Danish startup O-Robotics is developing a robot that can completely autonomously clean streets and pavements. The robots removes weeds, cleans up street rubbish and clears streets of snow.
O-Robotics is a startup from Odense, Denmark. Founded in 2022, the company focuses on manufacturing robotics applications. With a team of around 10 people, the company focuses specifically on robotising cleaning tasks in outdoor environments.
Automating manual work
With its robot, the company aims to modernise the maintenance of urban environments. Because although large parts of cities are paved, in many cases their maintenance is still done by hand or machines operated by humans.
O-Robotics' robot automates this process with the AMR-Sweeper. The robot removes dirt, algae, moss, litter, leaves, snow and ice, among other things. In doing so, the AMR-Sweeper operates completely autonomously. In doing so, the robot uses only brushes, and thus no chemicals, pesticides or heat.
Alf Olsen, CEO and founder of O-Robotics, explains: "This eco-friendly robot eliminates the need for chemicals or heat because the brushes do the job. And because it is autonomous, it provides continuous 24-hour service. Companies can switch the robot on at night and have it do all the heavy lifting - both in summer and winter."
'Algorithm gradually improving'
The robot is still in development, but is nevertheless already being marketed. Olsen: "We have a long list of customers waiting for the robot and would like to start testing. Instead of sitting in a lab programming for three years, we are going to improve the algorithm as we go along. If the robot gets stuck manoeuvring around a tricky obstacle, we can control it remotely until we tune the algorithm perfectly."
Users can configure the robot via a mobile app. It uses satellites to find its way around environments. This means, among other things, that setting specific boundaries or routes is not necessary, and the robot finds its own way in complex outdoor environments. The robot can clean 2,000 m2 per hour, compared to 30,000 m2 on a daily basis.
Locating and identifying objects
For avoiding obstacles, it includes a camera. With this, the robot also identifies objects it cannot sweep up, for example because they are too large. Of these objects, the robot provides the location and also takes photos for identifications. This allows users to manually clear these obstacles if necessary.
The AMR-Sweeper weighs about 20 kg and has a maximum speed of 4 km/h. It can operate for up to 2.5 hours on a battery charge and has a charging time of 1.5 hours. The robot operates with an accuracy of about 5 cm.
Incubator
O-Robotics has been selected by the Odense Robotics StartUp Fund for an incubator at the Danish Institute of Technology. The Odense Robotics StartUp Fund is a commercial foundation dedicated to supporting robotics entrepreneurs in Denmark. In doing so, it aims to simplify access to funding and support.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Image: O-Robotics
