Congratulations to our E-ROBOT Grand Prize Winners!

 

Three teams of innovators have been crowned E-ROBOT Prize winners and will evenly split a $2 million cash prize pool. Their high-impact, holistic, and commercially viable robotic solutions are transforming the building industry with technology that will increase the rate of envelope retrofits through safer and more efficient methods. Congratulations to all of the E-ROBOT Prize finalist and the following winners:

 

  1. RoboAttic & Thermadrone  - Berkeley, California

RoboAttic and Thermadrone

The RoboAttic team has developed a robotic attic vacuum cleaning and air sealing system for inaccessible attics and confined spaces. First, Thermadrone software uses thermal drone camera images to diagnose and identify attic retrofit opportunities. Then, RoboAttic robots vacuum clean and air seal attics quickly, cost-effectively, and safely; this allows for retrofitting inaccessible attics that would not have been air sealed otherwise. Finally, Thermadrone software allows for measurement and verification after retrofit completion, de-risking projects by providing quality assurance.

 

  1. Unified Retrofits - Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Unified Retrofits - Holistic Robotic Retrofits

Unified Retrofits brings together leaders in the retrofit robotics, energy auditing, architecture, and construction fields to address the issues of sensing, mapping, and minimally invasive building envelope retrofits. This team’s user-friendly suite of tools includes: a project management, costing, and ROI software for integrated workflows, UAV and AI powered autonomous anomaly sensing and detection system, and a robotic retrofit tool that can implement minimally invasive envelope remediations such as caulking, aerosol sealing, and foam insulating across all types of existing buildings.

 

  1. Friendly Robots Company - Oakland, California

The Mayfly and the Aardvark

The Mayfly and the Aardvark is a combination of a semi-autonomous flying quadcopter air duct inspection drone that maps and identifies deficiencies, and a remediation robot that cleans and repairs. Rather than crawling through attics and climbing ladders, workers can deploy the drone, review the gathered information, and dispatch the remediation robot to fix the issues. This new approach prioritizes worker safety and efficiency on the job site.

 

Read more on energy.gov: https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/prize-winning-innovations-advance-building-envelope-retrofits-faster-easier-and-safer