Green Campus Initiative: Where CITR Meets the SDGs

Background

As climate change accelerates, higher-education institutions hold a dual role: generating knowledge and demonstrating societal change. In 2025, CITR (Center for Intelligent Team Robots and Human-Robot Collaboration) launched the Green Campus Robot Project, using smart robotics as a vehicle to pursue the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on campus.

Core Action Plans

1. Smart Energy Monitoring

The research team deployed autonomous patrol robots equipped with thermal cameras and gas-sensing modules to conduct real-time energy audits of campus buildings. The system generates daily energy-consumption heat maps, helping facility managers pinpoint high-usage zones — directly supporting SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy.

2. Biodiversity Monitoring

Drones fitted with multispectral cameras conduct regular flights over campus vegetation areas, collecting plant-growth data that feeds an AI-powered species database. This initiative supports SDG 15: Life on Land and provides the data foundation for future ecological restoration policies.

3. Sustainability Education Workshops

A series of undergraduate workshops pairs hands-on robotics with SDG themes, cultivating engineers who think beyond technical excellence to societal impact — in support of SDG 4: Quality Education.

Early Results

• Energy analysis of pilot buildings reveals a 18% energy-saving potential
• First-phase campus plant database complete with 47 native species catalogued
• Over 120 students participated in the sustainable robotics workshop series

Next Steps

The team will expand the pilot scope in Q1 2026 and collaborate with the Department of Environmental Engineering to develop a carbon-emission calculation module, with planned integration into the existing campus digital twin platform.