Floor washing robots could soon be used to clean large industrial and commercial premises, following a European research collaboration totalling 4.2 million Euros.

FLOor washing roBOT, or FLOBOT, will be a large-scale, autonomous floor washing machine, for washing the floors of supermarkets, airports and other big areas that have to be cleaned regularly.

Although it can be manually started, programmed and monitored by people, there will be no need to physically move it around making the process more efficient.

FLOBOT is being developed by a multi-disciplinary team, including the University of Lincoln, UK, which specializes in the software required to operate the robot.

Dr Nicola Bellotto, Principal Investigator from the University of Lincoln and member of the Lincoln Centre for Autonomous Systems Research, works in mobile robotics and computer vision and has detailed knowledge on people tracking with robots.

Dr Bellotto said: “Our key aim is to program FLOBOT to detect and track people moving around so as to avoid them, and also be able to estimate typical human trajectories in the premises where it operates. We can then predict where it is likely to be most dirty, by analysing those trajectories and the general use of the environment.

“We will be modifying existing scrubbing machines, making them autonomous by adding new electronics and sensors, including a laser range finder and a 3D camera for detecting people. We are advancing technologies already developed at Lincoln and a prototype will be tested and validated throughout this project.”

Floor washing tasks have many demanding aspects, including autonomy of operation, navigation and path optimization, safety with regards to humans and goods, interaction with human personnel, easy set-up and reprogramming.

FLOBOT addresses these problems by integrating existing and new solutions to produce a professional floor washing robot for wide areas.

The work that will be carried out on production prototypes will ensure the actual system is completed and ready for real-world use.

Professor Tom Duckett, also from the University of Lincoln, works in autonomous robotics and sensor systems, and is Director of the Lincoln Centre for Autonomous Systems Research.

Professor Duckett said: “The general idea is to create professional service robots that will work in our everyday environments, providing assistance and helping to carry out tasks that are currently very time – and labour – intensive for human workers. Participating in this Innovation Action project is really exciting, because it means that many of the underpinning research  concepts and technologies we have been developing at the Lincoln Centre for Autonomous Systems now have the potential to leave the laboratory and become part of real products like cleaning robots, which could impact on the everyday lives of people everywhere.”

The project is funded by Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation for 2014-2020.

Project partners include CyRIC – Cyprus Research and Innovation Center (coordinator), Fimap SpA (Italy) – an international leader in the production of professional scrubbing machines, Robosoft Service Robots (France), Vienna University of Technology, Carrefour Italia, Manutencoop Facility Management (Italy), Ridgeback S.A.S. (Italy) and GSF SAS (France).

Go to www.flobot.eu for more information.

1. The University of Lincoln, UK, was named among the UK’s top 10 modern universities in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2015. We have some of the most satisfied students in the UK, rating in the top 30 in the Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey 2014, and have been commended for the ground-breaking ways in which we engage students in research alongside leading academics.  Lincoln is recognised as setting a blueprint for excellence in industry collaboration through its pioneering approach to working with employers. This has been acknowledged through a series of national awards and accolades, including a Lord Stafford Award and a Times Higher Education Award. Graduate prospects are strong with nine out of ten of Lincoln’s most recent graduates in work or further study six months after finishing their course.  Lincoln is proud to be home to world class researchers who are active in a range of areas, from developing new medical technologies through to preserving rare architectural treasures. In the Research Excellence Framework 2014, Lincoln was recognized for having world leading (4*) research in almost every academic area in which it submitted.

2. Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation program ever with nearly €80 billion of funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020) – in addition to the private investment that this money will attract. It promises more breakthroughs, discoveries and world-firsts by taking great ideas from the lab to the market.

3. For media enquiries, please contact University of Lincoln PR Officer Marie Daniels on +44 (0) 1522 886244 or e-mail mdaniels@lincoln.ac.uk