Educational facilities:
a lesson in next generation
cleaning regimes
FRIDAY, 19 APRIL 2024
Educational facilities provide a range of unique challenges for facilities management professionals, from ensuring high-footfall locations are always safe and clean despite hundreds of young people moving from class to class, to ensuring cleaning and maintenance regimes fit around class timetables.
Here, Kristal Goodwin, national sales manager for Robert Scott’s cobotic division, explores how cutting-edge cleaning robots could be the perfect partner for operatives working in these environments.
A GROWING TREND
The cleaning sector is experiencing a significant transformation with the introduction of advanced robotics and intelligent management systems.
These innovations offer clear advantages and are particularly advantageous in environments requiring regular sanitation. Educational facilities represent a unique setting where autonomous cleaning robots can deliver specific advantages, enhancing cleanliness and safety in spaces used by students and staff.
WHAT ARE AUTONOMOUS CLEANING ROBOTS?
There are variety of robotics cleaning solutions available on the market today, each with its own benefits and limitations. Among the various approaches, cobotics – where robots collaborate with human workers – stands out as a particularly promising field.
Cobotics not only consistently achieves high cleaning standards but also ensures that machines complement rather than replace human labour. This collaboration is not only morally significant but also enhances performance. Combining cleaning robots with human workers results in a more efficient, flexible, and inclusive approach than systems designed solely to replace human labour.
Equipped with state-of-the-art sensors and artificial intelligence, cobots enhance human capabilities and ensure seamless cooperation in cleaning tasks. They help to, for example, avoid redundant cleaning efforts and conserve resources such as water and detergents, while also minimising site management maintenance costs.
THE BENEFITS TO EDUCATION
These machines are expertly designed to ensure an optimal clean and boast user-friendly operation, ideal for maintaining large, open spaces.
Take, for instance the META-SCRUB 60 autonomous scrubber dryer we exclusively offer in the UK. It’s equipped with a variety of attachments capable of scrubbing, sweeping, polishing, and drying a floor. It’s engineered with precision navigation, able to detect objects as small as 5cm, and features advanced obstacle avoidance. Its zero-degree turn radius allows it to manoeuvre into tight spaces, while its ability to autonomously handle wastewater disposal and freshwater refills at its charging station adds to its efficiency.
In educational environments, cobots like the META-SCRUB 60 are invaluable for managing the cleaning of expansive areas such as hallways, assembly rooms, and sports halls. This frees up staff to focus on targeted cleaning tasks that require a human touch, such as spot cleaning and deep sanitisation.
Furthermore, the META-SCRUB 60 can be programmed to carry out cleaning tasks when schools are closed to ensure floorcare is conducted without disruption to the educational process.
Facility managers can also benefit from intelligent performance data capture and tracking features. For example, they can optimise cleaning schedules based on comprehensive data, such as area coverage and operation times, and set benchmarks and evaluate performance against established KPIs for continuous improvement.
EASY TO INTRODUCE
Cobotic machines like the META-SCRUB 60 boast a user-friendly design that eases the transition to advanced cleaning technology. Users typically find that with just a brief training period, they can operate the machines with confidence and skill.
Our dedicated cobotic division ensures a seamless onboarding process by providing comprehensive initial training and overseeing the installation of the equipment.
PRACTICAL LESSONS
An additional, somewhat unconventional benefit of cleaning robots is their capacity to fascinate and intrigue. Educators constantly seek resources that can captivate and educate students in dynamic ways.
Integrating state-of-the-art intelligent cobots into cleaning routines within educational institutions offers an engaging, real-world illustration of technology in action. For students delving into subjects like physics, engineering, mathematics, ICT, these autonomous cleaning robots serve as tangible case studies of the principles they’re learning in class.
Cobotic cleaning systems offer an exciting future across a range of sectors. In educational settings, they offer some particular benefits: from reducing disruption to students to inspiring the next generation of engineers.
