RoboSquirt

Recent studies of retrofitting, backed by early feedback from Retrofit for the Future program, have demonstrated that effective under-floor insulation of existing buildings is one of thegreatest challenges to nation-wide up-scaling of retrofit activity to aimed at improving energyperformance of our current building stock. While cavity or external wall insulation, loftinsulation and new windows are already available and relatively uncomplicated solutions, under-floor insulation is the next intervention to include. However, under-floor insulation iscurrently disruptive, labour intensive and costly, taking up over £10k per installation (whileoften technically incomplete).Green Structures designed an innovative process where the whole house is insulated frombeneath by a remotely controlled robotic device. The tracked vehicle will be inserted underthe floor in one or two locations (e.g. the hallway, where carpet can be easily replaced with anoversized doormat), avoiding disruption to the household. Using this system, installation ofunder-floor insulation can be undertaken by one skilled operative in a day. With the cost ofinsulation material below £1000 per house the system is estimated to save approximately£8, 000 per dwelling, as well as shortening of Whole House Retrofit duration by up to twoweeks and minimising disruption.In this project, Green Structures will modify a robotic technology made available by ImperialCollege London; perform tests on the robot and control software (using Arduino open sourceplatform to simplify the development); optimise insulation materials to allow remoteapplication while maintaining performance standards; and conduct field trials in appropriatedwellings. At the end of the project, Green Structures will have a fully-developed prototypewhich will improve efficiency of their own operations and will be licensed to other retrofitters(or provided as a dedicated stand alone service).