Intellibot IV800 Robotic Vacuum for industrial cleaning

22:00 January 21, 2007 PST

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Robots have begun their inevitable march into our environment and a noteworthy incursion of recent times is the IV800 developed by floor care innovator Intellibot Robotics. Introduced last March, Intellibot’s IV800 is designed for large carpeted or hard surface hallways in convention centers, hotels, hospitals, office buildings and other facilities that get heavy traffic and must frequently be cleaned to a high standard. Using onboard computers and ultrasonic sonar sensors, the robotic vacuum requires only about 25 minutes of operator attention per eight-hour shift, reducing labor costs by up to 85 percent while increasing cleaning quality and consistency. This frees the operator to do other, higher value cleaning tasks.

An IV800 was recently added to the cleaning department at the Barona Valley Ranch Resort & Casino. “It used to take four staff members two days to clean the site using a conventional vacuum,” said Ahmed Ait-Lahcen, Barona’s director of housekeeping. “Using the robot, we finish in a few hours with one supervisor, while our cleaning crew focuses on other tasks. The robot has improved our efficiency, quality control and level of guest service standards.”

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User Comments (1)

There is the IV-800 but also there is the IS-800. I'm quite familiar with this as I've had a fantastic opportunity to work with it at work. The IS-800 is basically a robotic floor mop which looks almost identical to the IV-800, just that it is made to wet clean hard floor surfaces.

I work at a high school in Arizona, and the IS-800 has been at my job site for nearly 3 months. In that amount of time our robotic cleaner has broken down numerous times. If not for the service contracts agreement which our district purchased along with the robot, the totaling bill at this point would be over $3,000 (including time and technical labor). As I write this, it is presently broken; it is having trouble maneuvering turns and navigating properly. I can only assume that the IV-800 and the IS-800 have the same designing engineers. I'm continuously told by the technician that he would be surprised to not come out to a site so often, it's just part of the turf. WTF?

The concept is a beautiful one however, in the 3 months it has been here it has only run properly a handful of times. Intellibot claims time, labor, and money savings. It has done nothing but deplete all three. This technology is just not ready for this level of commitment. In short, they're just junk. I'm sure it will come and this sort of technology will be the future of everything . . . but for now, STAY AWAY!

Eve Apple

- September 27, 2009 @ 02:09 am PDT