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Robots keeping railway passengers safe Michel Spruijt, Brain Corp’s European Director, explores the increasing adoption of autonomous robots across railway operations, and what it means for the sector’s future
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he key to survival is adaptation. This truth has applied to many sectors in the wake of Covid-19, and train stations have been no exception. In their fight to keep the virus at bay and restore public confidence in rail travel, train stations have introduced a variety of workarounds and technologies. Chief among these has been autonomous cleaning machines, or robots, which have made their first tracks across European platforms. Owing to the greater transmissibility of the Delta variant of the virus, railway companies have increased their cleaning and sanitisation methods to ensure a safe environment for passengers. The obvious solution for many railway companies has been high-tech cleaning crews, sanitisation routines and touchless systems. A selection of major train stations, such as Rotterdam Central station, are testing autonomous cleaning robots to assist staff and protect passengers. How these machines work Modern cleaning robots resemble traditional devices that can be operated manually but differ from older machines in one key respect: they have an additional feature that allows them to go about their cleaning route autonomously. This function is achieved by equipping robots with sensors and an AI-powered operating system which acts as a ‘brain’ within the machine. In this setup, the cleaners still oversee the cleaning operation; they clean as they would normally clean, but now aided by a robot able to track and report surface areas that have been covered. Heat maps and other metrics reports are generated that trace each cleaning route. Cleaning of these routes can be repeated with a simple touch of a button on the user interface. The robot will then follow the track it learned from its human ‘trainer’. This ‘teach and repeat’ feature is very straightforward, which means that it is easy and intuitive for non-specialist staff to program these devices. What’s more, the data that the robot generates on the job is published on a cloud-based portal, so that managers can see what sections of a station have been cleaned, and when the cleaning took place. Managers can access the heat maps, which depict pre-programmed cleaning routes, and verify that predetermined standards have been met. How cleaning robots help cleaners and passengers In essence, automated cleaning means reliability when it is needed most. And in the context of a virulent global pandemic, keeping passengers safe by way of greater hygiene efforts has become top of mind in train station operational priorities. It was announced earlier this year that traveller numbers and rail fares have collapsed in the context of Covid-19. This problem is not without deeper precedent. A continent-wide EC survey on railway passenger satisfaction found that as early as 2011 a considerable proportion of passengers (36 per cent) were dissatisfied with the cleanliness of station facilities. Cleaning staff at train stations have faced an enormous burden These robots serve as an added asset to in-house cleaning teams,
allowing more platform space to be cleaned with the same number of staff. Robots tackle the most repetitive aspect of the cleaning beat – namely, floor scrubbing – which allows for more high-contact, infection-prone non-floor surfaces to be dealt with more assiduously by station staff. With floor cleaning staff allocated to other tasks, it becomes possible to draw more value from the team, which can in turn handle more tasks with the same amount of people as before. Moreover, as robots never call in sick or late, they offer a more secure operation. This division of cleaning labour means more safety for day-to-day passengers. The difference between manual methods and an AI-driven machine is that the latter provides greater consistency when cleaning. When a human sits on a cleaning machine, or cleans a platform manually, the consistency is commonly not to the standard of what can be achieved by a trackable automated machine. In addition, it should be noted that cleaning robots are a strong visual symbol for supercharged hygiene and general technological innovation. Autonomous cleaning robots are a visible upgrade on previous hygiene efforts. The visual effect created by such devices is unmistakable: when a passenger sees a cleaning robot in action, they recognise that the station and its management is doing its utmost to keep the space clean and virus-free. Both customers and staff alike can feel confident their safety is prioritised. Rail Professional
