Robots in the service of cleanliness

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2025/10.

Green solutions

Dóra Szeles
marketing and
product management
director
Kärcher Magyarország

Sustainability has become a strategic issue in cleaning as well. Although autonomous robots represent a larger investment, they can be more cost-effective than traditional tools in the short term. Kärcher offers ergonomic, user-friendly robots that are water- and energy-efficient – plus time-saving as well.

“Office buildings are among the main sources of global CO2 emissions: around 40% of emissions come from buildings and 60% of this is directly related to energy consumption”,

emphasises Dóra Szeles, marketing and product management director of Kärcher Magyarország.

Cleaning is therefore not only a hygiene task, but also a sustainability factor. Kärcher machines use up to 80% less water than manual cleaning, saving around 60,000 litres of water per year in a 10,000m² office building. Three main trends are shaping the cleaning market today: workforce shortage, the need to rationalise operating costs and sustainability. State-of-the-art robots can cut operating costs while ensuring high and consistent quality of cleanliness.

Autonomous floor cleaning

Krisztián László
CEO
Reform Robotics

The autonomous floor cleaning robots of Reform Robotics are particularly useful in facilities where maintaining constant cleanliness is a basic requirement. Partners aren’t looking for a simple machine, but a solution that can operate independently, provide real-time data, integrate seamlessly with existing systems and be easily deployed across multiple sites.

“Recently there has been an increase in demand for compact, low-maintenance robots with automatic docking and water refilling. The modular design of Lionsbot robots ensures quick maintenance, minimal downtime and less frequent replacement of parts. Their energy consumption is 30-40% lower and their water and chemical use can be optimised for each zone”,

explains Krisztián László, CEO of Reform Robotics.

There is particular interest in manufacturing (especially in the food and automotive industries), logistics centres and the FMCG sector, where demand for the integration of autonomous floor cleaning robots is highest.

New expectations

The expectations of professional users have grown significantly in recent years. Today it is a basic requirement that robots dock automatically and perform their tasks at preset times with minimal human intervention. A growing number of partners are looking for multifunctional, intelligent robots. For instance the new generation of models automatically recognise the type of floor and how dirty it is, and then adjust the cleaning method accordingly.

Multifunctional, intelligent robota automatically recognize their surrounding and select the appropriate method of cleaning accordingly 

The Gausium models distributed by PrexRobot are capable of lowering operating costs, while ensuring continuous, high-quality cleanliness.

Gábor Patvaros
head of sales
PrexRobot CEE

“We have implemented several successful elevator integrations – these stand alone in Hungary – thanks to which the cleaning robots are able to move between floors completely automatically, by this guaranteeing continuous cleanliness even more efficiently and without human intervention”,

says Gábor Patvaros, head of sales at PrexRobot CEE.

He adds that AI-based autonomous scrubbing and vacuuming robots showed the strongest growth in 2024-2025. The company has added the Beetle and Omnie models to the product portfolio.