Key takeaways
- A site assessment should end in one fixed lease quote for a three year lease, with the robots, deployment, training and RoboCare service spelled out.
- Confirm whether RoboCare service and spare coverage sit inside the fixed lease payment, since maintenance is often billed separately across the market.
- Check that the quote names the measured hours it was sized to, and what changes if those hours change.
- Put end of term conditions, return rules and any change terms in writing before you sign.
What does a site assessment lead to?
A site assessment ends in one fixed lease quote for a three year lease. That quote is a single fixed lease payment covering the robots, deployment, training and RoboCare service, once the site has been walked, mapped and measured. The payment is the number operators compare, but the scope behind it decides whether that number means anything.
For an operator, the path is short to describe and easy to get wrong. The assessment answers where robots can run and how many hours of work exist. The quote then prices the robots and services that cover those hours, and nothing else should be tucked inside it.
How does the assessment turn into a quote?
The walk comes first, covering routes, doors, elevators, floor types, charging spots and traffic. The facility's own hours come next: shift lengths, open and closed periods, and the zones that need care. Those inputs set the unit count and the deployment plan.
Robot choice follows the task, not one catalog. Service Robot Co. is an OEM neutral integrator, so the assessment can match a floor cleaner to a floor and a transport unit to a route across manufacturers, then lease the units through financing. The goal is one vendor for the whole lifecycle, not six.
What should the quote cover?
A complete quote names each piece and shows what sits inside the fixed payment. Check four areas before anything else:
- Robots: the models or categories, the unit count, and whether spare units are included in the lease
- Deployment: the site map, the phased go live schedule, and who handles integration with doors, elevators and building systems
- Training: which staff are trained, how many sessions are included, and what a night operator must do when a unit pauses
- RoboCare service: remote triage, on site dispatch terms, and what happens while a unit is out of service
How does the quote tie to measured hours?
The fixed payment is sized to the hours the robots must cover, and the measured hours are where that link lives. A floor scrubber on a warehouse night shift and a delivery fleet for a hospital wing carry distinct hour profiles, so the same lease term can hold very different scopes.
Ask how the hours were measured, over how many weeks, and whether the figures include busy seasons or, if not, only a quiet stretch. A three year term runs far longer than any single test week, so the baseline has to say what it captured. If the quote cannot name the hours it assumes, you cannot test it later.
Which questions should you ask before signing?
Bring these to the quote review. Each one targets a gap that tends to surface later in lease talks:
- Is RoboCare service inside the fixed lease payment, or priced on its own?
- If one unit fails, which spare covers the gap, and is that spare part of the quote?
- Does training cover the night shift, and how many refresher sessions are included?
- Are deployment and site work included, or billed as separate charges?
- What is the end of term process, including return conditions and any transfer costs?
- Which measured hours is the quote sized to, and how are changes to those hours handled?
What does the market data say about lease and service terms?
According to IFR, global professional service robot shipments rose about 24% to nearly 250,000 units in 2025. Transport and logistics led with 117,500 units, or 47% of the market. Hospitality ranked second, and cleaning ranked third by application, with floor cleaning the main segment.
IFR figures come from a sample of 238 service robot suppliers and are not projected to the whole industry. They also count units sold, not leases or service terms. Market totals can show where demand sits, but they cannot tell you what a specific quote includes.
Where do maintenance and term length usually differ?
An undated roundup from Robotics Center says maintenance is often billed as a separate contract rather than bundled into a lease, and that fixed terms of three to five years are typical. That describes general market practice, not any one vendor, which is why a three year quote should be read line by line.
The same roundup notes that some integrators bundle site assessment, robot selection, installation, integration and team training into one package. Service Robot Co. works that way on purpose: one vendor carries the lease, deployment, training and RoboCare service, with regional service engineers in every state served. Ask any provider to put its bundle in writing.
How does the quote become working robots?
After signature, the work moves through deployment, mapping, training and go live support. Robots should go live only after their routes are proven in the building and the operators who supervise them are trained. Rushing that order is how a lease starts with a fleet that sits idle.
Track the same things the quote was built on. Count completed scheduled runs, log how often staff step in, and time how long a failed unit takes to return to service. Those figures show whether the fixed payment is buying the coverage the assessment promised.
Frequently asked questions
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