Since June 2022, Ella has been deployed at Iris. She cleans the floors in a high-traffic location such as the ‘Karel de Grote’ college in Antwerp and is a real eye-catcher. ‘What makes Ella special is that she is a robot with human traits,’ explains Philippe Vekemans, Director Iris Facility Solutions.
“This robot does her work around according to a pre-programmed schedule and does not deviate from it. The intelligent software separates people from fixed objects like chairs and tables and then politely asks them to step aside.” And she does this while the rest of the cleaning team has their hands free for other work. Only the heavy repetitive work is done by the robot.
“Our cleaning staff will be given the lighter tasks, while the quality of the floor cleaning will improve,” Philippe explains. Together with ‘Karel de Grote’ college, Iris looked not only at the costs but also at the long-term benefits. The benefits are significant: cleaning efficiency and quality are increased, and absenteeism reduced.
Cleaning robot Ella is cuddly
Ella scores high in terms of cuddliness. The robot has a digital face, sings songs, can talk and if you say something to her, she answers. You can recognize human contours in the robot and that leads to positive reactions. This fits perfectly with Iris’ vision, as Philippe emphasizes. “We provide great workplaces so that our customer can concentrate on their core tasks. A well-appointed workplace inspires to be more productive and keeps everyone healthy and well.
When the mapping is placed and loaded. The operator simply starts the work with an app. From that moment on, the machine becomes autonomous.
Success guaranteed?
We can already say that by robotizing high-frequency tasks, the quality and efficiency of cleaning goes up,” says Jef Van der Wee, Director of Management and Transformation at the ‘Karel de Grote’ college. “It also aligns with our needs. As a college, our goal is to be progressive and innovative and to embrace digitalization. We use technology to support and relieve the burden on staff. We are using the hours that are freed up for work that adds more value. This can be done by having the cleaners be a point of contact in addition to their usual duties. Water consumption is also considerably lower than with other machines. We are also satisfied about sustainability and the environment. For the rest, we’ll have to wait and see how the robot will bear fruit in the long term.”