Coming soon to public toilets – a robot cleaner

It aims to halve the time spent by workers on the task, so they can focus elsewhere

- Osmond Chia

Keeping public toilets clean has been a long-time bane for cleaners here. But they will soon receive a helping hand to scrub, mop and dry toilets from a new colleague: a toilet-cleaning robot.

The autonomous robot moves around the loo seeking out stains and areas to clean, guided by sensors that give it a 3D view of its surroundings.

When there is a job to do, its swivelling arm picks up implements from a utility rack, like brushes and a steam spray attachment to blast stubborn stains and bacteria away.

Dubbed the Abluo - Latin for "cleanse" - the robot is intended to halve the time that human cleaners typically spend cleaning toilets so that they can focus on other tasks, said Mr Tuan Dung Nguyen, cofounder of Hive Botics, the cleaning automation start-up behind the robot.

Abluo, which began development at the start of 2021 and received support from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and JTC Corporation, is being trialled in toilets at industrial parks, hospitals, malls and the airport.