Is it Effective to Use Robotic Cleaners in Commercial Areas?

In recent years, robotic cleaning has made significant progress and is now being used by warehouses, medical offices, schools, and corporate campuses as part of their regular cleaning programs.

But if you’re considering robotics for your own facility, the important question is simple: does it actually work?

The answer depends on how the technology is used. Robotic cleaners can make a significant difference when they are used for the right tasks and supported by a trained cleaning team. They can improve consistency, save time, and provide another layer of disinfection, but they aren’t designed to handle every part of a commercial cleaning program on their own.

Daigle Cleaning Systems has incorporated robotic technology into its own commercial cleaning services with two specialized machines: Scrubby, an automated floor-cleaning robot, and Violet, an autonomous UV-C disinfection robot. Each is designed to handle a different part of the cleaning process, giving cleaning teams another way to maintain large or busy facilities.

Here’s a closer look at where robotic cleaners can help and where human expertise is still important.

What Makes a Commercial Cleaning Program Effective?

Before looking at any particular piece of equipment, it’s worth considering what you actually need from a cleaning program.

A good commercial cleaning program should produce consistent results, support a healthy environment, work around the day-to-day activity of the facility, and make financial sense over time. The equipment used is only one part of that equation.

Robotic cleaners can help with each of these areas when they are introduced as part of a larger plan. The key is using them where they can do the most good.

Where Robotic Cleaners Can Make a Difference

Consistent Disinfection

UVC disinfection robots use ultraviolet light to damage the DNA and RNA of pathogens on surfaces and in the air. When used properly, this technology can eliminate up to 99.9% of harmful pathogens, including difficult pathogens such as C. diff, without relying on chemical disinfectants.

That can be especially useful in spaces where infection control is a major concern. Healthcare offices, schools, gyms, waiting rooms, and other high-traffic environments can benefit from an additional layer of disinfection.

UVC technology also gives cleaning teams a way to treat an entire room more consistently than is possible with manual spraying and wiping alone.

This is where Violet comes into play at Daigle. Violet is a fully autonomous, AI-enabled UV-C disinfection robot designed with healthcare environments in mind. It can map its surroundings, navigate using LiDAR and seven-camera VOR vision, and track the areas it has disinfected. It can also detect people in the area and automatically shut off, adding an important safety feature when operating in occupied facilities.

Violet can disinfect a room in about 10 minutes, depending on the space and conditions. For facilities where regular disinfection is a priority, this can provide an efficient way to add another layer of protection without relying entirely on chemical products.

More Consistent Floor Care

Floor cleaning is another area where automation can be useful. A robotic floor cleaner can follow a programmed route and repeat the same cleaning process on a regular schedule.

For large facilities, that consistency can make a noticeable difference. Instead of relying entirely on someone remembering which areas were cleaned and when, the robot can be programmed to cover designated areas on a set schedule.

This can be particularly helpful in facilities with large amounts of carpet, tile, stone, or other flooring that requires regular attention.

Scrubby, Daigle’s automated floor-cleaning robot, is designed specifically for this type of repetitive work. It can detect dirt and debris and adjust its scrub intensity based on the conditions it encounters. It can also sweep, scrub, vacuum, and dust mop, allowing it to work across different types of flooring.

Scrubby is also designed to operate with less hands-on involvement. It can return to its charging station, automatically refill and drain its water, and be monitored through a mobile app. The app allows cleaning teams to track the robot, monitor its activity in real time, and generate cleaning reports.

For a large facility with extensive flooring, having a machine that can consistently cover the same areas while staff focus elsewhere can be a practical addition to the cleaning routine.

Saving Time on Repetitive Work

Some cleaning tasks are repetitive by nature. Large open floors, hallways, and other expansive areas can take a significant amount of time to clean manually.

Autonomous equipment can handle some of this work during low-traffic periods or after hours. That gives cleaning professionals more time to focus on the areas where their experience matters most, including restrooms, high-touch surfaces, corners, and areas that require additional attention.

Rather than replacing the cleaning team, the goal is to make better use of their time.

For example, Scrubby can take on routine floor care while a member of the cleaning team works on more detailed areas of the facility. Violet can handle scheduled room disinfection while the team focuses on the rest of the cleaning program. The robots are doing specific jobs consistently, while people remain responsible for the work that requires judgment and attention to detail.

Working Around Busy Facilities

Modern robotic cleaning equipment is designed to work in occupied spaces. Depending on the system, robots can navigate around people and obstacles, operate on programmed schedules, and even be controlled remotely.

That makes them useful for facilities that are active throughout the day. An office, retail space, healthcare facility, or other commercial building doesn’t necessarily need to stop operating for robotic cleaning to take place.

Both Scrubby and Violet are built with this type of environment in mind. Their navigation and monitoring capabilities allow them to work within a facility while giving cleaning teams visibility into what the equipment is doing.

Where Human Cleaning Professionals Still Matter

Robotic equipment is helpful, but there are plenty of things it cannot do on its own.

A robot can follow a programmed route, but it doesn’t have the same ability to assess a situation as an experienced cleaning professional. If someone spills something in an unexpected location, a stain needs special treatment, or an area suddenly sees more traffic than usual, a person needs to recognize the issue and adjust the cleaning approach.

There are also plenty of areas that still require hands-on cleaning. Corners, baseboards, door handles, fixtures, restrooms, and other detailed areas aren’t always suited to automated equipment.

The facility itself can also change from day to day. Events, changes in traffic, construction, seasonal activity, and changes to the layout can all affect how a space needs to be cleaned. A trained team can make those adjustments as they happen.

Robotic equipment also requires its own maintenance and oversight. Like any piece of equipment, a robot needs to be properly maintained and monitored to continue performing as expected.

For these reasons, robotics works best as part of a cleaning program rather than as a replacement for one.

Combining Robotics With a Trained Cleaning Team

The most practical way to use robotic cleaning technology is to let the equipment handle the work it does well while cleaning professionals take care of everything else.

Robots can take on repetitive floor cleaning and scheduled disinfection, while a trained team handles detailed cleaning, quality control, equipment maintenance, and unexpected situations. This approach can help facilities get more out of both their technology and their cleaning staff.

It can also make the investment more practical. Depending on the facility and its needs, robotic equipment may be purchased, leased, or incorporated into an existing cleaning service.

The right option will depend on factors such as the size of the facility, the type of flooring, traffic levels, cleaning schedule, and the specific goals of the cleaning program.

How Daigle Cleaning Systems Uses Robotics

At Daigle Cleaning Systems, we see robotics as another tool that can help us deliver better results. Our robotic equipment is used alongside trained cleaning professionals rather than as a replacement for them.

Scrubby handles repetitive floor-care tasks, including sweeping, scrubbing, vacuuming, and dust mopping. Its dirt and debris detection and adaptive scrub intensity allow it to adjust its cleaning based on the conditions it encounters. It can also self-charge and automatically refill and drain its water, while its mobile app gives the Daigle team a way to monitor cleaning activity and generate reports.

Violet takes a different approach. As a fully autonomous UV-C disinfection robot, it is designed to disinfect rooms without the use of ozone or chemical disinfectants. Violet can map a space, track the areas it has disinfected, and navigate using LiDAR and seven-camera VOR vision. Its person-detection system can also trigger an automatic shut-off if someone enters the area during operation.

Having both types of technology gives Daigle the ability to look at what a facility actually needs rather than trying to use one robot for every situation. A large facility may benefit from automated floor care, additional disinfection, or both.

Both systems are supported by our trained team and ongoing oversight. They are part of the same standards-based approach we bring to the rest of our services, including our CIMS Green Building with Honors certification.

Are Robotic Cleaners Effective for Commercial Spaces?

They can be.

Robotic cleaners can provide meaningful benefits for commercial facilities, particularly when it comes to consistent floor care, scheduled disinfection, and reducing the amount of time staff spends on repetitive tasks. But the technology works best when it is matched to the needs of the facility and incorporated into a larger cleaning program.

Every building is different, so the right approach will depend on the size and layout of your space, the type of cleaning required, and how your facility operates each day.

That’s why Daigle doesn’t take a one-size-fits-all approach to robotic cleaning. The first step is looking at your facility and determining where automation could actually make a difference.

Curious whether Scrubby, Violet, or robotic cleaning could be a good fit for your facility? Request a free commercial cleaning estimate or call us at (518) 712-6633 to talk through your options.