Grant: Alliance Grants

Buildings are responsible for 25% of energy consumption and 13% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada. Defects in building systems (e.g., leaks and blockages in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning; HVAC) and façades (e.g., thermal bridges) can cause energy losses of up to 30%. Furthermore, construction defects such as broken duct can cause harmful contaminants (e.g., glass fibre) to enter open spaces, negatively impacting occupants' health. To reduce the environmental consequences of the building sector, building owners, facility managers, and municipalities are seeking cost- and time-efficient methods to (1) detect defects in building systems and façades; and (2) use proactive maintenance approaches to reduce energy consumption and GHG emissions. We have assembled an interdisciplinary team of early career researchers with expertise in robotic design and control, building system optimization, life-cycle assessment, sustainable infrastructure management, and human neuroscience to revamp the current processes for building facility management. We will reimagine a future of carbon-neutral buildings through inputs from flexible robots and the intuitive human robot interaction. Our long-term aim is to reduce energy consumption and GHG emission of buildings by developing an automated swarm of robots that (i) navigates in buildings without pre-programmed complex localization systems (ii) identifies defects in the building system (e.g., thermal leaks from HVAC) and façades (e.g., cracks, spalling), (iii) generates a precise map of the building, and (iv) supports proactive decision making and reduces material replacement costs for operations and maintenance. We will work closely with industry partners from the public (e.g., City of Vancouver) and private sectors (e.g., SHAPE Management) to identify their real-world challenges, shape the research directions, and achieve knowledge mobilization across a diverse portfolio of stakeholders.