In the corridors of a shopping mall, within a family living room, at the bottom of a harbor, or on the surface of a river, a new generation of machines is working in silence. We barely notice them: they are cleaning robots. They vacuum, scrub, filter, and collect.
They do not speak, do not complain, and do not ask for breaks. Yet, behind this silent mechanism, an entire model of labor organization, environmental relationship, and waste management is being redrawn. We can roughly divide this world into three main territories: indoors (domestic and professional), outdoor surfaces (public spaces), and aquatic environments.
1. Indoors: From Living Room Gadget to Industrial Fleet
It all started with robot vacuums. These small discs that bumped into furniture popularized the idea that a repetitive task could be outsourced to an autonomous machine. But while the public played with their domestic robots, the professional world watched closely. In hospitals and airports, cleaning huge surfaces is costly. Manufacturers transposed domestic tech—LiDAR, mapping, auto-docking—into massive scrubbers.
The difference lies in the ecosystem. In a mall, a robot doesn't work "alone". It inserts itself into a facility management software. We are no longer selling a machine, but "clean floor hours" and data:
- Data-Driven Hygiene: Robots provide audit reports, proving that specific areas were cleaned at specific times.
- ESG Commitments: Precise dosing reduces water and chemical usage significantly compared to manual mopping.
- Job Evolution: Cleaning staff are evolving into "fleet supervisors", managing multiple bots via tablets.
2. Outdoors & Water: The "Smart City" Narrative
Outside, the environment is hostile. Rain, pedestrians, and uneven terrain complicate robotics. Yet, cities are deploying autonomous sweepers to embody the "Smart City" narrative. Even more critical is the water sector. Ports and rivers are saturated with waste.
- The Interceptors: Floating drones patrol harbors, swallowing floating plastics before they reach the ocean.
- Beach Combers: Solar-powered crawlers sift through sand, removing micro-plastics and cigarette butts.
- Visibility: Beyond cleaning, they visualize the pollution problem, turning diffuse waste into hard data for policymakers.
3. Machines That Tell a Story
This panorama shows one thing: cleaning robots are not just technical tools; they are symbols. In an airport, they tell a story of modernity. On a river, they tell a story of fighting pollution. The risk, of course, is greenwashing—using a robot to give the illusion of progress without changing the roots of consumption.
However, when well-integrated, they reduce grueling labor and improve safety. Perhaps in a few years, seeing a robot scrubbing a hospital corridor will be as normal as seeing a garbage truck.