Mobile robots are deployed in the built environment at increasing rates. However, lack of considerations for a robot-inclusive planning has led to physical spaces that would potentially pose hazards to robots, and contribute to an overall productivity decline for mobile service robots. This research proposes the use of an adapted Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) as a structured tool to evaluate a building’s level of robot-inclusivity and safety for service robot deployments. This Robot-Inclusive FMEA (RIFMEA) framework, is used to identify failures in the built environment that compromise the workflow of service robots, assess their effects and causes, and provide recommended actions to alleviate these problems. The method was supported with a case study of deploying telepresence robots in a university campus. The study concluded that common failures were related to poor furniture design, a lack of clearance and hazard indicators, and sub-optimal interior planning.

False ceilings are often utilised in residential and commercial spaces as a way to contain and conceal necessary but unattractive building infrastructure, including mechanical, electrical, and plumbing services. Concealing such elements has made it difficult to perform periodic inspection safely for maintenance. To complement this, there have been increasing research interests in mobile robots in recent years that are capable of accessing hard-to-reach locations, thus allowing workers to perform inspections remotely. However, current initiatives are met with challenges arising from unstructured site conditions that hamper the robot’s productivity for false ceiling inspection. The paper adopts a top-down approach known as “Design for Robots”, taking into account four robot-inclusive design principles: activity, accessibility, safety, observability. Falcon, a class of inspection robots, was used as a benchmark to identify spatial constraints according to the four principles. Following this, a list of false ceiling design guidelines for each category are proposed.