London Luton Airport (LLA) has become the first airport in the UK to receive certification from Airports Council International’s Airport Health Accreditation (AHA) programme, due in part to the introduction of robotic cleaning and sanitising equipment into its daily cleaning operations.
The AHA programme provides airports with an assessment of how well their health measures align with worldwide standards and industry best practices.
The deployment of Co-Botics cleaning robots, supplied by Industrial Cleaning Equipment (ICE), has enabled LLA’s facilities services company, Sasse, to redesign its cleaning concept at the airport.
Fitted with a raft of camera and sensor technology, the automated robots are able to clean vast areas of the airport’s floors unsupervised, freeing up operatives who previously performed the same task manually using scrubber dryers.
Furthermore, a digital link between ICE’s Co-Botics technology and onsite supervisor enables cleaning operatives to communicate via smartphone. Once cleaning is complete, a report is generated for transparency whilst the Co-Botic machines await further instruction.
Shannon Murnane, office manager for Sasse at LLA, said: “The introduction of Co-Botics at LLA is a smart and advanced move for Sasse and the cleaning operation at London Luton Airport. This innovative technology is here to assist the cleaners who continue to re-focus their attention on high-value tasks such as washroom hygiene and the cleaning of touch-points.
“This is a first for aviation in the UK, and is a helpful technology that I would hope to see implemented in further areas in the future. The time spent implementing the Co-Botics into LLA has also been instrumental in achieving increased hygiene standards, and has had a positive impact on passengers and airport staff feeling more secure in the current climate.”
According to ICE, its autonomous cleaning machines, which range from a small vacuum to a large sweeper and scrubber dryer, can be incorporated into existing and new cleaning operations in commercial, transport, warehousing manufacturing, distribution, healthcare, retail, hotels and hospitality environments.
ICE has also become the first official sponsor of next year’s Robotics & Innovation Conference. Set to take place on 27-28 April 2021 at Red Bull Racing’s headquarters in Milton Keynes, the event will provide insight into how cutting-edge robotics and state-of-the-art innovation technologies are transforming industries.
