The adventures in robotics continue. Over the last week I have continued to utilize Kenny AKA Wall-E AKA NEO when I can. I am still learning how it works/doesn’t work. I am still learning new terminology, still attempting to understand its ability to learn, still attempting to understand its programming and mapping algorithms. Training was very limited other than basic operations.

As a floor scrubber it works well. It washes floors, moves decently on manual mode. Steering took a little to get used to. It is some what longer, and taller than most floor scrubbers I have used so far. Its cleaning profile is 4 inches narrower (26 inch vs 32 inches) than I am used to and one would think this would be an advantage, it is not because the increased length changes its turning radius. A shorter, wider scrubber is able to turn around in spots where Neo is not capable. It uses considerably less water than most other scrubbers as well. I should mention the scrubber I normally use is a Tennant 5680. It has a 32 inch cleaning path.

Key differences on the 5680 Vs Neo. Clean water goes in top and dirty water goes in the bottom on the 5680 Neo is the exact opposite. Scrubber deck is located on the front of the 5680 where as on Neo it is located at the midpoint. Steering is done by pushing the 5680 from side to side, and drive wheels are located in the middle, throttle control operates by rolling the throttle forward to move forward, and rolling back to move in reverse, throttle located on right hand of handlebars. Neo steering is handled by steering as you would with a 4 wheeler, direction of movement controlled by selecting forward or reverse on the touch screen, the drive motor is located at the front and pivots much similar to ride on scrubbers such as the Nobles SSR. The throttle control operates similar to that of a motorcycle. I find that the throttle range of motion is too great and needs to be made less in order to get “full throttle” without over stressing your wrist or having to adjust hand position while attempting to gain full throttle.

Well it appears robotics are attempting to take over floor cleaning. Hence I shall be documenting my experiences as I learn robots, and supposed autonomous robots.

Earlier this week I was introduced to NEO, a robotic line of floor scrubbers manufactured by Avidbots Corp. I was given training on how to use the device and its features. I was regaled of its marvel. It would intelligently wash floors. It would send alerts on when it needed assistence. It would be better than a human.

So far I am disappointed in NEO’s performance. It is four times slower than a human. It gets stuck more often than it should. It should have been called FRED (Frickin’ Ridiculous Electronic Device) I have quaintly called it Kenny, after the South Park character because I would so love to kill it right. The device might work if the rep from Avidbots had listened to the people who need to use it. Kenny operates by following a pre-programmed map and as any programmer knows GIGO, and it is very clear that the person who set up our maps has never cleaned a floor in his life. The maps implemented follow no intelligent pattern of cleaning. Upon my first view of the maps he created I quickly informed him they would not work, the areas he had the machine going into were areas where human kind were working and this would cause a problem. He waived off my concerns by stating that the machine would work around them, and if need be the machine could be re-routed by a drone pilot. I forgot to mention this thing is equipped with 3D cameras and is remotely monitored while it is turned on.

Well my first night to use the machine it encountered people, and it shut down because to many people got in its way and it sat there for way to long then gave up and no intervention from a drone pilot to reroute. Oh and wait I received no message from it to go and rescue it either. So I chose a simpler map, no people working in the area at all. Along went Kenny and it seemed to be working fine I spoke to soon. Kenny went into a corridor that was too narrow for it to turn around in, it panicked, again no intervention by a drone pilot, it shut down and yet again no message received by myself to go rescue it. At this point my co-workers were frustrated because I was spending too long babysitting Kenney. That night I gave it one more go, one more map. 3.5 hours later it had not completed its work and the area it did cover would have been done by a human with a walk behind scrubber in 30 minutes possibly 20. We gave up for the next few nights using Kenny.

Last night I get a text message from a co-worker. Management is upset because we have not been using the automated scrubber and we are told we have to use it. SO off to work I go because I am the only one who has received full training on the thing.

I get to work, drag the machine out and I pick a map. hurray map completed after 1.5 hours but again a 30 minute job by a human and still much baby sitting, and still no messages received when assistance was required. SO I try a second map after lunch. 15 minutes into the map error code pops up, Error 300, I look up the error code and it essentially means ” I am lost and don’t know where I am” so I reset the machine at the start of its map and again same error code. At this point I think some one is messing with the machine so try one more time. Same result. So I check all its sensors and cameras to make sure they are clean and they are. One last go and wham same error code. I give up on that map. Move to another map.

On maps when they are created they have a start and end point. I can visually see the map and the area to be cleaned, the map is marked for the start point, and the direction the machine needs to face for each map. SO far of the maps that I have used 1 out of 5 has its direction marked correctly, and location start point set correctly. In order for the machine to begin you have to be within 1 meter of the initial mapped start point.

So last map for last night. A simple straight forward one.. It took me thirty minutes to find the proper start point and start direction (map not marked correctly). I start the machine it moved 10 feet then error 300… WTF? ok move it back to start point. Machine indicates I do not have it in correct location. so I move it maybe I was off. Three attempts same result, last attempt machine starts cleaning and again stops 10 feet away Error code 300. So drive machine back to its start point, same thing, it tells me it is not in the right spot, I move it again three times always in the same general spot 4th attempt away it goes… 10 feet error 300.

I gave up after that one. Spoke to store manager gave him a run down he is going to speak with district manager, I opened a ticket with Avidbot about mapping and other issues. Will keep you all updated.