a Washington state public school district running a 14-unit autonomous scrubber fleet
A Washington School District Runs 14 Autonomous Floor Scrubbers
How a Washington state public school district put 14 autonomous floor scrubbers to work, with over 1,500 hours and about 16.5 million sq ft reported.
Deployment at a glance
- 14
- Floor scrubbers, one per middle and high school
- 16.5M
- About 16.5 million sq ft cleaned, district figure
- 1,500+
- Hours of robot use since the school year started
- 3,200+
- Programmed cleaning routes, per the district
Based on a documented real-world deployment. Figures are from public reporting; the organization is not named.
Routine floor passes crowding out deeper cleaning
Floor cleaning in a school never really stops. Hallways, cafeterias and classrooms need passes every day, and the custodians who make those passes are the same people a district relies on for deeper cleaning, sanitation and the detailed upkeep that keeps a building sound.
The district framed the problem in practical terms. Automating routine scrubbing would free custodial time for other tasks, support sanitation and extend the life of its facilities. Those aims only hold up if machines can cover real square footage on a dependable schedule across many buildings at once.
- Daily floor passes spread across many buildings
- Custodial hours that could shift to deeper cleaning
- Sanitation standards that must hold on every shift
- Facility upkeep that has to stretch over time
A trial school, then one scrubber in every middle and high school
The district began with a trial at one high school. After that trial it placed a robot floor cleaner at each middle and high school, 14 units in total, so the rollout grew building by building rather than all at once.
Each unit then ran programmed routes. Over the school year the fleet completed more than 3,200 programmed routes, giving each building a repeatable cleaning rhythm.
- Trial at one high school
- One unit placed at each middle and high school
- Cleaning routes programmed for each building
- Custodians redirected toward deeper cleaning and other tasks
What the district reports for the school year
According to the district, the fleet logged more than 1,500 hours of use and cleaned about 16.5 million sq ft since the start of the school year. These are the district's own figures, and they describe the fleet as a whole rather than any single building.
The fleet also completed more than 3,200 programmed routes over the same period. Together, the hours, square footage and routes point to steady, repeated use across 14 buildings.
The district named two broader aims for the fleet: letting custodians focus on deeper cleaning and other tasks, and supporting sanitation and the life of its facilities. Those were its stated goals.
What a leased fleet asks of a facility team
A fleet like this one starts as a planning exercise. Floor layouts, route programming, charging locations and staff handoffs all need attention before the first unit runs a full route.
Service Robot Co. is a full service, vendor neutral commercial robot integrator for US businesses. We select the right robots across manufacturers, then finance, deploy, integrate, train and service every unit through a nationwide US engineer network. Our commercial cleaning robot leasing runs on a lease term of three years, with one fixed payment quoted after a site assessment.
Schools and other sites with many buildings that weigh an autonomous floor scrubber lease can begin with a site assessment, a single pilot unit and a route plan, then expand building by building. This district's phased path is a useful reference. Service Robot Co. had no part in this deployment.
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