Advancing Safer, Energy-Efficient Building Retrofits
, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering (CEE) in the , has received a multiyear award from the to develop energy-efficient building panels that are installed with robotic assistance.
The project, “3D-Printed Siding and Human-Robot Collaboration for High-Performance Retrofits,” will support the development of a prefabricated, carbon-sequestering concrete siding system for home energy retrofits, while pairing the new material with a collaborative human-robot installation process. The goal is to improve building performance while making retrofits faster, more efficient and safer for construction workers.
New York State has an estimated 5.3 million single-family homes, more than half of which were built before 1960. The state also has a substantial stock of older multifamily buildings, creating significant opportunities for energy-efficiency retrofits. Yu’s project will test the 3D-printed panels in the lab, comparing how they perform against conventional wall assemblies. The team will also conduct field testing at the Building Envelope Systems Test (BEST) Facility, an on-campus testbed used to evaluate building performance in real-world conditions. Finally, they plan to complete a full-scale dormitory retrofit on the University’s South Campus.
“Our prior work showed that 3D-printable concrete can be designed to increase carbon uptake through both material formulation and the geometric freedom enabled by 3D printing,” says Yu. “This NYSERDA project takes the next step by integrating that material into a complete building-envelope retrofit system and pairing it with robot-assisted installation. The goal is to demonstrate how these technologies can work together at building scale and help create more energy-efficient, lower-carbon retrofit solutions for New York.”
Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the project will be supported by three co-PIs:
- , associate dean for research, Traugott Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, ECS
- , assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, ECS
- , assistant professor, School of Architecture
The team will also work with industry partners, including two New York State-based companies. Construction Robotics will advise on robot-assisted construction workflows, while Taitem Engineering will serve as an independent, third-party evaluator for pre- and post-retrofit performance monitoring.
The project aims to give New York State a clear, data-backed commercialization route for a retrofit option that is both energy-efficient and affordable for single-family and multi-family homeowners alike, while also helping address labor shortages and reducing occupational hazards in the construction industry.
“This project embodies the kind of interdisciplinary, solutions-focused research that ECS is advancing,” says Dong. “With collaboration across materials science, robotics, civil engineering and architecture, we are turning a promising material into a retrofit system that is ready to scale across New York’s aging building stock.”
Yu is affiliated with the University’s BioInspired Institute and holds expertise in advanced manufacturing, mechanics of materials, sustainable infrastructure and engineered living materials. He holds a Ph.D. in structural engineering from the University of Southern California and joined ECS in 2025 after completing postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania.
