At Discovery Robotics, we firmly believe that robotics can increase human productivity, safety, and quality of life. Since we started, we’ve been fully focused on commercial cleaning with a specific emphasis on floor care.
In 2018 autonomous commercial floor cleaners like our FX250 are poised to have a bigger impact than they have previously had.
Autonomous Floor Cleaning Can Boost Productivity
As told in this article in Architect Magazine, a director of one of the primary commercial floor cleaning manufacturers reports that these robotic machines “…can improve the economics of cleaning by significantly boosting productivity, saving up to 80 percent on labor costs and using up to 85 percent less water and chemicals.”
From our own experience running a small cleaning company, we actually think that reinvesting those labor dollars can be an even better way to supercharge productivity. We have seen firsthand how time constrained an efficient cleaning team can be. We believe that the resulting reduction in labor hours from floor cleaning can be re-deployed in high-value, high-touch cleaning tasks for the human team.
Regardless of how the team is managed, it’s clear that automating the primary floor cleaning tasks can free up significant resources that boost overall productivity.
Recent Technical Enhancements Have Eliminated Many Earlier Pain Points
Some of the drawbacks to residential robot cleaners that are addressed in this Forbes article also plagued robots designed for large commercial spaces. The complaint that the “device can’t find it’s way home” stands out as a particular issue. Today’s autonomous commercial floor cleaners are smarter than their predecessors. The FX250 is capable of operating with full autonomy and can navigate with an understanding of its location within a facility. Even those commercial robots that lack complete autonomy can be programmed in a “teach and repeat” mode where they consistently and accurately follow a desired cleaning path through the facility.
Today’s autonomous commercial floor cleaners are smarter and more efficient than their predecessors. It will be exciting to see what the future brings in 2018 and beyond.