State of Cleaning Robots — Business Models and Dataset (2021)

In general, the business models for robots in the cleaning industry are (1) CAPEX (capital expenditure) purchase with annual 10-15% maintenance fees and (2) leasing contracts or some form of RaaS (Robot-as-a-Service) subscription.

Floor-cleaning robots — For example, in the market for floor-cleaning robots, the upfront CAPEX can be in the range of US$25,000 — $60,000 per robot, depending on features and order volume. The Avidbot Neo is estimated to cost around US$50,000 in upfront expenditure per robot with an additional servicing package costing US$6,000 per robot per year.

In terms of leasing costs, the monthly price point tends to hover around the amortization of the cost price of the robots over a 24-month to 36-month period. The office-cleaning robot Whiz from Softbank Robotics can be leased at US$499 per month.while the Lionsbot suite of larger, industrial floor-cleaning robots have a leasing cost of around US1,000-$1,600 per month.

UVC/spray disinfection robots — There are a whole range of considerations and features differences between the various disinfection robots, which are expected to cost around US$40,000 to US$150,000 per robot in upfront costs alone. The Xenex LightStrike is estimated to cost around US$80,000 while the Tru-D SmartUVC system is estimated to cost US$120,000 to US$130,000.

Restroom-cleaning robots -The RaaS subscription for the SOMATIC restroom cleaning robot is priced at US$1,000 per month for an 8-hour per day or 40-hour per week usage.

Facade cleaning robots — The upfront purchase price for facade-cleaning robots can range from US$100,000 to US$200,000 per robot system. The Serbot suite of facade-cleaning robots are on the CAPEX model and cost 180,000 euros or around US$202,000 per robot. There are also other solution providers that provide a Robot-as-a-Service price of US$8,000 to US$20,000 per cleaning cycle or cleaning service.

Solar panel cleaning robots — Depending on size and performance, solar panel cleaning robots can cost as low as a few thousand dollars in retail to US$100,000 for larger, higher-end models in terms of upfront expenditure. The SERBOT pvEco robot is estimated to cost around 13,560 euros (or US$15,000) while its pvClean version costs around 24,680 euros (or US$27,700). The basic version of the GEKKO Solar Robot costs around 61,280 euros (US$68,900) while its premium model costs 78,768 euros (US$88,560).