In light of the recent events, commercial real estate professionals all around the globe have one question in mind - moving forward, how can we make our buildings safer?
A global pandemic and worldwide market disruptions are enough to make everyone search for solutions to the new problems introduced by COVID-19. Going beyond behavioral adjustments, such as social distancing and working from home, there needs to be additional safeguards set in place to protect the health and safety of CRE’s tenants.
One solution that seems to be out beating all the others is robot technology. We all know that robots can make our lives easier in amazing ways - but, when confronted with today’s COVID-inspired obstacles, robots are providing some solutions that are impossible to ignore.
Here’s how robots can make commercial real estate’s buildings safer in the post-pandemic world:
Virus Transmission Prevention
The best way to keep occupants safe is through robust transmission prevention measures. It’s always better to stop a problem before it starts, and that’s where robot technology is playing a pivotal role in CRE’s COVID response.
PropTech, or real estate technology, is using robot interfaces to keep up with the real-time movements of commercial buildings. Using high-tech sensors, robots are able to see how far apart people are and also detect if they’re wearing a mask. Robots can even scan for people’s temperatures. When something is amiss, robots can enforce the safety policies - because after all, these preventative guidelines only work if they’re actually being followed.
Going one step further, robots can use facial recognition technologies and scanners to facilitate touch-free navigation and access at high-touch junctions, such as entryways and elevators. All the while, while keeping track of who’s coming in and out for contact tracing.
Keeping the Space Disinfected
Instead of bolstering the building's sanitation team, robots can do the job without risk of transmitting the virus further.
Robots can actively disinfect commercial buildings without disruption to the daily operational flows. Without any manpower, robots are able to spray disinfectant solutions all around a building. As futuristic as it sounds, every inch of a property can be kept clean by a diligent group of robots.
There are also robots that use UV-lights to kill germs within a space, which have already been used throughout the country in industrial warehouses during the pandemic. Applying this technology to commercial buildings can keep the property clean and safe 24/7.
COVID Combatting Hardware
AI-powered integrations can also be built directly into a building to provide a full-bodied network of safety measures.
Smart Tech integrations within the regular systems, such as HVAC and doors and windows, can continually ensure that a building is regularly circulating fresh air and disinfecting the used air. With an airborne pathogen, such as COVID, every threat to widespread safety needs to be addressed.
Will robots be the next big solution for keeping commercial properties safe in the U.S.? After other countries around the world have found great success with robot integrations into CRE, it certainly looks that way.
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