Artificial Intelligence in BAS

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming more and more prevalent in both our personal and professional lives—even in ways you may not realize. From voice-controlled personal assistants like Siri and Alexa to self-driving cars, we are starting to utilize artificial intelligence in smarter ways to make our lives more convenient. The same goes for the work environment, across several industries, including building automation systems.

While the implementation of AI in construction and building isn’t necessarily brand new, from planning and design with 3D models to safeguard features and autonomous equipment, artificial intelligence is certainly evolving and becoming extremely useful for facilities managers. 

Continue on to learn more about how AI is changing our workplaces to be more comfortable and productive environments for employees, more insightful for facilities managers, and more energy efficient for our communities.

The beginning of AI in buildings

In the world of building automation systems, AI doesn’t just mean artificial intelligence—it also means automated intelligence. And, as stated in Facilities Net, just as an automated vehicle is built to sense its environment and to move with little-to-no human input, autonomous interactions in buildings will also be on the rise—sensing the emotional needs of its occupants to adjust accordingly to maintain an optimal work environment.

Unlike human intelligence, AI has the ability to collect large volumes of data, identify patterns and abnormalities from that data, and then extrapolate those data points to make informed decisions on things like building temperature, lighting controls, meter monitoring, and so forth. And as AI is further tested and adopted in the automotive industry, we’ll start to more industries adopt AI technology and software, as well.

Learning from Facility Management leaders in the industry

Since AI integrations in facilities is still on the rise, it can be difficult for facilities managers to know exactly where to start their research for what AI technology would work best in their building to accomplish the company’s goals. Rather than reinventing the wheel, let’s take a look at how other well-known companies around the world are incorporating AI to improve their operations, as reported by Emerj.

PointGrab

Their AI technology: CogniPoint

What it does:

  • Image sensing
  • Cloud-management software
  • Automates and optimizes facility management

Benefits:

  • Integrates into a building’s current BAS
  • Helps building managers reduce operational costs
  • A sensor tracks the number of occupants per room and can connect to the buildings’ LAN, POE or WiFi
  • Interfaces with lighting and HVAC to optimize the use of workstations and meeting rooms

IBM

Their AI technology: Watson IoT

What it does:

  • Improves energy efficiency in buildings
  • Produces data analytics for personalized/user-friendly buildings

Benefits:

  • Integrates into most BAS and can analyze data from devices and sensors embedded in doors, windows, chairs, meeting rooms, dispensers, and HVAC systems
  • Analyzes data collected from these spaces to learn the most optimal and user-friendly working conditions for different environments
  • Provides a dashboard of key building metrics for facilities managers

Verdigris

Their AI technology: Hardware IoT Energy Meter and analytics platform

What it does: Helps reduce energy usage with sensors and data analytics

Benefits:

  • IoT Energy Meter hardware device can be installed at a facility’s electrical circuit panels
  • Energy meter transmits electricity usage data via WiFi, 4G/LTE or the cloud.
  • The software processes the data and identifies hidden anomalies from power quality data and other voltage and current specific data collected by the energy meter to alert users when energy usage is different from expected levels

Bidgely

Their AI technology: Software for electric utility businesses

What it does:

  • Gathers data about the amount and cost of energy used by various home appliances
  • Sends customers visual representations of this data to increase engagement using machine learning

Benefits:

  • The software uses machine learning algorithms to identify the power consumption levels for each appliance in a home and sends alerts to the user with recommendations on reducing energy use
  • Provides users with actionable insights on their dashboards for energy saving tips
  • Info sent via email, SMS, web portal, or mobile app

Interested in incorporating AI into your facility? CSI now offers Roby to our clients!

As the controls experts you trust with your BAS, we pride ourselves on staying up to date with the latest technologies and evolving our offerings to remain on the cutting edge of the industry. That being said, Control Solutions team is excited to offer Roby software for our clients beginning this May! Roby is a chat/voice-enabled software that helps to build managers in the workplace by:

  • Handling all requests: Add-ons including HVAC, Lighting, Support Ticketing, and Calendar
  • Automating repetitive tasks: Roby memorizes frequently asked questions to directly answer repetitive questions
  • Eliminating miscommunication: Roby automatically creates to-do lists to keep employees notified of their tasks
  • Reducing resolution time to increase employee satisfaction: Bi-weekly metrics and surveys are sent to employees to collect feedback to relay to Support Teams for improvement

More specifically, Roby continually engages employees with a simplified requesting interface, encouraging interactions, initiating periodic employee surveys, and learning from employee feedback and automatically deflecting repetitive questions. This data is fed to assigned admins to stay on top of creating fun and engaging workplaces for all.

Interested in learning more about Roby or other AI software? We would be happy to discuss these options with you further! Contact us today to speak with our team.

Credits:

Emerj
Future of Life
Emerj
Facilities Net
Roby