Robot cleaners to push up productivity

Robot cleaners to push up productivity

SINGAPORE - You may soon see grey machines trundling along - on their own - down the walkways of Changi Airport, cleaning up.

These robotic cleaning machines, which cost $70,000 each, will be tested at the airport, as Singapore tries to find new ways to boost the productivity of its cleaning sector amid a labour crunch.

The machine uses sonar to detect obstacles, and will stop when someone walks into its path.

It can be operated manually or pushed in the right direction to trundle along automatically.

Yesterday, Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Grace Fu launched the machine, called IntelliBot, at the CleanMET Asia exhibition, which was part of the CleanEnviro Summit Singapore, at Marina Bay Sands.

At yesterday's event, she was shown a demonstration of the robotic machine, which was imported from the United States by local firm Clean Solutions.


This article was first published on June 3, 2014.
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