Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 28th May 2026 Issue no. 1212
Your industry news - first
The original and best - for over 20 years!
We strongly recommend viewing Cleanzine full size in your web browser. Click our masthead above to visit our website version.
ICE Co-Botics: Working alongside cleaners
ICE has been pioneering autonomous cleaning for over a decade, and the last 18 months have proven to be a pivotable point in this journey for our industry. The appetite for innovation through autonomous cleaning is like nothing we have seen before – the technology is available, and the demand for ‘Co-Botics’ (humans and machines working in collaboration) is there!
It hasn’t been an easy road, but the industry is now truly embracing the fact that automation isn’t about replacing operatives, it is about working alongside the Co-Botic equipment and redeploying the valuable resource elsewhere, such as for sanitising and thorough detailed cleaning.
Whilst productivity benefits and redeployment of resource in relation to autonomous cleaning has been well documented, it can also help to address the issue of resourcing challenges that are currently being experienced in many areas, particularly the healthcare sector. Hospitals and healthcare facilities have told us they are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit cleaning staff, so they are exploring the use of autonomous machines to do the labour-intensive but essential cleaning, leaving the staff to concentrate on ward and hygienic level cleaning.
Using autonomous cleaning equipment also demonstrates real commitment to your Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy and goals – something we should all take extremely seriously. The machines recycle water during operation, resulting in a 70% reduction in water used. Additionally, having the machine operating autonomously reduces the likelihood of operator damage, which reduces carbon footprint relating to engineer visits. The machines can also be managed remotely which further reduces the need for engineers to visit site.
The equipment can be simply and easily incorporated into existing or new cleaning operations in almost any kind of environment - commercial, transport, warehousing, manufacturing or distribution, healthcare, retail, hotels, hospitality and many more.
ICE Co-Botics has been designed to integrate into cleaning teams, picking up the manual and repetitive tasks, which will then allow operators to focus on hygiene and sanitising activities to promote cleaner and safer environments. It’s not about replacing people - it’s about embracing technology to deliver higher cleaning standards, infection control and 'proof of clean'.
20th July 2023