How do you insulate a floor without tearing up the floorboards? To save homeowners money and builders time, London-based startup Q-Bot created a small, foldable robot that moves under floors to insulate them from below.

Reducing in width from 50cm to 20cm, Q-Bot can be inserted into hard-to-reach places through an air vent or a pulled-up corner of carpet.



Once deployed, the robot is operated via remote control, allowing it to build a 3D picture of the space. Insulating foam is fed to the bot through a tube, so that the operator can spray the underside of the floor to seal up any gaps. Hundreds of UK homes have already been given the Q-Bot treatment.

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"In the houses we come across, so much cold air comes up through the floor that it replaces the volume in the house every one to two hours," says Mathew Holloway, Q-Bot's Managing Director. Once the insulation has been put in, explains Holloway, 45 per cent of all draughts are eliminated.

Q-Bot, which was founded in March 2012 by Tom Lipinski and Peter Childs, head of Imperial College London's School of Design Engineering, has proved so effective that it's now being used as a medical aid. In July 2016, the bot was hired by Islington Council in London to insulate homes rather than install new boilers.

"Councils have designated funding to address health issues caused by cold and damp homes," says Holloway. "They see the robot as a way to save the NHS money."

CORRECTION: This article has been corrected to reflect the fact that Mathew Holloway is Managing Director of Q-Bot, not co-founder