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Content provided by Softbank Robotics Co., Ltd.

[Case] ​​The most important thing in "AI cleaning robot", the trump card to solve the labor shortage

The most pervasive service robot in the world today is probably the cleaning robot. Many compact cleaning robots are already widespread in homes. GLOBESHIP, a pioneer in building management, has recently introduced a commercial AI cleaning * robot "Whiz *" from Softbank Robotics on a trial basis and is conducting a demonstration experiment. The company has introduced many cleaning robots so far, but from what perspective do you choose the product?

The most important requirement for "cleaning robots", the trump card for solving labor shortages

With the declining birthrate and aging population, the labor shortage in the building maintenance industry is becoming more serious. Under such circumstances, how to promote labor saving and efficiency improvement is a big issue for GLOBESHIP, which is a pioneer of building management. The company has long introduced a cleaning robot on a trial basis as a solution. Over the past three years, we have compared and examined various cleaning robots and accumulated their know-how. Then, based on the progress of technology, we recently started a demonstration experiment of the latest cleaning robot. That is "Whiz" just announced by Softbank Robotics. A total of 10 units will be applied to multiple buildings managed by the company. There are various scenes such as cleaning windows and floors, dust removal, water wiping, and wiping, but this time, carpets and tiles, which are the most used building materials, are used. Experiments centered on dust removal (dust removal). Yoshiyasu Tanaka, who is in charge of the robot specially appointed project at GLOBESHIP, explains as follows. “The most important thing about cleaning robots is that they are“ easy to use in the field. ”Previous robots used PCs and tablets to set cleaning routes, but they cannot work with terminals in the field. It is important to be able to teach the robot a cleaning route without the need for any device. ”(Mr. Tanaka) Whiz was able to manually teach (create a program to move the robot) the route he wanted to clean and remembered it. It will automatically clean the route. It is also possible to memorize multiple routes. Many part-time employees and elderly employees are also working in the field. It is a high hurdle for them to handle robots by making full use of tablets suddenly. With Whiz, even employees with low digital literacy can intuitively operate and teach routes. Whiz is equipped with a LIDAR sensor that measures the distance to an object at a long distance using light, a 3D camera, a step sensor, etc., and is also characterized by being able to avoid obstacles and steps. Safety is also taken into consideration, and even if a person suddenly jumps out in front, it will pause. The collision detection sensor is built into the bumper and is equipped with an abnormal braking function. If the robot makes an emergency stop or becomes unable to run for some reason, a buzzer or smartphone app will notify you of an alert.

Cleaning robot "Whiz" that grows like a person while learning

In fact, Softbank Robotics has been selling cleaning robots so far. It is an autonomous scrubber "RS26 powered by Brain OS" that is larger than Whiz and can be applied to factories, commercial facilities, airports, etc. The feature is that it is equipped with an OS "Brain OS" that can clean its own AI, but this Whiz is also equipped with Brain OS. "I've heard that BrainOS is planned to be upgraded, and the more you use it, the smarter it becomes and the more difficult it becomes possible. For example, if there is a chair between desks, Whiz says. It recognizes the squeeze out of the chair and cleans the area around it, but the movement may become smoother. "(Mr. Tanaka) The future image of the cleaning robot that Globeship is looking for is" one artificial (one artificial). Ichininku) ”, that is, the ideal form of moving autonomously, cleaning, and returning, just like a human being. "But at the moment, there aren't many cleaning robots that get smarter like humans yet. We can't afford to spend every time we update, so the robots learn autonomously and" grow ". I'm attracted to Whiz in the sense that it gives me it. "(Mr. Tanaka) In addition, the portability and cost, taking into account the weight and size, met the company's wishes. Whiz is almost the same size as a general commercial vacuum cleaner, the outer shape is about 455 x 474 x 653 mm (width x total length x total height), and the weight is about 35 kg including the battery, so it is not difficult to move by hand. Of course, it has excellent performance and can operate for up to 3 hours (in normal mode) on a single charge, covering a cleaning area of ​​about 1500 square meters (500 square meters per hour). In addition, Softbank, an authorized Whiz distributor, will start a rental plan from March 2019. The rental fee of 25,000 yen per month (a separate fee of 9800 yen is required) for a 60-month rental can be said to be quite "reasonable".

In an era where on-site humans and cleaning robots collaborate to work efficiently

In this way, Whiz is a very attractive machine as a cleaning robot, but when it is actually introduced, the receiving side also needs to make some preparations, Tanaka said. “When introducing a large number of cleaning robots, infrastructure development is also required. For example, it is important to properly maintain manuals that lead to service quality. Cleaning robots are not complete by themselves. From now on, it will be an era in which robots work in collaboration with people in the field. ”(Mr. Tanaka) Currently, we are creating shifts for workers and rotating each task, but in the future we will work with robots. We must also consider the planned shift of people. A manager who can handle such things is also needed. "Whiz is good at cleaning the floor, so if the worker handles small parts such as cleaning the toilet while cleaning the floor, the efficiency will increase. The merit of the cleaning robot is that the work is even and quality. On the other hand, there are some parts that should be done manually, so I think that collaboration with robots will increase steadily in the future. "(Mr. Tanaka) Regarding Whiz's support system, Mr. Tanaka said, "We believe that SoftBank has a relatively well-established support system and is reliable. In the event of an unexpected situation, we can contact you immediately. We have a system in place. "

Leading the industry with cutting-edge technology, becoming an attractive industry for the younger generation

Whiz will continue to evolve with repeated version upgrades. From the standpoint of using robots, GLOBESHIP has also requested Softbank Robotics for improvements found in the demonstration experiments. "There is no big demand in terms of performance, and there is no dissatisfaction with this at the site. In the details, there was an opinion that it would be nice to have an adjust stopper when lifting the handle, for example. We will continue to listen to the voice of the site. I want to do it. "(Mr. Tanaka) It is important to operate robots. It is required to introduce the right person in the right place according to the characteristics, but Whiz has the potential to support a wide range of usage scenarios. At GLOBESHIP, we will continue to investigate whether Whiz can be applied not only to office experiments but also to schools and factories. Finally, Mr. Tanaka described his future aspirations as follows. "There are many elderly people and few younger generations in the cleaning industry, but I hope that the spread of these advanced robots will make the younger generation more attractive. We believe that it is the job of our users to make cleaning robots more practical. ”(Mr. Tanaka) *“ Whiz ”and“ AI cleaning ”are trademarks of Softbank Robotics. ** BrainOS is provided by Softbank Robotics as part of the AI ​​Cleaning PRO service.

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