A group of researchers at the University of Michigan has developed a solution that could provide more efficient, more personalized comfort, completely doing away with the wall-mounted thermostats we’re accustomed to. Human Embodied Autonomous Thermostat, or “HEAT,” is detailed in a study published in the July 2020 issue of Building and Environment.
The system pairs thermal cameras with three-dimensional video cameras to measure whether occupants are hot or cold by tracking their facial temperature. It feeds the temperature data to a predictive model, which compares it with information about occupants’ thermal preferences.