Robot cleaner can empty bins and sweep floors

摘要

Roombas were just the start. An office cleaning robot is being put through its paces by Dussmann, one of Germany's largest cleaning companies, at its Berlin HQ. The goal is getting it to work alongside human cleaners in large offices, emptying bins and vacuuming floors. The robot was developed by roboticist Richard Borman and colleagues at the Fraunhofer Institute in Stuttgart. It is designed to do two tasks - clean the floors and empty wastepaper baskets - with complete autonomy. It can recognise dirt on the floor and identify wastepaper baskets before its robotic arm grabs and then empties each bin. At the moment, it cleans too slowly for Dussmann. "Humans can do about 450 to 500 square metres an hour," says Borman. "The robot can do 100 to 120 square metres an hour."