Robotic transition is the future of Cleaning

By now it is almost an obligatory path: automation applied to professional cleaning is the road taken for the future. Indeed, there are many Italian hygiene technology companies that, after directing investments and resources in this direction, are now offering products with robotic solutions: starting with autonomous floor scrubbers, which have been welcomed with some interest by the market. In short, where until a few years ago automated cleaning machines were an expensive and interesting solution, they are now rapidly becoming a safe option in many contexts and sectors. But beyond the classic stereotypes of the humanized, all-rounder "robots" put forward by some movies, it is good to clear the field immediately of a basic misunderstanding. Robotic machines remain machines; they need instruc- tions, rules and paths defined by an operator. For this reason, robotics will never be able to completely replace human labor with equal effectiveness and in a cost-effective manner. Indeed, it is precisely on this issue, as well as on technological innovation, that the ethical and social concerns of those who fear that robotic labor, at least in some fields of production, will override and demean human labor. After all, without ethical principles, which affirm the centrality of the person even in production processes, the risks of the "Chinese model" do not seem so remote, even if foreign to Western culture, which is fortunately based, at least still largely, on inalienable human values. At present it is correct to speak of complementarity of labor. Robotics, in fact, should not be considered as an inconvenient competitor of humans, but as a valuable opportunity offered to the most advanced industries to grow the skills of their employees: both in the production processes of cleaning machines, and - above all - in operations, which provide for their valuable use "at the disposal" of cleaning companies committed, not only to provide an optimal and complete cleaning service, but also to use employees in other fundamental tasks involving a more functional and intelligent use of the workforce. In essence, a thoughtful and balanced judgment leads us to be able to state calmly that the use of robotic machines will not lead to a complete replacement of human labor, which is unthinkable at present, but to a human-machine collaboration that is the optimal choice in industrial automation. The disappearance of some tasks due to automation is likely to be offset by the emergence of unprecedented opportunities and new workers, who will have to be increasingly qualified to do effective, increasingly specialized and advanced work. After all, already in many niche sectors of professional cleaning, the use of robotic equipment and machines has long been an established reality. Think, for example, of the maintenance and sanitization of aeraulic ducts, just to give one example. In the world of cleaning, automation, in addition to being pursued by some manufacturers of cleaning machines, is already well underway in various species in large-scale retail trade, where there are perfect working environments for autonomous cleaning machines: optimal distribution of space, long aisles, wide aisles and the orderly organization of routes. Similar considerations apply in industry and warehouses used for logistics and storage, as well as in areas open to the public such as airports, large stations, shopping malls, industries, sports arenas, hypermarkets and supermarkets. The use of robotic cleaning machines is made possible and safe even in the presence of the public, thanks to the safety systems with which they are equipped: think, above all, of those that work at the same time and are able to make them move in total autonomy. Bumpers positioned on the sides of the machines, coming into contact with an unexpected obstacle, or detecting the presence of a person walking, instantly stop the machine. In fact, by now, there are countless models of collaborative robots (cobots) designed and manufactured in Italy by well-known brands in the industry, looking to the future, intended specifically to clean medium and large surfaces, flanking the valuable work of cleaning operators. We met Riccardo Oldani, a science journalist who has been following robotics for years with attention and passion, to ask him a few questions about it. Oldani is the author of the book "Spaghetti Western," in which he drew a complete picture of the sector, the result of close work and dozens of interviews.

How is applied research in robotics doing, especially in relation to the production needs of companies?

"In Italy we have an idea of the level of our research that does not adequately correspond to reality, at least in some areas, including robotics. The risk is that the fruits of Italian research are exported and valued abroad. Our country can count on realities of absolute excellence, such as the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa, or the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa; in this case, it is foreign researchers who aspire to a research position in such facilities, not the other way around. Internationally, our robotic researchers are very well known and appreciated, even in countries such as the United States, Germany or Japan, which we have always considered excellence in this technological field. My personal experience is that in the Italian research centers engaged in this field, where there is still a vibrant international atmosphere, enthusiasm is not lost. The researchers are very often young, creative guys from many countries of the world, so passionate about their work that they know no timetable."

How is research in robotics organized?

"This type of research is divided into many important research poles present a bit all over Italy: Turin, Milan, Verona, Genoa, Pisa, Naples, Catania, Palermo, and Rome. We have international excellences such as the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa and the IIT in Genoa, but also institutes of the CNR and Enea that deal with it, a little bit in all areas, from humanoid robotics to surgical robotics, from social robots to those for assistance to the elderly, from robots for play to those for industry to robotic prostheses. The goals are basically twofold: on the one hand to do research on innovative and frontier fronts, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and on the other hand to find ideas to transform research knowledge into products to be made and offered on the market. Around the research centers I have mentioned, many spin offs and startups are springing up that aim to come up with products or components for robotics. Italy is experiencing a key moment, one in which those who have the best ideas but also the greatest ability to turn them into businesses emerge. Italy is beginning to see the arrival of large international groups that acquire Italian startups and introduce them into business systems that will take the results out of Italy. This is certainly much worse than the outflow of many Italian scholars who go abroad, following a process of mobility of ideas and education that is normal all over the world and that can’t be seen as something negative.

The fact that an Italian scholar goes to an American university to complete his education or to teach is a normal cultural enrichment. Worse is to see that ideas born in Italy are not understood and appreciated here, but by foreign business minds and capital."

How do you see the future of robotics? Will there always be room for the human factor?

"Machines were born to help reduce human fatigue, consequently doing away with some jobs and creating others. Many people today highlight the risk that intelligent robots may substitute people in a large number of occupations. Few, however, strive to imagine how the job scenario will really change and what new types of occupations will be needed in a world with a higher density of intelligent machines. Even today, robots are very specialized machines that can do a limited number of things and need constant human assistance and maintenance. In the near future, therefore, I see a sharp decrease in the demand for heavy, manual labor in the face of an increasing need for technically trained personnel who can oversee the operation of machines, develop software, and solve operational problems. In short, the worker, too, will be less and less a manual worker and more and more a collaborator who uses his intelligence to operate machines, taking on a supervisory role rather than a production role."

Have companies embraced the challenge of robotic innovation by investing in adequate means and resources?

"Yes, certainly. The automotive industry is the one that has invested the most in automation. But we are seeing robotics more and more, even in medium-small companies in Italian manufacturing, able to work side by side with workers, and in traditional industries such as furniture, clothing, food. We then excel in mechatronics and industrial machinery manufacturing. The thousands of Italian companies in these fields are among the most automated in the world and have been investing in the purchase of robots and automation systems for some time now. This seems to me to be happening in the professional cleaning sector as well: I could mention important and well-known national brands that have been working for years in this vein, with excellent results."

Still on the subject of the professional cleaning industry, do you see actual possibilities for development in applications?

"Certainly. We should not forget that cleaning is the area where the first commercial robots appeared. iRobot's famous Roomba was the first to en- ter homes in massive numbers and to adopt a complex navigation system to be able to move autonomously in confined environments. If you will, in a sense cleaning robots were the forerunners of later generations of machines capable of doing very different things as well, such as autonomous cars for example. So from my point of view, cleaning will always remain a frontier area for robotics, the first where we will see new technologies and new concepts applied. There are many interesting companies operating in the field, even in Italy. I am thinking of companies that develop robots for cleaning swimming pools, or robot gardeners that cut lawns. I am convinced that, thanks to these machines, professional cleaning will also undergo a transformation into a service activity rather than manual labor performance. Operators in the industry will provide companies with their own cleaning robots and sell their services by the square meter, because the machines will be able to certify the exact surfaces cleaned. Employees will play more of a finishing role, overseeing the operation of the robots, moving them to where they are needed, and getting them in working condition by supplying consumables. It will be a less heavy and more supervisory job that will require the ability to learn the operation of the machines and trouble- shoot any problems. This type of profession will also require some degree of knowledge and training."

Manufacturers of professional cleaning machines have well-founded reasons for taking on this demanding challenge?

"I am more than convinced, although I know perfectly well that this is a difficult and challenging path. Certainly countries like the United States and Japan, where the areas of shopping malls and public places are immense, and much larger than in Italy, lend themselves much more to cleaning with robotic tools, which in any case need large spaces with few obstacles to give their best. These spaces, to tell the truth, are not lacking in Italy either, just think of large warehouses, factories, large distribution, and soon we will have autonomous machines capable of moving around inside them cleaning, perhaps even supervising, what is going on. There is concrete and advantageous scope in the industry for robot or machine developers to understand and devise new uses, new applications. Just think, for example, of the cleaning of windows or photovoltaic panels, an operation that in my opinion can be easily automated but for which convincing solutions are still lacking. Purely on the business models, reflection and reasoning will have to be done, because there is no doubt that greater automation even in professional cleaning will involve a profound revision of tasks, functions and services. Thinking that automation is a distant development that will have little effect on the cleaning industry, may prove to be a mistake. Maybe the transition to robots will not be as fast as some people are projecting it to be, but starting to think about it is very important so that we are not unprepared when it happens."