How was 2022 for The Robot Factory? What were the highlights? What were the challenges?

2022 was a challenging but terrific year and we finished the year very strong. The highlights of the year were inking our agreement with Armaguard/ Linfox Group.

This agreement gives The Robot Factory and Gausium Robotics the unique ability to service, support, repair, and deploy cleaning robots in every city in Australia.

We are very excited to be a part of this unique relationship that will help pivot the nationwide experience of the Armguard owned Integrated Technology Services business into a robotic support business.

This ‘bank grade’ technical team currently supporting the nations ATM network will now turn their support towards robots with cleaning and security robots the first to be supported.

The other highlight of course was the ISSA Cleaning & Hygiene Expo.  We really enjoyed meeting the other attendees and received some fabulous new business from the show.

What have been some of the learnings from the past 12 months?

Our number one learning has been to carefully scope out our robotic opportunities and be very straightforward about what robots can and can’t do.

The Australian market for cleaning robots is littered with a past of broken promises and poor performing robots.  We have spent a lot of time ensuring our robots can solve the cleaning opportunities we are presented with.

We also don’t sell a million other cleaning products; we only sell robots and take great pride that we also only sell the world’s best robots.

What do you see as the main challenges the market is facing in 2023?

The main issue facing this industry in 2023 is the extreme challenge of finding and retaining good cleaning staff and of course the high costs associated with this. Robots go a long way to solving these issues.

What are the company’s main priorities for 2023?

Our number one priority is to be the number one service robot company in Australia.

What do you expect to be the big trends of 2023?

Robots of course, and AI.  There are some very interesting new technologies we are implementing and testing that harness the data already being collected to make better use of both human and machine resources.

You will see cleaning robots that function as security robots when not cleaning.  You will see robot, camera, and sensor technology that will automatically deploy assets to clean up litter and spills.

You will also see more robust software tools that allow your business to manage both people and robots from a central dashboard. These dashboards will also easily track all your assets providing detailed information on such critical items as preventive maintenance.

How do you see the cleaning industry evolving in 2023?

As I mentioned in my panel session at the ISSA Cleaning & Hygiene Expo, I think organisations just need to jump in and embrace technology.

It’s amazing how much a company can learn by deploying just one robot as it opens a whole new world of cleaning potential.

Is there a message that you would like to share with the industry? 

I would like the Australian cleaning industry to help me put Australia on the map as one of the world’s most innovative cleaning countries.

This first appeared in the January/February 2023 issue of INCLEAN magazine. 

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