Areas & Projects
Eight interconnected research thrusts advancing intelligence in the built environment — from smart buildings to construction job sites.
XR for Construction
AR/VR for safety training, remote inspection, BIM visualization, and design review in AEC workflows.
AI for Construction Education
Adaptive learning, simulation-based training, RAG chatbots, and GenAI tools for AEC programs.
Human–Building Interaction
LLM and IoT-based systems enabling occupants to naturally interact with and control smart building environments.
Digital Twins
BIM-linked real-time digital twins with LLM query interfaces, anomaly detection, and facility management insights.
Edge AI & Sensing
On-device AI inference on edge hardware (Raspberry Pi) for smart homes, worker safety, and environmental monitoring.
Multimodal LLMs for AEC
Vision-language models for construction site safety monitoring, BIM querying, and document intelligence.
Human–Robot Collaboration
GenAI-powered human-robot collaboration demonstrations for construction technology education and job-site tasks.
Blockchain & DAO Systems
Decentralized autonomous organizations and blockchain-based frameworks for smart building operations and facilities governance.
All Projects
AI Assistant for Smart Buildings Using LLMs
LLaMA 3-powered voice/text assistant for occupant-controlled HVAC, lighting, and real-time indoor environmental data via IoT sensors.
Small Language Model Smart Home for HBI
Phi-3 Mini and Llama 3.2 deployed on Raspberry Pi 5 for localized, cost-effective AI-driven human–building interaction.
TwinGPT: AI Assistant for Digital Twin Query
Llama 3.2 chatbot integrating static BIM data and dynamic sensor/occupancy data for facility manager decision support.
Autonomous Building Operation AI Agent
LLM + blockchain-based autonomous agent for threshold-based and occupancy-based HVAC and lighting management.
VLM AI Agent for Construction Site Safety Monitoring
LLaVA + LLaMA-based agent monitoring CCTV feeds for real-time construction safety and progress analysis with automated alerts.
VLM + LLM + XR AI Assistant for Smart Buildings
HoloLens 2 XR environment with multimodal AI chatbot for immersive BIM interaction and voice-controlled smart building management.
Data-Driven Smart Building Facilities Management
AI and digital twin-driven decision support for smart building FM using LLM-powered conversational data analysis and visualization.
RAG Chatbot for Construction Safety
LLaMA 3 + Llamaindex + vector database chatbot providing instant access to construction safety protocols and building codes.
SmartHomeSecure
LLaMA-powered prototype detecting YAML configuration defects and vulnerabilities in smart home automation systems.
Digital Building Twin — Bishop-Favrao Hall
Real-time digital twin for environmental visualization (temperature, humidity, light, air quality), demonstrated at Virginia Tech.
Decentralized Digital Building Twin
Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum blockchain-based IoT framework for decentralized, automated smart building facilities operations.
Active Funding
Redden Grant · Eastern Illinois University
Generative AI-Powered Human-Robot Collaboration Demonstration for Construction Technology Education · Award: $2,500