How Schools Can Score Top Marks by Automating Floor Cleaning

With the school year coming to a close, principals and administrators may be thinking about ways to streamline or enhance operations for the following year. Staffing, curriculum, technology platforms…these important operational considerations are fairly complex. But there’s one vital component that’s not—or doesn’t have to be. Cleaning and maintenance are the backbone of a healthy school environment, and are a key aspect of school operations ripe for simplification through automation.

 

It’s no secret that school districts have struggled to hire and retain needed custodial staff in the years following the pandemic, and this worker shortage shows no signs of abating. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts 336,700 openings for janitors and building cleaners each year over the next decade, with many of those openings the result of retirements, or workers moving on to other occupations. 

 

This “crisis of cleaning” has famously seen some school districts resort to hiring students to perform custodial work part time, or as part of community service hours. While we’re now a couple of years removed from such desperate measures, the impact of severe staffing shortages showed just how vital custodial workers are to school operations, and what a big void is left when these positions go unfilled.

 

One way to not only offset these challenges but vastly improve custodial operations is by automating floor cleaning and maintenance. It’s one of the most time consuming and repetitive tasks that school custodians face, and with new technology there’s little reason that these valuable staff members should have to “go it alone.” 

 

The fact is, school buildings are large, heavily-trafficked facilities that see high levels of wear and tear at least nine months of the year. They’re also the place where children and building staff spend most of their waking hours during the school year. For these reasons alone, the cleanliness of a school building matters immensely. Now consider research indicating that school building indoor air quality tends to be poor, and it’s clear that cleanliness and sanitation should be a top priority for any educational facility.

 

Autonomous floor cleaning robots offer a useful, reliable way to maximize cleanliness while minimizing effort and labor challenges. Homeowners have enjoyed robotic vacuums, like the Roomba, for years. Commercial floor cleaning robots represent a more advanced version of the technology purpose-built for larger and more challenging spaces. With their ability to clean efficiently and tirelessly, these robots offer a lifeline to schools struggling with custodial staffing challenges and custodians trying to manage heavy workloads. 

 

The CC1 is  an ideal solution for pretty much any school building, and particularly well suited to the mixed flooring surfaces found in many elementary schools. That’s because it’s just as effective on commercial carpet as it is on hard floors. The 4-in-1 unit sweeps, vacuum, mops, and scrubs, and can be quickly switched to manual mode for easy spot cleaning. Its relatively small size and nimble maneuvering make it useful within a wide range of spaces, including those (like schools) furnished with potential obstacles such as chairs, tables and desks. It’s also highly efficient in larger spaces, covering 6,000 - 8,000 square feet per hour. Paired with an optional workstation, the CC1 will not only self-charge, but self-empty and refill, keeping custodial involvement to a minimum.

 

Larger school buildings that have significant areas of hard flooring will benefit from the CC3, a 20-inch industrial-grade autonomous floor scrubber. A powerhouse unit that operates in wet and dry modes for scrubbing and sweeping, its sleek design, zero turning radius, and smaller size relative to competitors allow it to be used in locations unsuitable for bulkier robots or walk-behind machines. Even still, it compromises nothing when it comes to performance, cleaning an impressive 10,000 - 15,000 square feet per hour, and designed to conduct the same self-maintenance as the CC1 with an included workstation. 

 

The CC5 is a heavy-duty industrial-grade 32-inch floor sweeper and scrubber ideal for very large facilities, and is a fully autonomous alternative to traditional ride-on floor scrubbers. CC5 effectively cleans most types of hard floors and is equipped with the most advanced environmental sensing, automatic mapping, autonomous cleaning, and self-maintenance technology.

 

All of these robots are safe to operate within busy school environments both during the day and overnight, with incredibly sensitive obstacle avoidance technology, plus anti-skid and anti-fall fail-safes built into their design. They also only clean where programmed to, with cleaning routes easily updated to create virtual “walls” around areas where the robots should not go. These cleaning “maps” can be quickly adjusted as needed, as building needs change.

 

Cleanliness, time, labor savings and consistency are clear benefits of automating floor cleaning within a school building. But let’s break it down a little:

 

Floor cleaning robots are designed to optimize efficiency while lessening burdens on school custodians. Their only purpose in “life” is to clean floors, and they do it with extreme precision, covering specified routes as often as needed and in record speed. Unlike human custodians who have many other responsibilities, these robots work with a narrow-minded focus, covering large areas in a fraction of the time it would take a custodial team. They can also be set to run during off hours or overnight without supervision, allowing custodians to focus on more pressing concerns during the busy school day. This gives schools the freedom to really optimize their cleaning schedules, ensuring that facilities are always ready for students and staff.

 

When floor cleaning is only performed by custodial staff, it can suffer from inconsistent efforts and results as custodians strive to juggle time-intensive floor cleaning tasks with other important responsibilities throughout the day. In contrast, autonomous robots deliver consistent results with every cleaning cycle and can be deployed as frequently as needed. They can operate round-the-clock, allowing schools to maintain consistent levels of cleanliness. And unlike manual cleaning or walk-behind machines, which rely on human time, effort and attention to detail, robots follow pre-programmed routes and instructions, ensuring that cleaning occurs exactly as directed.

 

While the initial investment in autonomous floor cleaning robots may seem daunting, the long-term cost effectiveness is substantial, especially when you factor in the costs associated with traditional staffing plus manual equipment like commercial vacuums and floor scrubbers. Because autonomous floor cleaning robots make existing custodial staff more efficient, staffing and equipment expenses decrease over time, allowing schools to allocate resources more effectively. As floor cleaning robots become integral to school operations, the return on investment becomes evident as maintenance costs decrease. 

 

As mentioned earlier, indoor air quality is of concern for schools, since children spend so much of their lives inside school walls and are more sensitive to air quality than healthy adults. According to the EPA, “children breathe more air, eat more food and drink more liquid in proportion to their body weight than adults. Therefore, air quality in schools is of particular concern.” Consistently clean, allergen-free floors go a long way towards improving indoor air quality, and autonomous floor cleaning robots are an ideal tool to make this a reality. Their outstanding cleaning ability, advanced filtration systems, and consistent operation mean that school floors are cleaned to the highest standard. And when floor cleaning is automated, school custodians can redirect their efforts towards deep cleaning, surface disinfection, and other tasks that have a big impact on the safety and hygiene of a school building.

 

Schools have always been ahead of the curve when it comes to technology adoption and integration, as forward-thinking educators and administrators have consistently sought new and innovative ways to teach the next generation. Floor cleaning robots can now be part and parcel of this push towards innovation as well. And yet, there’s a key difference at play here. While technology integration has sometimes made the teaching more complicated, the automation enabled by floor cleaning robots only simplifies operations, in a highly beneficial way.

 

Is your school ready to find out what all the fuss is about? Get in touch with our robotics experts today to discover how easy it is to automate floor cleaning.