Robot-Friendly Buildings: A Hierarchical Level of Service Framework for Evaluating and Designing Autonomous-Ready Built Environments

Autonomous robotic systems are being deployed in commercial, healthcare, logistics, and mixed-use built environments at a rate that significantly outpaces the adaptive capacity of existing building design and management paradigms. Buildings have historically been conceived exclusively for human occupants, and the resulting absence of a structured, scalable framework for evaluating or designing robot-ready facilities constitutes a critical gap in both research and professional practice. This article introduces the Robot-Friendly Buildings Level of Service (RFB-LOS) framework: a five-tier hierarchical classification system that characterises the degree to which a built environment supports autonomous robotic operations across six evaluative dimensions—building intelligence, active infrastructure, architectural planning, accessibility, observability, and safety. The framework spans a continuum from Robot Excluded (RFB-LOS-1), in which a building has no awareness of its robotic occupants, to Physical AI Robot Optimised (RFB-LOS-5), in which a Physical AI middleware layer assumes the highest command authority within a coordinated human–robot–building ecosystem. Drawing structural inspiration from the SAE J3016 Levels of Driving Automation, the EU Smart Readiness Indicator, HIMSS EMRAM, and BREEAM/LEED sustainability certification, the RFB-LOS framework is positioned as a foundational standard for the built environment and systems engineering community. Five real-world case studies spanning retail, hospitality, healthcare, and corporate sectors across four countries validate the framework’s tier assignments against observed operational outcomes.