Automated Heat Stress Monitoring and Water-Spraying Robotic System for Improving Work Conditions Using Drone (UAV) Infrared Thermography

Unhealthy working environments, such as high heat stress, can significantly decrease worker productivity, reduce work performance, and lead to unsafe behavior. While embedded/wearable sensors/thermometers can reliably measure the heat stress on construction sites, they can only be implemented locally and are often needed to be deployed for multiple workers, which requires a massive sensor network. To address these issues, this paper proposes a contactless heat stress monitoring and water-spraying robotic system that can be deployed repeatedly using drone infrared thermography. Four main components are in the system, including (1) a prototyped quadrotor [i.e., an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)] to provide mobility; (2) an infrared camera to take thermal images, along with an environmental sensor to measure air temperature and relative humidity; (3) a spray tank to carry water; and (4) a single board computer to dynamically process the thermal images and environmental sensor readings for controlling the spray tank. Real-case validation results showed that the proposed system could accurately measure the heat stress and automatically spray water to improve thermal working conditions. Ultimately, this paper contributes to the body of knowledge by developing a drone thermography-enabled robotic system for enhancing worker comfort, health, and well-being at construction sites.