Are robotic cleaners and AI technology about to transform the cleaning industry?
In a few short years, robots have gone from science fiction to commercial fact. They may not yet be taking over the world, but they are revolutionising the cleaning industry, offering clients a more efficient — and cost-effective — clean without sacrificing quality.
At present, autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) tend to be used as self-guided floor cleaners, often working alongside human staff. But there is little doubt that the technology is changing at an unprecedented rate, with repercussions for the cleaning workforce and, more broadly, how cleaning companies operate.
It isn’t just about robotics, of course. The rapid evolution of AI is changing how businesses communicate, while more sophisticated software is allowing savvy operators to access and gather data that improves cleaning practices and workforce management.
Tom Culver, founder of the Robot Factory, says that the combination of improved software and advanced robotics will see autonomous machines moving into some surprising areas of business. His company started off selling floor-cleaning robots because it seemed a natural use for the existing technology — the floor was a perfect environment for robotics and the robots relished the unsociable hours and repetitive work.
“It’s a dull, dirty and dangerous job,” Culver says. “The people that do it often don’t see it as anything more than a temporary job.” His robots are now setting their sights on higher things, thanks to developments in vision technology.
“Robots have struggled with environments like bathrooms, because every bathroom is completely different. We are on the cusp of making this a reality, however, because of new local edge devices that use super fast chips combined with vision technology and AI, which means the robot could go in and act like a human, with the right arms and the right equipment to clean a bathroom.”
Getting started
Hamish Matheson, regional president at Karcher Oceania, says his company has seen the market for vacuum robots increase steadily towards larger-scale machines for use in commercial settings.
“If you take our cleaning robot the Kira B 50, we thought we’d see interest from retail environments such as supermarkets, but where we’ve actually seen a lot of interest is from transport, logistics and warehousing,” Matheson says.
“They’ve got large floor space that requires repetitive cleaning tasks in consistent conditions, and automating these cleaning tasks can offer high efficiency compared to manual cleaning; particularly if you have machines such as the Kira B 50 that have a docking station for filling and emptying, making them truly autonomous.”
Everything is changing quickly. If you sit on the sidelines, you might be a little too late.
Tom Culver
The initial investment can be a sticking point for businesses, given how quickly the technology is changing. Nobody wants to invest heavily in hardware that could be superseded within a couple of years.
Culver says that, while he understands the hesitancy, companies should be wary about waiting too long to invest in robotics.
“Everything is changing quickly. As any new technologies come on, what I try to tell people is buy one robot, try it, and you’ll kind of figure out if it works for you. But if you sit on the sidelines, it might be a little too late.”
Matheson says that he finds customers have been less concerned about potential updates — which would be straightforward for most machines — than the upfront cost of investing.
There are two main perceived barriers. One is the upfront cost of investing in hardware and the other is the cost of maintaining the software such as with updates, licensing and re-mapping. This is where technology can differentiate in the market. Kira B 50 as an example, has automatic software updates, clear and competitive running costs and re-mapping can be done easily by the end user.
Robots in the workforce
When it comes to that cleaning process, one of the most attractive aspects of investing in AMR technology is that it promises to reduce labour costs. Robotic cleaners can be onsite 24 hours a day and deliver more regular cleans than their human equivalents.
“We’ve had an AMR in place in a healthcare logistics facility in New Zealand now for probably four or five months,” Hamish says.
“We’ve had a state-of-the-art autonomous cleaning robot in place in a healthcare logistics facility in New Zealand now for probably four or five months,” Matheson says.
“It runs for between 30 and 40 hours a week every week, fully automated with little to no human intervention. Set up is really easy and once that’s done, all that is required is the docking station with access to water and electricity and then it should take care of itself. It’s really hands off.”
How much attention does the machine require from a human?
“Very, very little once it’s set up, and it’s quite easy to do that. What you need is for the docking station to have access to water and electricity as well and then it should take care of itself. It’s really hands-off.”
At this point, Matheson says he doesn’t see robotics as having a huge impact on the labour market. What is more likely in the short term are “cobots” — or collaborative robots — that will work side- by-side with humans.
“Cobots can be a great support to the workforce to increase productivity. For example, a cobot could work alongside a hotel cleaner, undertaking the basic floor cleaning tasks such as vacuuming hallways while the hotel cleaner tends to the more complex cleaning tasks such as bathroom cleaning and changing linen.”
Culver agrees. Instead of robots being a threat to human cleaners, they offer the potential to make the work more rewarding.
“At the end of the day, these employees are valuable assets. Therefore, assigning them meaningful and more sophisticated tasks is crucial. By integrating their work with robots, the entire process becomes more engaging for them.”
People will say, well, ‘what’s AI going to do for cleaning?’ Absolutely nothing that I’ve seen just yet.
Mark Fermor
There are still some tasks that humans are better suited to tackle, including the aforementioned bathrooms.
“Anything above the floor does get a lot more difficult, so I can’t see it replacing cleaners yet,” Culver says.
“Robotics is not really about replacing any humans. The humans are going to act in a more clever way, meaning their interactions with the robot, and what you’ll end up with is a cleaner facility, cleaned in a smarter way.”
The internet of things
Still, the robot revolution might be some way off. Mark Fermor, APAC general manager at TEAM Software, says that he doesn’t see robotics transforming the cleaning industry just yet. He says the main challenges in the near future won’t be companies finding a quick fix through robotics or the much-hyped AI, but learning how to make better use of the software tools that are already available.
“People will say, well, ‘what’s AI going to do for cleaning?’ Absolutely nothing that I’ve seen just yet,” says Fermor, whose software is designed to improve productivity in the cleaning, security and facility management industries.
“Maybe AI is going to be a cool chatbot on your website, but is it going to make your cleaning more efficient? There is absolutely no proof of that yet. You need skilled people to understand how to do that. All I see right now are many companies really trying to get to the basic use level of the technology that is currently available to them.”
New developments in software and app technology mean that cleaning companies are being presented with more data than ever, which will require more sophisticated software to interpret and extract meaningful conclusions.
Fermor says the much-hyped “Internet of Things” — in which devices including robots communicate information such as needing to be emptied or refilled — is yet to make a meaningful impact on the industry.
“I’m very sceptical about the Internet of Things because of its reliance on hardware. We have systems that require hardware, and it provides a single point of failure. But perhaps that is going to improve with more reliable manufacturing, so I’m not writing it off. Perhaps in the next five to 10 years, it will begin to make sense.”
The next great leap
Culver says these next five or so years will see a great leap forward for robotics, as AI becomes embedded in every aspect of our technological lives.
“It’s a really exciting time for robotics. We’re moving into the AI and vision space, where we can pretty much take any of our robots, add a separate camera, and turn them into ‘super robots’.”
He gives the example of a cleaning robot that can be adapted into not only cleaning a supermarket floor but also zooming around monitoring stock levels, spillages and slip risks or even theft.
“We have one in a grocery store that can literally do anything that you’d have a human do. It can even be trained to go and hang around the sweets section at three o’clock when the kids are out of school to watch for theft. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
Matheson says the next frontier for robotics will be outdoor cleaning.
“As the collaborative way of working with robots indoors becomes more mainstream, I think we’ll start to see a natural evolution to automation in outdoor areas. Think of larger sweepers and outdoor scrubbers autonomously cleaning areas such as sporting precincts and exhibition complexes, intuitively adapting to the environment, taking into consideration elevation, weather and other complexities.”
Some companies have already branched out into AMRs that can patrol beaches or scrub the hulls of sea vessels without having to drag the boats from the water. Culver says his company is working with clients on robots that can scale outdoor areas humans struggle to access, including windows on high-rise buildings.
For his part, Fermor thinks the near future for the cleaning industry will be more about developing the skills needed to thrive in the digital age.
“Business intelligence is knowing something before your competitors,” Fermor says.
“In today’s world, that means interpreting data into meaningful information. The gap between having the data and having the skill to project it into meaningful information is huge, not just in the cleaning industry, but everywhere. You really need a special skill set to understand how to interpret data that new systems and software provide.”