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This report presents lessons learned from twenty-five worldwide real-life case studies implementing the integration of daylighting and electric lighting. The case studies were monitored with respect to energy use for lighting, visual performance, non-visual performance, and users’ satisfaction. The monitoring is largely based on field measurements, but it is also complemented with simulations and calculations where needed.

Machine Learning techniques have been recently investigated as an alternative to the use of physical simulations, aiming to improve the response time of daylight and electric lighting performance-predictions. In this study, daylight and electric lighting predictor models are derived from daylighting RADIANCE simulations, aiming to provide visual comfort to office room occupants, with a reduced use of electric lighting. The aim is to integrate an intelligent control scheme, that, implemented on a small embedded 32-bit computer (Raspberry Pi), interfaces a KNX system for a quasi-real-time optimization of the building parameters. The present research constitutes a step towards the broader goal of achieving a unified approach, in which the daylight and electric lighting predictor models would be integrated in a Model Predictive Control. A verification of the ML performance is carried-out by comparing the model predictions to data obtained in monitoring sessions in autumn, winter and spring 2020-2021, resulting in an average MAPE of 19.3%.

A prototype of interactive data visualization is proposed for Building Management Systems (BMS). The aim is to enhance traditional data presentation format such as graphs and tables to support expert users in early open-ended exploration of building data. Based on data recorded over 3 years in a real office building in Switzerland, a case study is conducted involving 12 practicing expert users with engineering background. Both exploratory and qualitative in nature, this evaluation allows to : (1) show the ability of expert users to use advanced visualization tools to derive meaningful conclusions in limited time, (2) demonstrate the relevance of visual analytics results for the building physics field.

The advent of back-lit screens in contemporary offices has profoundly impacted the field of visual comfort. Screen users typically fail to adapt to changing environments and often require an individual light quality. To this end, the new approach of human-building interaction in computer science would consider the context of occupants interacting with lights. Within this framework, the proposed study complements existing studies on reactions to light dimming with a more tightly controlled environment and the task difficulty adapted individually. To evaluate the impact of back-lit screens on participants reaction to light dimming, two sets of participants were assigned either to adaptive or fixed screen back-light. All participants undergo three different naturalistic light dimming speeds typically happening at sunset (0.5–2 lux/s). This study uncovers the potential for physiological measurements to indicate visual discomfort and participants' proclivity to react as a function of personal psychological traits. Importantly, results reveal two behaviour categories: reactive and non-reactive, which are related to participant-specific psychological traits and perceptions. Regardless of the group, eye movements convey early indication of discomfort: participants’ reactions happen below standard light levels (300 lux) while fixation number shift state above. Together, eye-movements features and visual comfort questionnaires recordings during the initial steady light period predict ramp behaviour category. Physiological and psychological measurements thus appear as candidates for adaptive light control according to idiosyncratic characteristics, displaying opportunities for increased acceptance of energy-efficient automation strategies.

Traditionally, design learning in the architecture studio has taken place through a combination of individual work and joint projects. The introduction of code-based design practices in the design studio has altered this balance, introducing new models of joint authorship and new ways for individuals to contribute to co-authored projects. This paper presents a case study describing four design studios in a higher education setting that used code as a tool for generating architectural geometry. The format of the studios encouraged the students to reflect critically on their role as authors and to creatively address the multiple opportunities for shared authorship available with code-based production. The research question addressed in this study involved the role of code-based practices in altering the model of architectural education in the design studio, in particular the role of visual representations of a code-based design process in the production of shared knowledge.

This paper discusses the advantages of using a coding interface both to describe form and run performance simulations in the context of architectural design. It outlines the relevance of combining recent interest in the design community for parametric scripting with available expert-level Building Performance Simulation. This approach enables designers to address performance-related design questions at the early design stage. Pitfalls when considering non-standard solutions and the potential of the approach to circumvent such difficulties are exemplified through a housing building case study, emphasizing the under-evaluated role of the analysis tool in steering design decisions. To circumvent the difficulty for non-expert users to interpret simulation results and transform them into design moves, the use of sensitivity analysis is proposed for its specific interplay with parametric scripting. Its potential for classifying parameters in order of importance is presented in the context of a design problem. The contribution outlines how providing designers with exploratory tools allows to consider sustainable construction in a systemic manner. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

In 2030, we will have a different interactive experience with our built environments, at home, at work, and even in public urban spaces. This is attributed to advancements in sensing and actuation systems that can integrate into the building infrastructures, in symbiosis with the new environmental concerns that call for new life, work, and mobility styles. This change, whether gradual or sudden, evident or seamless, can have a remarkable impact on our everyday experiences, and thus entails efforts to envision possible scenarios and plan for them. We believe that buildings, as they would embody our digital and physical interactive daily experiences, should be designed and nurtured in a dialogue with their users at the individual as well as social levels. This implies a responsibility of the HCI community to intervene and involve the user in the Human-Building Interaction (HBI) design practice. We propose bringing together expertise from the fields of human-computer interaction, building and urban architecture, and social sciences, and provide them with an occasion for collaboratively creating and sharing ``images' of HBI by 2030. The goal is to uncover research opportunities and challenges that will emerge through discussions and multi-faceted debates about the topics proposed.

The paper presents an approach which combines parametric geo metric description techniques performance simulation and sensi tivity analysis to achieve a quantitative analysis of the influence of selected design parameters on performance. By using a scripting environment for parametric design linked to the EnergyPlus build ing simulation tool it becomes possible to automatically screen and simulate thermal behaviour over a selected design parameter space. Then by defining one or several performance metrics their sensitivity to modification of design parameters can be com puted through established statistical techniques for sensitivity anal ysis. This approach provides quantitative insight into the level of in fluence of each parameter under scrutiny informing about changes altering enhancing or having only minor effect on performance. This application of sensitivity analysis to parametric performative design is presented through the help of a case study. Results and implications are discussed respective to their relevance to the early design phase of an architectural project. The framework in defini tive provides the design team with means to balance design inten tions with performance aims.

We describe a new class of decentralised control algorithms that link local wireless connectivity to low-level robot motion control in order to maintain both swarm aggregation and connectivity, which we term “coherence”, in unbounded space. We investigate the potential of first-order and second-order connectivity information to maintain swarm coherence. For the second-order algorithm we show that a single \(\beta \) parameter—the number of shared neighbours that each robot tries to maintain—acts as an “adhesion” parameter. Control of \(\beta \) alone affects the global area coverage of the swarm. We then add a simple beacon sensor to each robot and show that, by creating a \(\beta \) differential between illuminated and occluded robots, the swarm displays emergent global taxis towards the beacon; it also displays interesting global obstacle avoidance properties. The chapter then extends the idea of \(\beta \) heterogeneity within the swarm to demonstrate variants of the algorithm that exhibit emergent concentric or linear segregation of subgroups within the swarm, or—in the presence of an external beacon—the formation of horizontal or vertical axial configurations. This emergent swarm morphology control is remarkable because apparently simple variations generate very different global properties. These emergent properties are interesting both because they appear to have parallels in biology, and because they could have value to a wide range of future applications in swarm robotics.

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) allow the monitoring of activity or environmental conditions over a large area, from homes to industrial plants, from agriculture fields to forests and glaciers. They can support a variety of applications, from assisted living to natural disaster prevention. WSNs can, however, be challenging to setup and maintain, reducing the potential for real-world adoption. To address this limitation, this paper introduces SensorTune, a novel mobile interface to support non-expert users in iteratively setting up a WSN. SensorTune uses non-speech audio to present to its users information regarding the connectivity of the network they are setting up, allowing them to decide how to extend it. To simplify the interpretation of the data presented, the system adopts the metaphor of tuning a consumer analog radio, a very common and well known operation. A user study was conducted in which 20 subjects setup real multi-hop networks inside a large building using a limited number of wireless nodes. Subjects repeated the task with SensorTune and with a comparable mobile GUI interface. Experimental results show a statistically significant difference in the task completion time and a clear preference of users for the auditory interface.

In the present study, we are interested in verifying how the progressive addition of constraints on communication and localization impact the performance of a swarm of small robots in shape formation tasks. Identified to be of importance in a swarm-user interaction context, the time required to construct a given spatial configuration is considered as a performance metric. The experimental work reported in this paper starts from global and synchronized localization information, shown to be successful both on a real hardware system and in simulation. In a second step, communication is constrained to a local scale, thus obliging a single designated robot to disseminate the global localization information to the other agents. The reliability of the radio communication channel and its impact upon the performance of the system are considered.

It is a characteristic of swarm robotics that modelling the overall swarm behaviour in terms of the low-level behaviours of individual robots is very difficult. Yet if swarm robotics is to make the transition from the laboratory to real-world engineering realisation such models would be critical for both overall validation of algorithm correctness and detailed parameter optimisation. We seek models with predictive power: models that allow us to determine the effect of modifying parameters in individual robots on the overall swarm behaviour. This paper presents results from a study to apply the probabilistic modelling approach to a class of wireless connected swarms operating in unbounded environments. The paper proposes a probabilistic finite state machine (PFSM) that describes the network connectivity and overall macroscopic behaviour of the swarm, then develops a novel robot-centric approach to the estimation of the state transition probabilities within the PFSM. Using measured data from simulation the paper then carefully validates the PFSM model step by step, allowing us to assess the accuracy and hence the utility of the model.

Initiated by N. Reeves, the Mascarillons project stands at a crossroad between Art and Science. It aims to bring together researchers in both artistic and scientific domains to collaborate towards the production of a robotic environment dedicated to architectural research, with a major potential for multi-media performance. Because of the tight constraints of the project, a multi-level design methodology is proposed, consisting of the parallel development of real robots and increasingly abstract modeling tools. The interaction of these experimental levels is expected to hasten the progress towards an efficient solution by taking every technological and physical constraint into account.

This review paper sets out to explore the question of how future complex engineered systems based upon the swarm intelligence paradigm could be assured for dependability. The paper introduces the new concept of ‘swarm engineering': a fusion of dependable systems engineering and swarm intelligence. The paper reviews the disciplines and processes conventionally employed to assure the dependability of conventional complex (and safety critical) systems in the light of swarm intelligence research and in so doing tries to map processes of analysis, design and test for safety-critical systems against relevant research in swarm intelligence. A case study of a swarm robotic system is used to illustrate this mapping. The paper concludes that while some of the tools needed to assure a swarm for dependability exist, many do not, and hence much work needs to be done before dependable swarms become a reality.

The swarm intelligence literature frequently asserts that swarms exhibit high levels of robustness. That claim is, however, rather less frequently supported by empirical or theoretical analysis. But what do we mean by a 'robust' swarm? How would we measure the robustness or – to put it another way – fault-tolerance of a robotic swarm? These questions are not just of academic interest. If swarm robotics is to make the transition from the laboratory to real-world engineering implementation, we would need to be able to address these questions in a way that would satisfy the needs of the world of safety certification. This paper explores fault-tolerance in robot swarms through Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) and reliability modelling. The work of this paper is illustrated by a case study of a wireless connected robot swarm, employing both simulation and real-robot laboratory experiments.

A smart luminaire able to change the direction of its light beam is installed in an office environment and compared to the available LEDs fixtures. Standard lighting measures are performed and a controlled user experiment is conducted, involving 22 subjects. Qualitative results suggest that very low illuminance levels can be characterized as comfortable. Quantitative results supported by statistical significance reveal (1) wider use range of illuminance levels for the smart luminaires, (2) an interaction decrease during the experiment and (3) different usage of the luminaire depending on the subject’s side. Advantages and drawbacks of digitally actuated luminaires are briefly discussed.