Single-task construction robots (STCRs) have become a popular research topic for decades. However, there is still a gap in the ubiquitous application of STCRs for onsite construction due to various reasons, such as cost concerns. Therefore, cost–benefit analysis (CBA) can be used to measure the net economic benefit of the STCRs, compared to traditional construction methods, in order to boost the implementation of STCRs. This paper presents a simple and practical framework for the economic evaluation of STCRs and conducts a case study of a cable-driven facade installation robot to verify the method. The results show that the cable-driven robot for facade installation is worth investing in in the UK, as well as in the majority of G20 countries. Furthermore, other socioenvironmental implications of STCRs and the limitations of the study are also discussed. In conclusion, the proposed method is highly adaptable and reproducible. Therefore, researchers, engineers, investors, and policy makers can easily follow and customize this method to assess the economic advantages of any STCR systems, compared to traditional construction technologies.

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Buildings are the key factor to transform cities and to contribute to recent European energy efficiency objectives for 2030 and long-term 2050. New buildings account to only 1–2% annually. Yet, ninety percent of the existing building stock in Europe was built before 1990, it is therefore necessary to promote their energy renovation to achieve the set objectives. Renovation solutions are available on the market, yet a wrong implementation and integration due to a lack of knowledge neither maximizes the energy performance of the post-retrofitting nor the financial optimisation and viability of the projects. This paper presents research on a plug & play, modular, easy installable façade and ICT decision making technologies to provide affordable solutions in order to overcome those deep renovation barriers. The paper sets out by defining a value framework that can be applied by real estate investors for making better retrofitting decisions for residential buildings, through mapping targeted building typologies and investigating new building revalorisation strategies, new renovation concepts and KPIs for evaluation. Thereafter the paper presents the modular and easy-to-install façade system that is replicable and scalable at European level.

Measuring the operating conditions of buildings' components is generally applied to technical systems for improving the energy and environmental management, especially exploiting the IoT functions. However, the measuring and connectivity capabilities are not largely applied to the building envelope. This paper presents the development of a sensing and control system integrated into prefabricated envelope elements, with the functionalities typical of an IoT system. In fact, the Smart-IoT fac ¸ade is based on the idea of transforming the buildings' fac ¸ade into a IoT device, capable of communicating with external actors: building owner/manager, building management systems or local controller. Given the importance of the fac ¸ade as interface between indoor and outdoor environments, the possibility of having real-time data on the envelope operating conditions, is significant to improve the building operation, in terms of comfort and energy efficiency, enabling the adaptive or intelligent fac ¸ade concept. To this aim, the RenoZEB project is developing a plug&play fac ¸ade module for building renovation, with embedded sensors and actuators. The module with the sensing architecture is completely assembled off-site, reducing the amount of work to be done onsite. Once installed and configured, the module sends data to a IoT platform, that makes them available for third parties. Different configurations of sensors/actuators can be developed. Among them, this paper presents a solution to optimize the control of windows' shadings. Thus, the fac ¸ade sensing system has been integrated with an advanced controller that aims at optimizing the shadings position to provide the maximum comfort but allowing the right amount of solar radiation to pass through the windows.

The optimization of the performance of a piezoelectric cantilever for energy harvesting from façades is concerned. The harvester is designed to exploit the vortex-induced vibrations due to the fluid-structure interaction between a cylindrical bluff body and the wind flow acting on the façade. An analytical lumped parameter model of the piezo-cantilever equipped with a cylindrical bluff body is provided to estimate the frequency response function between the aerodynamic tip force and the generated open circuit voltage. The analytical frequency response function is validated using experimental tests performed on a prototype of the piezo-cantilever. Finally, the design parameters of the harvester that maximize the generated voltage are determined using an optimization algorithm.