by Brianna Crandall — February 7, 2022 — PassiveLogic, creator of what the company calls the first fully autonomous building controls platform, is said to be redefining autonomous systems technology with the vision of empowering anyone to effortlessly design their own custom applications — without requiring a team of PhDs. The company has developed a product ecosystem that enables autonomous systems from development to deployment.
Building controls help in-building AI make real-time control and management decisions that co-optimize comfort, maintenance, efficiency, operational costs. Image courtesy PassiveLogic
Founded by visionary entrepreneurs Troy Harvey and Jeremy Fillingim in 2016, PassiveLogic has secured substantial Series B funding from leading investors Addition and Keyframe. They are joined by commercial real estate strategics, including RET Ventures, Brookfield Growth, and Era Ventures from the U.S., and Europe’s largest proptech VC firm, A/O PropTech.
PassiveLogic CEO Troy Harvey stated:
Buildings are the world’s most complex systems, a problem that increases as buildings become “smart.” We’ve built a platform that tames increasing complexity and addresses the growing technology needs of the built environment. At PassiveLogic, our core focus is to redefine how people participate in the design, build, operation, and maintenance of complex systems.
PassiveLogic’s software environment, Autonomy Studio, allows users to build models by simply drawing. The software then generates a physics-based digital twin, in a new description language called Quantum. These applications deploy within PassiveLogic’s control hardware, the Hive, a scalable automation platform.
Todd Arfman of Addition remarked:
PassiveLogic’s platform has unique capabilities to generate a digital twin of a building and utilize new autonomous technologies, machine learning and easily configurable software to help streamline the implementation and management of building controls systems. We’re thrilled to double down and continue our investment in PassiveLogic to modernize today’s building infrastructure and connectivity.
A successor to traditional deep learning, Quantum provides virtual analogs to real-world objects, powered by the company’s physics-based artificial intelligence technology. This enables real-world objects to understand their behavior and interactions and learn in place while operating in real time.
PassiveLogic’s autonomous suite is built around the Hive controller, enabling connectivity to building systems. Hive controllers work together within a building to provide an edge platform for sensors, equipment, and the Internet of Things (IoT), allowing whole-building control without requiring cloud connectivity.
In recent pilot projects, PassiveLogic’s approach demonstrated 30 percent energy savings and 90 percent labor savings in programming, installation and commissioning compared to conventional solutions.
PassiveLogic’s product suite understands how a building’s equipment and systems interact, allowing processing times to be slashed from many days to a few minutes. This functionality allows local in-building AI to make real-time control and management decisions that co-optimize comfort, maintenance, efficiency and operational costs.
Benjamin Birnbaum, partner at Keyframe, added:
The version of “machine learning” in today’s building automation applications lack effective data controls. With PassiveLogic’s solution, we finally have the opportunity to leverage more powerful technology to make an impact in the building market, which accounts for 39 percent of the world’s CO2 emissions. We are excited to be a part of this funding round to bring a first of its kind solution to the building sector — one that has been starved of innovation far too long.
PassiveLogic’s platform scales to any building or campus, both in new and retrofit applications, including specialized applications in factories, hospitals, data centers, and more. PassiveLogic has a growing roster of partnerships with many industry stakeholders, including building owners, operators, architects, engineers, contractors, and utility partners.
Beyond autonomous operation and management, PassiveLogic says its platform paves the way for human-centric architecture, interactive energy networks, utility demand-response, and the future of smart cities.
For more information about the PassiveLogic fully autonomous building controls platform, visit the company’s website.
