Robotics & Automation Blog | SoftBank Robotics America

Which Commercial Carpet Cleaners Are Best?

Written by SoftBank Robotics Team | Tue, Sep 29, '20

Commercial carpet cleaning is a massive task. Thoroughly cleaning and vacuuming tens of thousands of square feet of carpet is a major demand on commercial cleaning staff that can take time away from deep cleaning and disinfection activities. However, while vacuuming is a time-consuming and mundane task, effective carpet cleaning is critical to maintaining overall cleanliness and improving air quality in buildings, satisfying cleaning standard operating procedures, and delivering a best-in-class occupant experience.

Commercial carpet cleaning machines are one solution that can reduce the burden of daily vacuuming on cleaning teams while improving overall cleaning performance. They also free up your staff to focus on deep cleaning and disinfecting. 

6 Capabilities of the Best Commercial Carpet Cleaning Machines

Because of the immediate and tangible benefits of offloading carpet cleaning to machines, commercial cleaning companies have turned to technology to help them achieve high levels of cleanliness in a timely and cost-effective manner without overburdening their staff. However, not just any carpet cleaning machine will suffice.

Six capabilities of the best commercial carpet cleaning machines include: 

1. autonomous operation

The best carpet cleaning machines learn the routes to consistently and effectively complete cleaning jobs without frequently updating settings. In addition, look for technology with dynamic obstacle avoidance that enables the robot to navigate complex, changing environments and autonomously steer clear of passing people. 


2. Higher-Quality Clean

The best carpet cleaning machines can clean carpets 50% better than manual vacuuming. For example, our commercial robot vacuum, Whiz, reduces the amount of dust kicked into the air by 8x because it doesn’t agitate the carpet the way stepping does. This ensures consistent, high-quality cleaning, making it simpler to deliver on existing SOPs and improve your cleaning operations over time.

3. Proof of Performance

With the rise of performance-based cleaning contracts, proof of performance has become a critical metric to share with stakeholders. Proof of performance also provides peace of mind that your team provides the consistent level of cleanliness that today’s consumers expect, delivers on KPIs, and offers guests and team members confidence in the cleanliness of indoor environments.

Our proprietary data and reporting platform, SoftBank Robotics Connect, accomplishes all of the above and more. Near real-time performance metrics and reporting insights serve as a single source of truth across the organization, where operations teams can manage their fleets, track routes, and monitor usage and maintenance needs.

SoftBank’s autonomous vacuum sweeper Whiz delivers robust performance metrics. With intuitive nightly reports, managers can see how, when, and where cleaning was performed, uncover opportunities for route optimization, and make more informed business decisions.

4. ease of use

Technology is only effective if it is easy to use and seamlessly deploy into your operation. Whiz autonomous vacuums are intuitive and easy to use and you can operate with little to no human intervention, so your team can immediately begin delegating cleaning tasks to their new autonomous coworker. 

5. real-time alerts

The best carpet cleaning machines immediately let you know their status—whether the robot is done cleaning a particular area and ready to move on to the next task needs a hand. Knowing the status of your carpet cleaning machine allows your staff to react quickly if there are problems and maintain overall productivity. 

6. Hands-on Service Mindset

Believing in the power of cleaning automation is one thing; successfully adopting it in your organization is entirely another. If you’ve never integrated service robots into your operations, there can be a lot of uncertainty and apprehension behind the decision.

That’s why it’s important to choose a robotics partner that brings years of experience equipping organizations across industries with robotics solutions and providing end-to-end support. Designed to improve adoption rates, execute against emerging services, identify and achieve KPIs, and drive business value, our white-glove service approach is the first of its kind in the market and the reason why our clients trust us with their automation needs.

Our Solutions in Action: Carpet Cleaning Machine Case Study

Before Whiz, hotel staff at the Marriott Denver Tech Center would spend countless hours vacuuming common areas, conference halls, and other large carpeted spaces — which meant they had fewer hours to spend on other high-impact maintenance and cleaning objectives. 

Since adopting Whiz robots in their facility, the Marriott team has run these trusty carpet cleaners for over 241 hours, vacuuming over one million square feet in the process. As a result, the hotel’s housekeeping teams were able to step away from more menial tasks and instead turn their attention toward higher-impact and more engaging work. For both guests and employees, the Whiz machines are a reminder of the tech center’s ongoing commitment to investing in the latest technologies.

Read the full story here.

Take the Tedium out of Carpet Cleaning

By deploying automated vacuuming solutions, cleaning companies free their employees to complete the most time-consuming and repetitive work faster so they can move more quickly to tackle higher-value tasks. 

Contact SoftBank Robotics today to learn more about how to make Whiz your newest brand ambassador.