Cleaning robots to be available island-wide by March 2020

Singapore

MADE-in-Singapore robots that clean up public spaces - and sing and rap while at it - will be available island-wide by March next year.

They were designed and developed by Singapore-based manufacturer LionsBot International, which set 300 such robots to work at Gardens by the Bay on Wednesday.

LionsBot, which lays claim to being the world's first company to lease out robots on a subscription model, will rent out these machines to six cleaning companies, including Chye Thiam Maintenance and Absolute Maintenance Services.

Leasing these robots costs between S$1,350 and S$2,150 a month; designing and developing them cost S$5 million over two years.

Speaking at the launch on Wednesday, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry Koh Poh Koon recognised LionsBot's contribution to the growth of the robotics sector.

Noting a 72 per cent jump in the number of new industrial robots installed in Singapore between 2016 and 2017, he added: "In Singapore, robotic solutions are being deployed in sectors such as logistics, land transport and cleaning."

These smart machines give productivity a lift by doing more than human workers can and making fewer mistakes in manual and repetitive tasks.

To design, develop and manufacture its robots, LionsBot tapped the technology and expertise on offer under the government's National Robotics Programme (NRP), which supports the development and deployment of robotic solutions across industries.

The three-year-old NRP funds a research programme at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD).

Mohan Rajesh Elara, assistant professor at SUTD and one of the three co-founders of LionsBot, said: "We have a team of 21 SUTD researchers and graduates who joined LionsBot. They are now powering LionsBot in terms of innovation."

He added that some of the technologies developed under the NRP-funded programme at SUTD have been licensed with LionsBot.

Since April, two LionsBot robots have been hard at work, scrubbing floors at the National Gallery Singapore and collecting garbage at Jewel Changi Airport.

Come March next year, they will be joined by 13 other models that can do vacuum-cleaning, sweeping, mopping, and even transporting of cleaning equipment.

Robots in the LeoPod X Family Series, designed for outdoor use, can scale ramps and negotiate speed humps.

Their indoor counterparts from the LeoBot Family Series and the LeoPod Family Series include the LeoPull, a robot that can transport up to 450kg of equipment, and the LeoMop, the world's first professional mopping robot.

Addressing the concern that these robots may put cleaners out of work, Dr Koh told about 400 members in the audience - including representatives of government agencies and cleaning contractors and their customers - that cleaning robots ease the workload of cleaning staff, thus freeing them to undertake higher-order work such as the supervision, operation and maintenance of the robots.

"I urge our workers to make use of such initiatives to retrain, adapt, stay relevant and realise the benefits that technology can bring to our jobs," he added.