projects vulnerable to human error, delays and coordination challenges. For those building a home, these industry-wide challenges translate into missed timelines, inconsistent material quality, and unpredictable cost overruns.
Construction firm Magis X demonstrates a better way to build homes by introducing robotic construction systems in the Philippines. For founders Paolo Periquet and Gino Cariño, moving toward robotic tools is a pragmatic response to long-standing inefficiencies in construction. It is also an opportunity to improve how homes and other structures are delivered.
“We realized the real problem wasn’t effort. It was the system — the delays, the miscommunication, the duplicity, the rework,” says Periquet. “Magis X is a response to that.”
The Magis X team spent several years studying how robotic construction systems can integrate into local building practices — not as a replacement for construction, but as an evolution of it. It has partnered with Cobod, the Danish firm behind some of the world’s most widely used 3D concrete printing systems. The technology platform is supported by global industry partners like PERI, Holcim, and General Electric.
Magis X sees robotic construction tools as a way to strengthen the local construction process. These systems allow certain structural tasks to be executed with greater consistency and control, helping stabilize timelines and improve build quality. The result is a construction process that can better support site safety, reduce material waste, and give homeowners greater clarity on how their designs are executed.
“The goal is not to replace craftsmanship, but to augment it — to take what has traditionally been a craft-driven process and evolve it into one that is more precise and consistent,” says Cariño. “By integrating robotics and industrial-grade systems, we can expand design possibilities, improve reliability, and elevate performance — while keeping craftsmanship and engineering judgment at the center.”
AI and craftsmanship
Magis X sites use robotic concrete extrusion to construct structural walls. Guided by digital building models, the robotic system deposits concrete layer by layer to form wall structures with high dimensional accuracy. Engineers and builders then integrate reinforcement, services and finishing works through conventional construction methods.
While this may seem novel locally, the technology is already being used internationally. Homes, apartment buildings, commercial offices, and community structures across Europe, the United States, Asia, and the Middle East have been built using similar systems. In Texas, construction technology company ICON and developer Lennar have completed residential communities totaling more than 300 homes built using 3D concrete printing.
Having experienced firsthand the challenges of building his own home 15 years ago, Periquet began questioning how construction itself was organized. “I wasn’t searching for a better builder,” he recalls. “I was searching for a better way to build.”
That experience eventually led to the founding of Magis, a residential construction company focused on raising the standard of how homes are delivered. To date, the company has 64 completed projects — many of them designed by architects including Ed Calma, Dominic Galicia, Anthony Nazareno, Tina Periquet and Jorge Yulo.
Periquet and Cariño believe robotic construction systems can help architects push design further by allowing complex geometries to be executed more faithfully, reducing the compromises often required in conventional construction.
The firm’s first residential project using robotic construction — also expected to be the Philippines’ first robot-assisted home — is scheduled to break ground later this year. “It is not a new kind of house,” Cariño says. “Just a new level of control. The same building code applies. Structural design, reinforcement, engineering sign-offs, and permits remain unchanged.”
“We didn’t set out to compete in construction. We set out to redesign how it works,” says Periquet. “It’s about giving architects their ideas back, giving homeowners certainty, and taking a real step toward ending ‘Construction Hell.’”