Robotics for HVAC applications: A critical review and future perspectives

• HVAC robots are evolving from passive mobile data collectors into active task performers. • Six HVAC task domains are identified, spanning inspection, maintenance, monitoring, leakage detection, comfort enhancement, and installation/retrofit. • Diverse robot morphologies improve performance across HVAC environments, and AI-driven design shows particular promise. • Real-world performance of HVAC robots is limited by battery life, high sensitivity to environmental disturbances, and lack of standardized test environments. • Robotic agents remain largely isolated from building automation systems, with integration and coordinated control still at an early stage. Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), enhanced computational capabilities, and innovations in sensors and hardware have driven the increasing development and application of robots in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. We selected and reviewed 101 studies published between 2005 and 2025, sourced from IEEE Xplore, Scopus, Web of Science, and the ACM Digital Library. To analyze these works, we developed a five-dimensional analytical framework (morphology, sensing, navigation, task execution, and system integration), inspired by the Springer Handbook of Robotics and tailored specifically for robotic applications in HVAC. Based on the reviewed studies, six distinct tasks spanning the entire HVAC lifecycle have been identified. Among the six tasks, inspection and maintenance dominate (59%), followed by indoor monitoring and auditing (21%), whereas leakage detection, comfort support, and installation/retrofit remain less explored. To address the identified gaps, this review proposes future research directions including investigating robot-aware HVAC design principles, developing multimodal HVAC sensing and data fusion techniques, enhancing robot training and hardware capabilities, and expanding robotic applications beyond Maintenance and Operations (M&O). The findings from this review inform future robotics research for HVAC applications and ultimately enhance system affordability, energy efficiency, resilience or reliability, and occupant environmental comfort. Moreover, it seeks to inspire researchers to explore the intersections of robotics, computer science, building science, and HVAC engineering fostering advancements in this multidisciplinary field.