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

  •  Spencer M.
  •  Nov 21, 2021
  •  3279 views
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The Covid-19 pandemic has ushered in a new era and standard of sanitization and cleaning for the built environment.


With labor shortage and the need for consistent, round-the-clock cleanliness and hygiene, cleaning robots are increasingly adopted and deployed to augment existing human cleaners in the cleaning regime.


During 2020, the number of disinfection robot offerings introduced to the healthcare and built environment markets rose steeply. The urgent need to contain viral infections pushed many non-medical robotics firms to pivot, design and produce disinfection robots that can join the frontline battle against the coronavirus.


Outline


Overview

The most common cleaning robots we can encounter in built environments today are typically the floor-cleaning robots and the disinfection robots. Floor-cleaning robots are usually autonomous and perform vacuuming, mopping and scrubbing actions on floor surfaces within a pre-specified path or region. Disinfection robots may be autonomous or wheeled (requires human guidance) and typically perform disinfection either via UV-C irradiation or chemical spray.


Other types of cleaning robots are beginning to emerge as well, such as robots that clean the facade and externally-facing windows, robots that clean the restroom and robots that clean mounted solar panels to improve efficiency.


Somatic restroom cleaning robot from New York


Cleaning Robot Dataset

 



Business Models

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).




Highlights (Disinfection Robots)

Moonstar

Moonstar is a spray disinfection robot developed by Avalon SteriTech (China (Hong Kong)) for the cleaning & hygiene, smart building and aviation industries.

Moonstar is intended for indoor use.

Key Information
Product Moonstar 
Company Avalon SteriTech (China (Hong Kong)) 
Function spray disinfection robot 
Sub-Form wheeled 
Deployment indoor 
Industry Cleaning & Hygiene, Smart Building and Aviation 

Spray Disinfecting Robot

Spray Disinfecting Robot is a spray disinfection robot developed by VTRAC Robotics (Canada) for the cleaning & hygiene, healthcare and smart building industries.

Spray Disinfecting Robot is intended for indoor use.

The robot stands 136 cm tall and can perform automatic disinfection indoors with an optional elevator-travel function that enables multi-floor disinfection routines.


Key Information
Product Spray Disinfecting Robot 
Company VTRAC Robotics (Canada) 
Function spray disinfection robot 
Sub-Form wheeled 
Deployment indoor 
Industry Cleaning & Hygiene, Healthcare and Smart Building 
Tech Domain Robotics 
URL https://www.vtracrobotics.com/product/disinfection-spray-robot.. 
Dimensions 
Length 540 mm 
Width 360 mm 
Height 1368 mm 
Weight 
Weight 42 kg 
Duration 
Charging 8 hours 
Usage 3.5 – 4 hours 
Operations 
Speed 0 ~ 0.6 m/s 

Intelligent Sterilization Robot (ISR)

Intelligent Sterilization Robot (ISR) is an UVC disinfection robot and spray disinfection robot developed by Time Medical (China (Hong Kong)) for the cleaning & hygiene, healthcare and smart building industries.

Intelligent Sterilization Robot (ISR) is intended for indoor use.

Key Information
Product Intelligent Sterilization Robot (ISR) 
Company Time Medical (China (Hong Kong)) 
Function UVC disinfection robot and spray disinfection robot 
Sub-Form wheeled 
Deployment indoor 
Industry Cleaning & Hygiene, Healthcare and Smart Building 


Highlights (Facade Cleaning Robots)

Kite Robot

Kite Robot is a facade-cleaning robot developed by Kite Robotics (Netherlands) for the cleaning & hygiene and smart building industries.

Kite Robot is intended for outdoor use.

Key Information
Product Kite Robot 
Company Kite Robotics (Netherlands) 
Function facade-cleaning robot 
Deployment outdoor 
Industry Cleaning & Hygiene and Smart Building 

Clean-Kong

Clean-Kong is a facade-cleaning robot developed by Erylon (France) for the cleaning & hygiene and smart building industries.

Clean-Kong is intended for outdoor use.

Key Information
Product Clean-Kong 
Company Erylon (France) 
Function facade-cleaning robot 
Deployment outdoor 
Industry Cleaning & Hygiene and Smart Building 
Tech Domain Robotics 
URL https://erylon.com/en/technology/.. 

Ozmo

Ozmo is a facade-cleaning robot developed by Skyline Robotics (Israel) for the cleaning & hygiene and smart building industries.

Ozmo is intended for outdoor use.

Key Information
Product Ozmo 
Company Skyline Robotics (Israel) 
Function facade-cleaning robot 
Deployment outdoor 
Industry Cleaning & Hygiene and Smart Building 
Tech Domain Robotics 
URL https://www.skylinerobotics.com/meet-ozmo.. 


Highlights (Floor Cleaning Robots)

RA660 Navi XL Scrubber-Dryer Robot

Developed by Cleanfix (Switzerland), RA660 Navi XL Scrubber-Dryer Robot is a floor-cleaning robot for the cleaning & hygiene and smart building industries. Its key value is to enable autonomous cleaning of large areas, such as warehouses, shopping malls, campuses, train stations and others, with a 45-liter membrane tank and automatic docking with charging and cleaning fluid re-supply.

Key Information
Product RA660 Navi XL Scrubber-Dryer Robot 
Company Cleanfix (Switzerland) 
Function floor-cleaning robot 
Sub-Form wheeled 
Industry Cleaning & Hygiene and Smart Building 
Tech Domain Robotics 
URL https://cleanfix-robotics.com/products/ra660-navi-xl/.. 
Dimensions 
Length 1110 mm 
Width 850 mm 
Height 1185 mm 
Weight 
Weight 313 
Duration 
Charging 40 mins 
Usage 3.5 hours 
Operations 
Speed 0.6 m/s 
Op Notes 110-liter water tank, 5-liter cleaning agent tank, WiFi, LTE 

RA660 Navi M Scrubber-Dryer Robot

Developed by Cleanfix (Switzerland), RA660 Navi M Scrubber-Dryer Robot is a floor-cleaning robot for the cleaning & hygiene and smart building industries. Its key value is to enable autonomous cleaning of large areas, such as warehouses, shopping malls, campuses, train stations and others, with a 110-liter membrane tank and automatic docking with charging and cleaning fluid re-supply.

Key Information
Product RA660 Navi M Scrubber-Dryer Robot 
Company Cleanfix (Switzerland) 
Function floor-cleaning robot 
Sub-Form wheeled 
Industry Cleaning & Hygiene and Smart Building 
Tech Domain Robotics 
URL https://cleanfix-robotics.com/products/ra660-navi-m/.. 
Dimensions 
Length 960 mm 
Width 850 mm 
Height 900 mm 
Weight 
Weight 260 
Duration 
Charging 40 mins 
Usage 3.5 hours 
Operations 
Speed 0.6 m/s 
Op Notes 45-liter water tank, 2.5-liter cleaning agent tank, WiFi, LTE 

KIRA B 50

KIRA B 50 is a floor-cleaning robot developed by Karcher (Germany) for the cleaning & hygiene and smart building industries.

KIRA B 50 is intended for indoor use.

Key Information
Product KIRA B 50 
Company Karcher (Germany) 
Function floor-cleaning robot 
Sub-Form wheeled 
Deployment indoor 
Industry Cleaning & Hygiene and Smart Building 
Tech Domain Robotics 
URL https://www.kaercher.com/ca/kira-en.html.. 
Dimensions 
Length 1000 mm 
Width 640 mm 
Height 1100 mm 
Weight 
Weight 180 kg 
Duration 
Usage 2 hours 
Operations 
Op Notes Cleaning efficiency (max): 1200m²/h