# Kevin Albert

> Kevin Albert is the Founder and CEO of Canvas, the world's first robotic drywall finishing company. A mechanical engineer with roots at Boston Dynamics - where he contributed to the legendary BigDog and LS3 quadruped robots - Kevin built Canvas to bring heavy-machinery-grade precision to the interior of buildings for the first time. With over 20 years of rugged robotics experience spanning Draper Lab, Otherlab, and his own inflatable-robot startup Pneubotics, he channeled a career's worth of know-how into solving one of construction's most stubborn productivity problems: drywall finishing hasn't changed in decades, and with two workers retiring for every one who enters the trades, Canvas's robots are becoming the industry's answer.

- **Role:** Founder and CEO at Canvas
- **Organizations:** Canvas, Pneubotics, Otherlab, Boston Dynamics, Charles Stark Draper Laboratory
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, Lehigh University
- **Known for:** Co-created BigDog and LS3 at Boston Dynamics - seminal quadruped military robots, Founded Pneubotics, a novel class of inflatable pneumatic robots, Founded Canvas, the world's first robotic drywall finishing company

## Career timeline

- **2004-2007** — Controls Systems Engineer at Charles Stark Draper Laboratory
- **2007-2012** — Advanced Robotics Engineer at Boston Dynamics; contributed to BigDog and LS3 quadruped robots
- **2012-2014** — Senior Controls Engineer and Robotics Project Manager at Otherlab; founded robotics research group; managed programs with DARPA, NASA, and commercial aerospace partners
- **2014-2017** — Founder and CEO of Pneubotics, developing inflatable pneumatic robots
- **2017** — Co-founded Canvas with Maria Telleria and Henrik Bennetsen
- **2021** — Canvas raised $24M Series B led by Menlo Ventures with Suffolk Construction as strategic investor
- **2023** — Announced strategic partnership with Hilti for manufacturing Canvas robots on the Jaibot platform
- **2024** — Launched the 1200CX - world's first compact drywall finishing robot (July 2024)
- **2025** — Speaking at Blueprint 2025 and RoboBusiness 2025 conferences

## Achievements

- Co-created BigDog and LS3 at Boston Dynamics - seminal quadruped military robots
- Founded Pneubotics, a novel class of inflatable pneumatic robots
- Founded Canvas, the world's first robotic drywall finishing company
- Secured $43M in total funding for Canvas
- Launched the Canvas 1200CX compact drywall robot (July 2024)
- Brokered strategic partnership with Hilti for Canvas robot manufacturing (2023)
- Reduced drywall finishing cycle from 5 days to 2 days using robotics
- Built robots that capture 99.9% of sanding dust, dramatically improving worker safety
- Founded robotics research group at Otherlab, running DARPA and NASA programs

## Latest updates

- **2025-09** — Kevin Albert to speak at Blueprint 2025 in Las Vegas on panel 'How the New Wave of Robotics Is Transforming Construction'
- **2025** — Kevin Albert featured as speaker at RoboBusiness 2025 conference
- **2024-07** — Canvas launched the 1200CX, the world's first compact drywall finishing robot
- **2023-03** — Canvas announced strategic partnership with Hilti for manufacturing; Hilti to produce future Canvas systems on proven Jaibot platform

## Links

- Website: https://canvas.build
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-albert-a2193555

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/kevin-albert
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-12